Pere Lachaise cemetery

Sunday – 31,00 steps

So 7AM came and went this morning, no one woke up before 8:30AM. Perfect, maybe we have changed times this easy and quickly.

Today is a gloomy wet day, so what better way to spend it than visiting a cemetery. So after breakfast we head off walking to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It is a great walk, not too wet. Andre brought an umbrella to protect his camera, but the rest of us were fine with hoods on our jackets. Walking is such a great way to explore the city, you come across so many hidden gems because you are just out on the streets. It is about a 3km walk from where we are staying. Lots to see along the way. easy to find our way there as there as very few turns.

Right outside our apartment door

Again, the Dovico sign

About 2 blocks down from us the other original entrance to the city, this would cause some confusion later, which entrance are we at when we get out of the subway

Lots of these pay toulettes around the city, never brave enough to try one

On our walk to the cemetery, along Avenue de la Republique

Some of the Metro entrances are very cool

This is a huge cemetery with over 70,000 graves and is 100 acres in size. I have a 2 page map in my guide book which basically didn’t help at all, you really need a much more detailed map. It is beautiful here, lots of trees, and little pathways to follow. It is said to be the most visited cemetery in the world, with over 3.5 million visitors a year. Not too many visitors here today, it is perfect day to do this. It is interesting what some of the visitors leave behind on the graves.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

We saw where Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Frederic Chopin are buried. Probably the most visited is Jim Morrison from The Doors who died in Paris. This was the only tomb stone that was barricaded off. I feel sorry for those families that have loved ones buried near him, it was a busy spot, the easiest to find because of the people visiting. There is a tree beside the tombstone that people stick their chewing gum to, must research why. 

Not sure which LeBlanc?

Victor Noir Tomb, now a sign of fertility, look where you rub for good luck!

Jim Morrison from The Doors, only tomb that was barricaded off, died in Paris in 1971

Chewing gum on the tree beside Jim Morrisons grave?

I think Andre could have spent the whole day here.

After the cemetery we walked to The Marais region. I really liked the Place des Vosges square. It is one of the most beautiful squares in Paris. Lots of nice small art galleries, cute restaurants, museums, and just nice to see the square being used by locals. The 4 sides of the square are lined with mansions from the 1600 & 1700's

Place des Vosges square

We had a great lunch just around the corner form Place des Vosges. Like most European cities we have visited they have heaters set up outside so even though it is a bit cool we can still eat outside. The tables are extremely close together, and again like most European cities the table beside us and behind us both have dogs that we didn’t even see at first because they are just quietly sitting under the tables. But unfortunately still lots of smokers here, and because we are outside on their patio smoking is allowed. So funny to see ashtrays on every table, wonder if that will ever change here like it has in North America

Following lunch explore some more in the area, you could spend lots of time in this area visiting museums, but we decide to just walk and explore more. We definitely find one gay friendly area of Paris, rainbows everywhere! 

Mary-Sue and I are stopped at one point by a guy wanting to do our nails outside of a shop. We are “suckered” in, buy some things, get a little break by sitting down for a bit, then we are off again.

From the Marais district, we head towards the Louvre Museum as we were not too far from it.

Booksellers along the Seine, not too many open today, it is a little wet

Louvre at night

From here we were looking for the shop that has the best hot chocolate in Paris according the Halifax Airport restaurant manager. We get there about 15 minutes after they were closing.  

Opera House at night

As we have spent the entire day out exploring, we are exhausted, get a little lost trying to find our way home so grab our first metro ride home. There is a metro line right around the corner from our apartment, we are very happy and exhausted when we arrive home, time for bed.

Our first metro ride