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...
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| From a distance I thought this was a church, but it's a tomb. |
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| This avenue within Pere Lachaise is named in honour of foreign soldiers who died for France. |
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| 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. |
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| The grave of Honore de Balzac |
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| 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. |
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| Grave of Delphine de Cambaceres. supposed daughter of the Duke of Morny. Bust sculpted by Amedee Jouandot. |
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| 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. |
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| 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?
Provence the Beautiful
Paris: Part 1
Paris: Part 2
Paris: Part 3
Pere Lachaise: Part 1
Pere Lachaise: Part 2
Pere Lachaise: Part 3
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