Père-Lachaise Cemetery

Writing by alysemarie on Saturday, 21 of June , 2008 at 10:09 am

Yesterday for class we went to Père-Lachaise Cemetery. 

This is probably the most famous cemetry in the world, at least the most visited. Our teacher said its the Louvre of cemetries.  It is really almost like its own city. There are street names and “good” and “bad” areas to be buried in. Only the VERY wealthy or famous are able to afford to be buried here. Some Parisians actually talk about what “view” they want in the cemetry. Ridiculous, right? What in the WORLD do they think they are going to be looking at? 

apparently, people who think they are vampires hang out there at this cemetry at night. And there is a community of cats that live in the cemetry as well. My teacher got so excited when we would see a cat….. I think shes a cat lady. she wears these cat earings EVERY day, her planner is a cat planner, and she always makes a small and subtle reference to cats in every single class. but thats great for her! cats make her happy, its her jam!

It was bulit by Napolean Bonparte in 1804 because of the health hazards caused by the traditonal form of burial….. I don’t really want to think about it, but…. if you didn’t know, Paris is built around a river and on marshy land… GROSS.

The Tombstones were very beautiful though. There was a lot of stain class and sculptures. This might sound a little creepy, but the graveyard was actually pretty.

Jim Morrison, Chopin, Oscar Wilde are some of the famous names laid to rest here.

Jim Morrison’s grave has caused a lot of problems and headache for the families of other people who are buried there. Jim’s tombstone is constantly being vandalized as well as the surrounding tombstones. Vistors to his gravesite have put arrows on tombstones all over the cemetry pointing to his paticular grave site. After a while, people started to make the arrows point in opposite directions.

Chopin’s gravesite…. When I came home I listened to the ONE Chopin song in my Itunes.  Nocturne in F Sharp, I think.

People from all over the world LOVE Oscar Wilde. All of those little dots on his tomb are kisses. Seeing his tombstone and learning just a little bit about his life made me want to read one of his books. He was hilarious. His very last words were, “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go”

We also saw memorials of people who died in concentration camps during WWII.  Allthough seeing these memorials were saddening and the memories are unfortunate, It made me a little bit more proud to be an American. Anerica may have some faults (but who doesn’t?), at least we didnt willfully colaborate with Nazi Germany like France did.  We came over and took care of business! BUT there were some honorable people who fought in the French Resistance, which we saw the memorials of.

The cemetry was interesting only because it opened my eyes to more interesting things. Now I am excited to read a book by Oscar Wilde, listen to more Chopin and Jim Morrison, and be a litte bit more proud to be an American.

 

TODAY we are going to Fete de la Musique! Its an outdoor music festival all over Paris.

Happy Summer Soltice!

Bisous!

 

 

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