Père Lachaise Cemetery

We spent last Friday afternoon, Julian's last day with us, at Père Lachaise Cemetery on the eastern side of Paris.  This was the last place on Julian's Paris list, and it had been on my list for quite some time.  We were both happy to find a sunny afternoon to go with the family and Kriegers.

Julian at Père Lachaise Cemetery

The cemetery was like a mini village.  It had cobblestone streets and street signs.  Mike and I had maps to try to find our way around but we were constantly getting lost.  We got a bit nervous when some girls asked us for directions but I think we were actually able to help them.

Trying to Find our Way

Mike Reading the Map

One of the first crypts we found was for a Krieger Family and then we found the one for the pointillist painter, Seurat.

Famille Krieger

Mike at the Tomb of Seurat

Some of the tombs were quite elaborate and several had a lot of flowers.

Sande and Kelly

Elaborately Carved Tomb

Drew and Kate Wandering Through the Cemetery

We finally found two of the musicians we were looking for--Chopin and Jim Morrison of the Doors.

Chopin

Jim Morrison

We also found interesting recent tombs of a French sculptor and painter, Arman, and one of a French punk rock singer, Mano Solo, whose last album was called "In the Garden."  Can you see it written on his tomb?

"Finally Alone!"

Mano Solo

Some tombstones were a bit creepy, like this statue of a man looking at his wife's face.

This tomb belongs to a physicist who was into the phantasmagorical.  There were creepy skulls with wings, dragons and monsters on his tomb.

Julian

Julian, Andrew, Sande and Mike

We kept walking up and down and over the cobblestones until everyone but Julian, Sande and I were ready to go home.  We still wanted to find Oscar Wilde's tomb, which was on the other side of the cemetery.  On our wanderings, we stumbled upon a section with monuments to those killed in the concentration camps during World War II.  It was very sobering.

Mauthausen

Ravensbruck

We finally arrived at Oscar Wilde's Tomb. It has a giant sphinx and plexiglass has been put up around it to protect it from vandalism.  People write on the plexiglass and leave red and pink lip marks.  Sande couldn't resist puckering up and joining the crowd.

Julian and Oscar's Sphinx

Kissing Oscar

With that final grave found, we were ready to head out of the cemetery.  We passed the Crematorium and a grave with a little white dog statue I think Kate would have liked.  It started raining just as we ducked into the Métro--good timing again and an interesting afternoon at Père Lachaise.

Julian at the Crematorium

Dog Statue