I see dead people…that is, I see dead people’s graves

OK, allow me one more Paris story. And yes, you are probably wondering how a Paris travel anecdote ties into today’s blog title. Well, believe it or not, a big tourist attraction in Paris is to visit La Pere Lachaise, a cemetery in Paris (thanks Mike and Matt for suggesting this – very interesting). I know, I can hear the wheels spinning in your heads, “Why would you do that?”

For one, the tombstones are works of art in themselves: very ornate in general, lots of wrought iron, stained glass, architectural elements, and garden statues, and even small buildings are constructed as tributes to the lives of the people buried here. It is quite extraordinary…now I know where some of the antique garden statues we see in US antique shops are probably derived from. The closest thing I can compare it to are some of the cemeteries I have seen in Louisiana (obviously, it is the French connection there) so that visual might help my US pals.

Apart from that, it is the sheer notoriety of the people buried here that is the big draw. Because this cemetery is so vast, there are tourist maps of the cemetery that show where all the notable people are buried. Before I go too much further, let me just say that this place is HUGE! We spent 2 to 2 1/5 hours here and we still only scratched the surface. However, let me give you a flavor of some of the people buried here:

* Oscar Wilde
* Sarah Bernhardt
* Marcel Proust
* Yves Montand and Simone Signoret
* Eugene Delacroix
* Honore de Balzac
* Maria Callas
* Isadora Duncan
* Frederic Chopin
* Jim Morrison (of The Doors fame)
* Heloise et Abelard
* Camille Pissaro
* Allan Kardec
* Charlie Chaplin
* Gertrude Stein
* Edith Piaf
* Moliere

It is simply a “who’s who” list of famous writers, painters, sculptors, dancers, singers, entertainers, philosophers, as well as I am sure many others…I wish I could say we saw all of the names listed above, but alas, we did not….a return trip is obviously in order.

Sidenote: the dude selling tourist maps at the entrance of the cemetery seemed a bit suspect, but if you go there, you must buy a map. Trust me, you will be lost without it. Each person purchasing a map invoked this guy’s query to find out where you were from, what you do for a living, etc. When he asked Buddy this question, my security-minded husband responds “Germany” but clearly he is speaking with an American accent (he is rather cautious these days about revealing too much info as Americans are not the most popular people right now). To which this guys says in a soft whisper, “Are you with the CIA?”

Yea, right….