We toured a cemetery today – Pere Lachaise. It was interesting to see the style of this cemetery as compared to other cemeteries I’ve seen . This one was extremely crowded – more than 70,000 people are buried there, and many of the graves have vaulted tomb structures built on top of them – like row upon row of little houses. The cemetery is huge, with many wandering streets, and with the tombs built 5-6 feet above ground, it takes on the appearance of a very busy village. It definitely did not have the feel of a quiet resting place, but rather a busy medieval town, what with all the stone. I don’t like my neighbors that close to me, and Katie and I both agreed that we would not like it to be our final resting place. We both wish to be cremated instead.
The main attraction was just the cemetery itself, which was fascinating, but it does have many famous residents. We saw the graves of Moliere, Oscar Wilde (pretty lurid and covered in lipstick kisses – which really grossed Katie out), The French writer Colette, Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison and Georges Seurat. To our great disappointment, Seurat’s grave was not covered with pointillism designs. That would have been so cool!
The main attraction was just the cemetery itself, which was fascinating, but it does have many famous residents. We saw the graves of Moliere, Oscar Wilde (pretty lurid and covered in lipstick kisses – which really grossed Katie out), The French writer Colette, Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison and Georges Seurat. To our great disappointment, Seurat’s grave was not covered with pointillism designs. That would have been so cool!
You're bringing back memories! I can remember going to that cemetery on a high school trip to Paris.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if they'll keep, bring me back some of those macaroons!
Regan
One of my favorite places in Paris.
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