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France/Spain 2011
Day 5 - 21st March - Paris: Père Lachaise (Part 1)
Breakfast at the hostel started at 8am, which was too late for me even in nua mode (kids don't usually wake up early because they are too busy... having fun at night; besides, in 2006 it had sucked), for this day, I set out for the most famous cemetery in the world: Père Lachaise! I had wanted to visit in October 2010 but had been foiled, so this was a chance to put things right. So I set off at 7:52am.
Rue Mouffetard in the morning
Another cheap menu. 3 courses for 10€?!
On the métro this guy was taking his dog on the train to beg. Gah.
I arrived outside the walls (but not outside a gate) of the cemetery at 8:35am. Considering that the place opened at 8am, this was a true testament to how easy I was taking things.
I also saw a familiar joker:
Altiz
I had seen him (or his van at least, at any rate) in October 2010 in the Bois de Boulogne. Père Lachaise was his territory.
The walls of Père Lachaise
Entrance, with sun glaring in the background
Sewage Truck blocking the entrance
About the cemetery, open since 1804. They have people who died before that buried inside, but really they just reburied them.
Gate
I bumped into an American guy who said that he had visited twice before. And that he'd seen Jim Morrison both alive and dead.
Entranceway
With a map bought from a vendor, I went grave hunting.
Tomb of Colette
The most impressive tombs do not necessarily hold the most famous people, and vice versa.
Famille Dantan
Monument aux Morts, Albert Bartholomé (War Memorial)
A site claims that it is the "Final resting place of those removed from graves at the end of their lease", but this is plainly ridiculous. Nichole Bennett-Bealer is a lot more credible in affirming its nature as a war memorial.
Félix Faure. When I saw "Faure" on the map I got very excited, but this is Félix François Faure, a former President of France, not Gabriel Urbain Fauré (who's at Passy)
Among the luminaries buried here: "ZAVATTA Achille (Clown et Directeur de Cirque)"
Must've been some show.
Abelard and Heloise are also buried in Père Lachaise, which possibly makes them the oldest residents. The map didn't mention their claim to fame, though. Hurr hurr.
I also saw that a "Modigliani" was buried here. At first I got very excited and thought that it was Franco Modigliani who had come up with the Life Cycle Model of Consumption, but actually it was Amedeo Modigliani, a painter. No one cares about Economists.
Gioachino Antonio Rossini
His remains are now in Florence, boo. Ahh, politics!
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay
I didn't exactly remember all of these people's claims to fame, but some of them sounded familiar
Stair
Famille Boutillier
George Enescu
Another stair
Georges Bizet
Jacques-Louis David
This is a pretty big grave for a heart
It was somewhat easy to miss as "Jacques" was quite faded
My wonderful Fuji FinePix F300EXR went to ISO 400 in broad daylight
A guy offered to guide me for 5€, which was quite cheap, but I preferred to wander on my own time.
Avenue
Coloured in words. Very good.
Run-down, out of bounds grave
Maybe the resident was evicted?
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix
A meeting of ways
Famille Du Duc De Morny (Half-brother of Napoleon III)
Colourful tombstone. Mamette.
Balzac with protection
"Dias Santos Anne McDonald"
That's all I could make out
Another family grave. 2 of them hadn't died yet. I think Denise died before being born, ergo the lack of a birth year.
A lot of moss on grave. I wonder if they remove graves that are collapsing.
Grave with Chinese
Proust, with perhaps the plainest grave of the famous people
Most of the famous graves were along the ways, but some were nestled among others and required harder work to find. So for example I couldn't find Apollinaire.
Way dedicated to foreigners who died for France. It's nice for them to be remembered this way.
Crematorium
Unfortunately I couldn't find the plaque for Maria Callas put up by "Le Maria Callas International Club". Looking for plaques in a crematorium was even harder than looking for graves.
"Toi et Moi" ("You and Me")
Another resident waiting for his companion in life. Though they should've engraved V.M.'s birth year first.
manuella
Leilah Maih, with an exotic photo
Crematorium