Cimeterie Pere Lachaise, 2023

On Whitmonday, a holiday in France, we made a brief visit to the great cemetery of Pere Lachaise, a place we first visited with Tawana and Wes in 2012, and then later several times when we lived in the 11th. Brief on this day because 1) we'd forgotten how huge the place is and 2) we hadn't the strength for a long visit; 3) the more famous sights can be a long way apart; 4) summer has begun and it was warm and dusty; 5) the hilly nature of the place and its cobblestone and gravel paths were not good for the knees; 6) Google Maps seemed much less useful in this larger and denser cemetery; and, 7) we'd already seen and documented much that is of interest. Just enter "Lachaise" in the search box to see past posts. Of course it may appear morbid to visit cemeteries, but these French cemeteries are filled with art, architecture, and history. Visiting them is very French, as attested in the episode where Luc takes Emily to Pere Lachaise for her birthday pique-nique lunch. Also attested to by the line of tour buses outside the walls.

Some of the tour buses

Entrance

Helpful map

Helpful list of important residents

Are art, architecture, history, and literature not enough? Must we
endure a score of signs telling us about the flora and fauna of the
cemetery? They didn't even mention worms and daisies! Totally
inappropriate in a cemetery, Vicki added

Sometimes you're just struck by the beauty of a tomb, the emotion...

With no clue as to who was buried there

Nor what he/she was famous for

Case in point

Street scene

The Tysons of France

Balzac, beneath whose monument Luc and Emily
had their pique-nique

No longer lonely, as Luc had lamented

Bookish neighbor

Gericault and his masterpiece, The Raft of the Medusa

Jacques-Louis David, painter and revolutionary, 
surpassing all others...