Day 8 - 20th October - Montparnasse Cemetery (Part 2)
Ongoing funeral
Clasped hands
Serge Gainsbourg
Fish (?)
Angel and deceased.
4 graves with "Ci-gît" (archaic way of saying "here lies")
Rude - sculptor who contributed to the Arc de Triomphe. And mosquito breeder for posterity.
Charles Garnier of Palais Garnier (Opera house) fame. Crossing the copper stains is positive vandalism (highlighting of his name and his important works)
Samuel Beckett
Susan Sontag
Albert Raineau, presumably a horse racer
Eugène Ionesco: "Pray it, I don't know who. I hope: Jesus Christ"
Champion
I talked to a Parisienne, who said she found it weird a young tourist would visit the Montparnasse cemetery. Hah.
Presumably the mounds of earth are fresh graves
Fresh flowers, bare tomb
Emile Littré
Pierre Larousse
Why were so many publishers interred here?
Possible public grave
There's lots of space on top, but Demetra Istrati got the second class position on the bottom
Also someone left a saint postcard under a candle
"Please respect the memory of the illustrious musician who was the dear Camille Saint-Saëns as well as that of his family, and don't treat his sepulchre as a dumping ground"
"Knight of St Louis and of Malta... Explorers' Club, Friend of Nepal, Gold Medal of the French Alpine Club"
Decorated family
Unfortunate family name: Contamine. Also, apparently no one is buried here
The Adams Family
Raoul Valadin, with Greek below the bust
Pigeon, inventor of the electric lamp. In bed with his (?) wife
Family of André Citroën
The family is identified through him. Hah.
Bartholdi of Statue of Liberty fame
Dreyfus of anti-Semitism fame
"To the memory of Claude Gutmann. 1914-1945. Victim of German barbarism"
Unfortunate dates
Mosaic tomb
William Baranès, called Guillaume Dustan
He was gay and a proponent of barebacking
César Franck
Franco-Prussian War
Republican Guard of Paris
Firemen of Paris
Russian Rock
Paris Commune
"The French memory"
In the form of a post box?
Box for the poor of Paris - Public Assistance
I gave up on looking for the last few people and headed out of the rain.
Parking on the pavement - a novel way to save space
People watching in the rain. Go figure.
Huge backpacker contingent. Probably a school trip.
Galeries Lafayette has "Bridal Lists"
I love Brioche Dorée - they're cheaper and better than Paul. They were advertising a new croissant recipe which was light and crusty
Woman wearing Le Bon Marché's Men's Autumn-Winter Collection
"Bureau equipped with automatic cash register. All threats to staff are useless"
How comforting
"No burkas"
I then went to my favourite flammekueche place - La Forge.
I love how they tell you how big the drinks are
Rainy view
Creperie across the road
Montbeliarde (bacon, onions, potatoes, Montbeliard sausage, Emmental Cheese), Kyr Alsacien
Cute plate. Note that as is often the case the woman is in traditional garb and the man a more modern outfit
€14,20 only! I've never figured out why there's two sets of VAT in France, though. Double taxation is supposed to be a bad thing.
The magazine cover is very strategic
Useless pigeon spikes at station
€10 haircut if you have clean hair from "Beauty Bubble"
"Thanks to many bounced cheques, the House no longer accepts cheques. Thanks. The management"
What happens when you spoil the market
"Without English, it's like you're not there"
This got translated into French at the bottom
"Japan Rags"
-_-
In the A-Z series in the Métro, G was for "Grillons"
At first I thought they were cockroaches but they're crickets. I guess no one likes cockroaches. There is even a "La Ligue de Protection des Grillons du Métro Parisien (LPGMP)" (League for the Protection of the Paris Metro's Crickets)
Some topless photos advertising a photo exhibition. Very good.
French efficiency means you officially only need to be on the train 2 minutes before it's scheduled to leave.
Is it just me or does everyone in this sign look happy?
Notice that many trains are departing at the same time. Worse, some go to the same destination (I don't think this is code sharing). This makes finding the right train harder.
SNCF (South East) war casualties
"Eat Factory"
This looked like "Fat Factory" from afar
Happy wheelchair people
"Travel at the rifruitfruit price"
A 10% discount is supposed to be very special
One thing I've noticed - I've only seen vending machine discounts in France
I then took a train to Lyon.
I always have problems using my Mastercard at SNCF machines. This time I managed to pay online with it, but I couldn't collect my tickets with it at the machine, so I had to go to the counter. Somehow it worked there.
Each ticket has a unique confirmation number of 6 characters, which looks like they are only alphabetical (i.e. 26 characters). 26^6 combinations is still a lot, but it seems less secure than other places. I suppose with security good enough doesn't need to be too complicated (you need your card to collect the tickets, so in combination with the code that should be ok).
Though it was October it was 22 degrees at night, which was quite hot. Ahh, the South!
Eglise Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens
I then had a kebab for dinner. As I told the guy, I don't feel like I'm in Europe if I don't have a kebab.
I thought there was beer in here but it's just Perrier. So this could be 100% Halal.
Kebab meal, with Bourgard (?) sauce. An American concotion with mayo and herbs. I could've chosen ketchup, mustard, mayo or Samurai (slightly spicy) sauce, or one or two others I missed, but this sounded the most interesting.
"Pop's Cool" reality show
Convenience store which is open "non stop" 7/7 (9am-1am, but 10am-11pm on Sunday). And sells fruits and vegetables (I don't know why they had to say that)
Classic dishes in cans - Choucroute Garnie (sauerkraut with meat), sausages and lentils, Cassoulet, salted pork with lentils, Gratin Dauphinois, Ravioli (in tomato sauce, in beef sauce)
The hostel served breakfast till noon. Wah.