Best Place to Visit in Paris - Pere LaChaise Cemetery
The living intermingle with the dead in my best place to visit in Paris.
Just look over there .
.
.
there are cats afoot in old Pere LaChaise cemetery - many cats - lazy aloof cats just wandering among the graves.
There are also walk-in tombs of stone shaped something like, & not much larger than, telephone booths; but if you peek inside them, many have exquisite stained glass in the back or something else to make them remarkable & worth your closer attention.
Pere LaChaise is most famous for the many celebrities buried there.
Oh my goodness, there lies the sculpture of Victor Noir, sprawled out just above his earthly remains, killed in a duel over political intrigue.
More unusual than other sculptures, this one has poor Victor lying there with full, bulging erection beneath his trousers, an eternal erection in bronze.
Hoping for fertility & luck, people have rubbed that bronze spot bright, & there is great contrast with the surrounding oxidation.
Romantic youth leave love letters to each other in Victor's hat clutched for eternity in his dead hand.
Yes, there are many celebrities buried here, from Oscar Wilde to Jim Morrison, whose final resting place has become a shrine for his followers, a regular pilgrimage to make on their things-to-do-in-Paris checklists.
Cigarettes & stronger stuff are smoked beside his grave by his admirers; they pass around wine in brown paper bags.
You may even find, written on tombs & elsewhere as graffiti, directions to Mr.
Morrison's grave, some of which will lead you far afield from his actual grave, if placed there by some wiseacre.
Well, there's another cat.
He's black & he's timid & he's trotting away now.
More than once I've taken photographs here, just to arrive back home & have them developed & find some cat I hadn't even noticed in the background.
Oh, but who cares about cats & celebrities in Pere LaChaise? for they are only secondary attractions.
The main attraction of Pere LaChaise is that it's one of the most beautiful settings you will find in Paris.
There is plenty of greenery & places to picnic if you are of the morbid type.
There is eerie but beautiful statuary & funerary sculpture around graves, clinging to graves, peeking out of graves, etc.
, & you would think you would be more apt to find them in art museums.
Yes, Pere LaChaise cemetery is as beautiful as anything you will find in Paris, in all seasons & in all kinds of weather .
.
.
whether you are lucky enough to come across a black cat.
Just look over there .
.
.
there are cats afoot in old Pere LaChaise cemetery - many cats - lazy aloof cats just wandering among the graves.
There are also walk-in tombs of stone shaped something like, & not much larger than, telephone booths; but if you peek inside them, many have exquisite stained glass in the back or something else to make them remarkable & worth your closer attention.
Pere LaChaise is most famous for the many celebrities buried there.
Oh my goodness, there lies the sculpture of Victor Noir, sprawled out just above his earthly remains, killed in a duel over political intrigue.
More unusual than other sculptures, this one has poor Victor lying there with full, bulging erection beneath his trousers, an eternal erection in bronze.
Hoping for fertility & luck, people have rubbed that bronze spot bright, & there is great contrast with the surrounding oxidation.
Romantic youth leave love letters to each other in Victor's hat clutched for eternity in his dead hand.
Yes, there are many celebrities buried here, from Oscar Wilde to Jim Morrison, whose final resting place has become a shrine for his followers, a regular pilgrimage to make on their things-to-do-in-Paris checklists.
Cigarettes & stronger stuff are smoked beside his grave by his admirers; they pass around wine in brown paper bags.
You may even find, written on tombs & elsewhere as graffiti, directions to Mr.
Morrison's grave, some of which will lead you far afield from his actual grave, if placed there by some wiseacre.
Well, there's another cat.
He's black & he's timid & he's trotting away now.
More than once I've taken photographs here, just to arrive back home & have them developed & find some cat I hadn't even noticed in the background.
Oh, but who cares about cats & celebrities in Pere LaChaise? for they are only secondary attractions.
The main attraction of Pere LaChaise is that it's one of the most beautiful settings you will find in Paris.
There is plenty of greenery & places to picnic if you are of the morbid type.
There is eerie but beautiful statuary & funerary sculpture around graves, clinging to graves, peeking out of graves, etc.
, & you would think you would be more apt to find them in art museums.
Yes, Pere LaChaise cemetery is as beautiful as anything you will find in Paris, in all seasons & in all kinds of weather .
.
.
whether you are lucky enough to come across a black cat.
