Cimetière du Père-Lachaise and the Tour de France

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday.  I slept in, then got ready for the day at my leisure.  Around 12:30pm, four of us left the Foyer and got on a bus heading across the city.  We got a bit lost along the way and ended up walking quite a few blocks, then taking another bus, but we eventually got to Paris' largest and most famous cemetery: le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

As soon as we got there, we grabbed maps and circled the grave sites of the people we wanted to see, since the cemetery is positively massive at 110 acres.  Then we were off, wandering down cobblestone pathways that had been distorted and cracked by time and tree roots burrowing beneath them.  The pathways twist and turn, weaving and winding among the plots.  The cemetery has roads inside of it, all labelled to make it easier to navigate.  It was very old fashioned, and slightly eerie what with the sun frequently disappearing behind clouds, the wind whispering through the old trees, and crows cawing loudly every couple minutes.

Our first stop was at the cemetery's most famous and visited grave: Jim Morrison's.  Unfortunately, due the popularity of visiting his grave, the site has been cordoned off so that you can see it, but can't get close.  People have also graffitied heavily on the nearby tombs, headstones, and mausoleums, something that seems just a little too close to bad karma to me, but apparently it's quite the thing to do.

Despite this, the grave was still very well taken care of.  It's covered in flowers, has a picture of Jim, and various other mementos sitting nearby, indicating visits by fans, friends, and family.  Ironically. the smell of weed was also pretty strong around the gravesite.  I guess it's something of a pilgrimage for potheads to go see the grave of Jim Morrison and smoke a joint next to his remains.

After this, we walked a bit farther and finally reached our next stop: Edith Piaf's grave.  She's buried in a family plot between both her father and her daughter.

Our next stop was at Oscar Wilde's tomb.  Like Jim Morrison's his tomb has also been walled off, but for different reasons.  Apparently when you visit his grave you're supposed to wear red lipstick and kiss the tomb.  I have no idea why, but do to the vandalism of so much red lipstick, it's now cordoned off so you can't touch it.

We then wandered through the cemetery a bit more, seeing the Crematorium, the chapel, and the gardens.  When we left we took the metro back to the Latin Quarter and stopped for gelato on the way home.  Later that night, a group of us decided to go out for a bit so we went to a nearby bar and had a few drinks.  Madeline and I left around 12:30am, stopping on the way home for some delicious chicken McNuggets.  I finally broke down.  And I have so say that I'm glad I did.  They were much better than any McNuggets I've ever had in the states.


This morning I slept in again (the upcoming week looks to be quite busy so I'll need my rest).  Around 11:30am I went to get lunch, then sat up on the terrace to eat it outside and enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful view of the city.


Around 1:30pm, a large group of us got onto the metro and headed down to Place de la Concorde to go see the Tour de France.  We were under the impression that the race ended around 2:30 in Paris, so we thought it'd be fun to go see.  Wrong.  It ended around 6:30, and we were not willing to wait hours in the hot sun just to see a few people go by on bikes.

By 3:30ish, we decided to leave and head back to the Latin Quarter.  We got gelato along the way (this is becoming a bit of an addiction) then hung out for little while before deciding to go for a walk in the Luxembourg Gardens.  We wandered around the gardens for awhile, enjoying the beautiful day, then headed back to the Foyer to finally buckle down and do some homework.  I spent the rest of the day doing homework, eating dinner, and finally, getting ready for bed.