55, bd. JOURDAN

After hopping out of the way of the protest I decided to do something a bit more quiet. Since the Catacombs had been on my mind, I wound up going up the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Unlike cemeteries in the States there is quite a different air about them in Europe. They’re not nearly as manicured and they have a real sense of age and weight to them. The diversity of both age and style of the tombs was quite overwhelming (especially since they were packed together so closely) and more than any other museum I’ve been too there was an impression of the art of these tombstones as both a historical and cultural record.

What’s more, the cemetery was just another place to stroll through, with cobbled walkways and benches. I wasn’t surprised to see parents with their kids walking through here — though thankfully there were no joggers (really, that’d just be weird).

I wandered around for about 2 hours before it got too chilly to continue. Unlike most of the tourist who wound up buying 2 euro maps of the cemetery I relied on a photo I’d taken of the main map. Though I wasn’t really looking to go to any of the ‘famous’ graves I did manage to run into Oscar Wilde’s tomb. Unlike the others it was rather hard to miss.

Even though there was a sign proclaiming it illegal to deface any tombs, this one was still covered in the lipstick kisses of adoring fans. Even the guy on next grave over got a smooch!

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