So what do you do on a rainy, chilly, cloudy day in Paris when the suitcase is packed with lightweight clothes for the southern climes?
What I did do, was put on every shirt with long sleeves (all two of them) and head off to my favorite cemetery.
First I walked to the Père LaChaise métro stop where there's a classic café.
Warmed up with a grand crème, a nice big cup of coffee and foamy cream.
The view from the café terrace allowed me to admire this well-preserved Art Nouveau Métro station - vintage 1900.
This one still has the ruby-red lights.
My copy of Pariscope listed a guided visit to the cemetery's celebrity tombs that very afternoon. The guide was familiar to me -I had taken a tour with him on a previous trip. He calls himself a "nécrosophe", by which I think he means that he is an expert on the cemeteries of Paris. Which he absolutely is! And has great stories about those buried in Paris cemeteries.
I met the guide, Bertrand Bayern, at Place Gambetta, and along with 16 others headed to the first celebrity tomb - that of Oscar Wilde.
For those who've seen his tomb before, or who've seen the vignette about Oscar Wilde and his tomb in the film Paris, Je t'aime (remember, former French 3 students?) , you'll note the change. Walled off by a plastic screen and scrubbed of all the lipstick kiss-prints, it now looks sort of naked. Folks can only throw flowers over the barrier to honor the well-known playwright, poet, and wit. He died in Paris, broken and destitute, after serving 2 years at hard labor in England for "gross indecency", i.e. being a homosexual. As he lay dying in a shabby Paris hotel room, his last words were- "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do". I sure hope that story is true.
Next up, the tomb of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier - the man who promoted potatoes as a food source in France.
There are many references to potato cultivation on the tomb.
And people still bring potatoes to him - kind of saying "Thanks, Parmentier! We're loving those potatoes you brought us!"
Jim Morrison.
Cemetery personnel have had to clean up after and guard against onslaughts of Doors fans who've held music festivals there, scattered the surrounding graves with graffiti, and in general behaved boorishly and disrespectfully. At one time there were uniformed guards near Morrison's grave. Now they have put guard rails - which seem rather easy to surmount.
In addition, they've installed video surveillance. Note the fancy lamp, next to the tree - in a cemetery where there is no electricity!
It seems that Morrison is VERY popular with young Italians these days. We saw a group arriving with their guitars as we walked away. There is always a huge gathering on July 3, the anniversary of his death.
Note that the tree in the photo has been protected with an apron of bamboo. It seems the new thing is to honor Jim by sticking wads of chewed gum onto the tree.
All I can say is - eeyew.
And then there's the couple who decided that, since they had no progeny to leave their money to, they would indulge themselves by designing their own tomb. They are both still alive. He is well-known for having photographed cemeteries all over the world. On the right is one of those marks you can scan with your smartphone to take you right to his website.
As I only have a dumbphone, I googled him and found the site at: http://www.andrechabot.com/fr/f-photo.html
Here's the tomb, featuring of course a camera!
And according to our guide, they keep this small broom just inside the door so they can sweep out the leaves that blow inside in the fall.
So you see - you can do anything you want on your tomb, or that of a loved one, at Père LaChaise. There's a fellow who loves egyptology and is constructing a small pyramid on his plot. He is painting the inside in authentic ancient Egyptian style - and after a day of painting invites friends to come join him there (at a table, inside!) for some wine.
There are kitschy tombs,
exotic ones,
and of course many ordinary ones. There are memorials to politicians, celebrities, artists, philosophers, fallen firefighters, soldiers of the Napoleanic wars, the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, World War II, Indochina, Algeria; there are memorials to victims of the Holocaust, airline disasters, and to the 20,000 Parisians killed by the French army to end the uprising in 1871.
This last one shows the anonymous faces and hands of those nameless victims.
And I think my favorite one is the tomb of a couple who had these words engraved:
M. et Mme. X sont arrivés à la fin de leur chemin. Et ils vous souhaitent tous "Bonne route!"
Mr. and Mrs. X have arrived to the end of their road. And they wish all of you "Happy travels!
Next stop on my travels is Bayonne, in the south of France on the Atlantic coast!
