The older plots in Père-Lachaise grew up around one another in delightfully eclectic patterns. As mom would say, "They're packed like sardines in there!"
The grave of the famous composer Frederic Chopin, which adoring fans have covered with flowers. Paul told us that on All Saints' Day Parisians turn out in droves to place flowers on the graves of relatives and personal heroes in the cemetery.
No visit to Père-Lachaise would be complete without the pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's grave. The sad part is that people have graffitied the side of the tomb next to his with song lyrics and inspired messages like "Luv U Jim!!!". I hope its ghost haunts them all.
A winding cemetery lane on the top of the hill.
Père-Lachaise opened for business in 1804 during the same week as Napoleon's coronation as Emperor. This is the cemetery's oldest tomb.
The newer area of the cemetery is very rigidly organized on a grid-like pattern that differs greatly from the meandering paths of the older part.
Oscar Wilde's grave. It's covered in lipstick because apparently it is a tradition that gay men come to the site to kiss it. You may also notice that the flying sphinx-angel has no genitals-- they were originally thought to be too obscene for public viewing and were hacked off for use as a paperweight in the cemetery office!
Despite the fact that this man has no connection to fertility whatsoever, legend has it that if women come to his grave and touch his lips, package, and toe, then put a flower in his top hat, they will either get married or become pregnant within the year. I laughingly convinced Elizabeth to perform the ritual with a nearby dandelion, which she did. It was only after she had finished that Paul told us the story of his sister, who after several failed fertility treatments finally became pregnant within two months of her visit to the grave!
Now time for the blast from the past. Consider this picture, circa 1997, taken during a family vacation to Père-Lachaise.
My awful, puffy blue coat? Check. Kevin with hands on hips? Check. Julia looking sullen? Check.
Well, while we were wandering around with Paul, we came across...
The same grave!! That's me, Kristen, and Suzy attempting to recreate the decade-old photo. As you can see we didn't get it quite right, even though I tried to make a dissatisfied face and stand at a weird slant as per the original, but apparently reversed the angle. The funniest thing about this picture may be Suzy, who has actually done a comically good impression of Kevin's pose, what with the jaunty elbows and mischievous grin. But the symmetry of the scene puzzles me. If you look at the creepy shrouded figure and the surrounding graves, you'll notice they're in exactly opposite positions vis-a-vis the original picture. Did our camera take some kind of weird mirror-image photo?
The final thing to note about that picture is the engraving on the tomb, which says "Famille Raspail." In what can only be described as an incredible and eerie coincidence, ten years ago I unknowingly posed next to the tomb of the family that would once again greet me when I finally returned to Paris-- I now live at the corner of Rue de Rennes and Boulevard Raspail. Paul said it must have been fate.
It was a (sadly fleeting) sunny and beautiful day, so after the cemetery we went wandering.
And found GIANT GELATO!
And then we ate it.
The end!
1 comment:
If Giada were to comment on that falafel, she would undoubtedly mention how beautiful the intermingling colors are.
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