Whimsy Bower: July 2015

31 July 2015

Pere Lachaise: Part 4

When I went to Pere Lachaise, I'd asked to be taken to the entrance nearest Oscar Wilde's tomb. I had a plan to make my way through the cemetery to the Menilmontant entrance, and then go see some other sights from there. The driver never said anything but as I wandered among the tombs, I realized something wasn't right. Double checking, I found I had actually been dropped off at the Menilmontant entrance. I was annoyed that my plans had been messed up, and even more so that the driver hadn't said a word about leaving me at a different place than requested. Still, I was in an awesome place, beautiful, quiet, lots of isolated nooks where I could be by myself with my camera, so I didn't stay annoyed too long. A couple of hours later, after my camera battery had died and I was heading out of Pere Lachaise, I noticed this:

Mystery of the drop off at the wrong entrance: solved. Mystery of why the driver didn't say anything (perhaps "Be careful in isolated parts of the cemetery, lone female tourist"): no idea. Anyway, I was (luckily) fine and hopefully these "attacks," whatever they were, have been stopped, but it's a good lesson in always being aware of your surroundings, even in places where you feel comfortable and that seem perfectly peaceful and safe.

On that note, here are the last of my photos from Pere Lachaise...

From a distance I thought this was a church, but it's a tomb.

This avenue within Pere Lachaise is named in honour of foreign soldiers who died for France.

This is a church within the cemetery. I would have liked to take more photos but there was a funeral just letting out and I felt bad enough intruding on them to take this.

The grave of Honore de Balzac

The grave of Hubertine Auclert. I overheard a guide saying she is the reason French women got the vote. We all owe her and women like her a debt of gratitude.

Grave of Delphine de Cambaceres. supposed daughter of the Duke of Morny. Bust sculpted by Amedee Jouandot.

This is another angle of the tomb I initially thought was a church. Jean-Francois Cail was an industrialist. His name, among others, was inscribed on the Eiffel Tower by Gustave Eiffel in recognition of Cail's contributions to the project.

I snapped this with my phone on the way out because the tiles are too pretty not to get a picture of them. Next trip I take, I'm bringing an extra battery for my camera, although my SO actually thinks the problem is my charger. Either way, I don't think an extra battery would hurt.

And that concludes my posts on my trip. Although I didn't love travelling on my own, I would do it again in a heartbeat if it means getting to see and experience something amazing. If you have a dream and no one else shares it, do it anyway. If an anxiety-ridden homebody like me can do it, anyone can. I'm already planning my next trip to France...

Missed one of my posts about France?

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 1

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 2

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 3

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 4

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 5

Zen and the Art of Provencal Cookery, Part 6

Provence: Maison Trevier

Provence: Carpentras

Provence: Lavender

Provence the Beautiful
Paris: Part 1
Paris: Part 2
Paris: Part 3
Pere Lachaise: Part 1
Pere Lachaise: Part 2
Pere Lachaise: Part 3

29 July 2015

Pere Lachaise: Part 3

One of the most personally satisfying moments of my trip to France happened in Pere Lachaise. A pair of French visitors to the cemetery mistook me for a local and asked if I knew where a specific grave was. I'd suffered a lot of anxiety about taking my casual style to ultra-fashionable Paris (I don't know what I was worried about exactly; maybe I thought I'd be laughed out of town, or sympathetically handed copies of Vogue or something). When I travel, I want to be comfortable, so it was basically t-shirts, maxi skirts, and converse. The fact that I was mistaken for a Parisian still gives me a little thrill. I think it was my hat, a black Panama:

http://www.thebay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/thebay/panama-hat-0006-17559--24

Never underestimate the power of a good hat.

Felix Faure was the 7th President of France.

Some pretty dianthus that seemed to be growing wild

Some tombs contain chairs or prayer stools for visitors.

Tombs at Pere Lachaise (and many other cemeteries throughout Europe) are leased. If the lease isn't renewed, the bones are disinterred and moved to an ossuary (such as the one behind the "Aux Morts" monument) and the tomb is leased to someone else. Some of the graves and tombs are marked "concession à perpétuité," which means the family has bought the tomb outright and it's permanently theirs.

This man had some good friends--they took responsibility for his monument, and possibly his grave as well.

The rest of the photos are of the tomb of Joaquin Maria de Errazu, of which, apparently, little is known. The tomb is impressive though, featuring several statues by Roland Mathieu-Meusnier.