♪ All good Americans should come here to die! ♫

lol. Sorry, that line's kinda weird sounding if you haven't heard the song/seen the movie "Funny Face". But it kinda fit yesterday's walk through Paris's necropolis.

We walked through Pere Lachaise, one of the biggest cemeteries in Paris. It was kind of a cool walk, although there were definitely some really weird parts.... lol.

In all the Paris cemeteries (or at least the couple we've been to) there are these little house things...which I don't get. It's almost like they're little shrines or something to the dead person or family. But I've never seen anyone go into one of them. I don't know if they're actually used... Some of them are kinda creepy looking, too. And some look like mini Gothic churches.

I also wonder how they bury people in that place, because it's crammed! It almost makes you feel claustrophobic. And some of the tombs are huge! You'd need a crane to lift one of those to bury someone there. (They aren't all old ones, there are some pretty new tombs in that place.)

We went through and found tons of "famous" people there. A lot of them, I'd never even heard of before. lol. Like Alphand and Colette and Visconti.

I did see Seurat's family tomb. I guess that was cool. lol. And Chopin's and Moliere's and Heloise and Abelard's. (Although, I don't think they're 100% positive Moliere and Heloise and Abelard are actually in those graves.... They might be other random people.) Jim Morrison is there too... Apparently his is one of the most visited graves at the cemetery, but I've actually never heard of him. lol. I guess I'm just not cultured enough. lol.

The funniest tomb we saw was somewhat recent. I think he was some famous sculptor or something... On his grave was a sculpture of a broken violin and a sign that said "Enfin seul!" which means, "Finally alone!" lol. We had a good laugh.

Then we saw the crematorium. And that was creepy. And it smelled funny. And I tried not to think about it too much so I didn't get sick, especially because it looked like there was a funeral going on or just ending in the chapel. We went down into a place where they put people's ashes. It was really cold down there, which felt good after walking in the heat all afternoon, but it was creepy. lol. There were tons and tons of walls all in rows, and each wall was filled with little squares with names and dates on them. There were flowers and stuff all over the walls too. Talk about claustrophobic! Bleh. We didn't stay down there very long.

Then our path led us to a journalist's grave. I kind of feel sorry for the man. First for how he died (someone sent him to arrange a duel against Napoleon's great-nephew, and Napoleon's nephew got mad and shot the journalist, which is probably where we get the term "don't shoot the messenger" or at least a good representation of the saying), and second for the misfortune of having a statue of himself on his grave, lying in a position that looks like he'd just died. Statues on graves are not always a bad thing. Just in his case, because for some reason women have come to see this poor man's statue as a good luck charm if they touch it, sort of turning the journalist into a fertility god. Poor guy...

We also so the tomb of Oscar Wilde, who wanted to be depicted as a sphinx on his tomb. Women visiting the tomb put on bright lipstick and kiss the tomb. It's kinda gross and unsanitary, if you're asking me... But there are lips all over the enormous grave. Bleh.

The coolest part of the cemetery was the section with all the monuments to Holocaust victims. A lot of Jews were taken from Paris during the Nazi invasion. Each of the large concentration camps around Europe have a monument in this cemetery. My favorite was probably the monument for Dachau, and it wasn't just because I've been there. There was a cool little message on the front telling people to remember the people who died for liberty, honor, and their country in the camps. The monument next to the Dachau monument was pretty cool too. You'll have to see my pictures on Facebook....

After the cemetery, we bought water and boarded the metro for the Opera Garnier. Wow. lol. In Phantom of the Opera (the movie version) you can't realize how grand that place is. It's really pretty, but so elegant you just get floored walking into it. The auditorium is really cool. And the chandelier was huge. But you couldn't really get pictures in the auditorium, because it was so dark. :P I kinda wish I'd gone to a ballet here. Oh well. lol. There's always next time, right? ;)

After that we took a 12 euro nap, er, boat ride on the Seine. lol. Paris and I were so exhausted! It was so hard to keep my eyes open! But I had been teasing Paris about falling asleep as soon as we sat down, so I was determined to keep my eyes open the whole ride. That, and I'd been trying to get photos of Paris sleeping, but she always opened her eyes before I got a good one. :P lol. So, in fear of her trying to get me back, I made sure I didn't fall asleep.

On the boat ride, we saw most of the same things we've been seeing all month. lol. We did see the restaurant that inspired Ratatouille, though. lol. Or the restaurant the one in the movie was based on. That was kinda cool.

Then we trudged home like zombies, and crashed until dinner. Dinner was pretty good and pretty fun. Only Mme Devarenne was there, but it was a really fun conversation.