Saturday, October 31-- Happy Halloween!! Our Cemetery Tour

In honor of Halloween, we decided to do our tours of the 4 cemeteries today. In the early 19th century, on the orders of Napoleon I, French Emperor, all the cemeteries in Paris were replaced by several large ones outside the precincts of the capital. Montmartre was built in the north, Pere-Lachaise in the east, and Montparnasse in the south. Passy Cemetery was a later addition. So we plotted out our path using the underground Metro to make all our stops. We walked to the RER station to begin and bought our ticket that would take us around all day. First was the yellow line to Nations station where we changed to the green line and went to Edgar Qinet station. Found the Montparnasse Cemetery and began our Susan-created tour. We found the graves of Jean Paul Sartre & Simone de Beauvoir, Camille Saint-Saens, Samuel Beckett, and Baudelaire. There were beautiful family tombs and grave monuments to be seen.

Then we headed back to the Edgar Qinet Station and took the train to Trocadero where we found the Passy Cemetery. It was opened in 1820 in the expensive residential and commercial districts of the Right Bank near the Champs-Elysees and by 1874 had become the aristocratic necropolis of Paris. It is the only cemetery in Paris to have a heated waiting room. The retaining wall is adorned with a bas-relief of the soldiers who fell in World War I. The cemetery is sheltered by a bower of chestnut trees and sits in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Here we found the grave of Claude Debussy, music composer, and a lovely grave with monuments of two women gardening. From this graveyard, you can see the Eiffel Tower rising high into the sky. A Russian artist famous for her published journal, Bashkirtseff, is buried here. Her tomb is a recreation of her studio and has been declared a historical monument by the French government.

Then it was back to Trocadero where we took the green line to Miromesnil then the blue line to Place de Clichy to find the Montmartre Cemetery. The cemetery covers almost 25 acres in the hollow of an old quarry and built below street level. It was opened in 1825. A major boulevard runs over some of the sections of graves. Here is buried Berlioz, Alexandre Dumas, Nijinsky, Adolphe Sax (the guy who invented the saxophone) and Edgar Degas. But the grave I was most interested in was the one of an unknown person, and not because of who the person was but because of the absolutely beautiful grieving woman sculpture on top of the grave. I had seen a picture long ago and was determined to find her. She was just as amazing in person.

Stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, then it was back to Place de Clichy where we took the blue line to Pere Lachaise Station and found Pere Lachaise Cemetery. This one is HUGE!! The most famous grave here is probably that of Jim Morrison of the Doors, which we found by the crowd of people in front of it. Also here are the graves of the Polish composer Chopin, Moliere (French playwright and actor), the writer Colette, Musset (French poet and lover of George Sand), Eugene Delacroix (romantic artist), Honore de Balzac ( 19th century novelist), Yves Montand (the actor) whose grave is just below Simone Signoret (the French actress), the joint tombstone of Gertrude Stein (American writer) and her lifetime partner Alice B. Toklas—one name on front and one on back, and my favorite—the grave of Heloise and Abelard who tried so hard to be together in life. They are buried together here in a beautiful tomb. Funny thing happened here--we were walking around, looking at the graves, and, on 2 separate occasions, 2 Parisians stopped me to ask ME for directions to particular graves. I said, "Je ne parle pas Francais," but it felt funny to say it, because I obviously just DID speak French." We still had a few graves to find when we heard the bell ringing and were told that the cemetery was closing. Ray said, “I bet you’d LOVE to get locked in here, wouldn’t you?” Yes, I would. Pictures near end were not as good as it really was getting dark and the flash was necessary. I will have to go back to find the 16 graves we weren’t able to get to.

Then we went back to Pere Lachaise Station and took the blue line to Nations station then transferred to the yellow line to Vincennes and walked home seeing cute little trick-or-treaters on our way.

Pictures from Montparnasse Cemetery

Friday, October 30--The Day of Hauling Luggage to France

Aujourd’hui, nous arrivons à Paris pour le train. Demains nous voudrions voir le Notre Dame et le Sacre Coeur. Just showing off a bit there. Sorry.

Well, it seems there was a mix up with the ferry tickets. We thought our ferry left at 10:45am and had reservations for it. Unfortunately, they did away with that sailing. So good thing Ray checked on it yesterday. But the bad thing is that our real sailing is now at 7:45am. So, up early this morning and off by taxi to the ferry terminal. Onto the Norman Arrow catamaran ferry, which is being taken out of service on November 9 because petrol for it is so expense and because the English Channel can get rough at times and the cat doesn’t handle that well.

With all our luggage in tow, we took the shuttle bus to the security building—okay so that’s #1 time hauling it onto the bus, then #2 off the bus and #3 onto screening table, #4 off the table, and #5 back onto the bus, then out to the ferry and #6 off the bus, THEN UP 3 VERY, VERY LONG FLIGHTS OF STAIRS—which count as #s 7, 8, and 9. Smooth crossing then back down the 3 long flights of stairs--#s 10, 11, and 12. And Back onto the bus, # 13 and back off the bus, #14 at the entrance to the ferry terminal. Ray had assured me that we would take a taxi to the train station, but when he didn’t see one, he listened to this lady named Elizabeth that we had been talking to and we ended up dragging the luggage into town to the bus station—good for another 2 times at least—then hauling it onto a bus # 17 and back off it at the train station #18. Then waiting at the train station 3 ½ hours with hardly any place to eat and no stores to look through, so boring because the luggage locker storage system was not available so we couldn’t go exploring in Boulogne sur Mer. Then hauling the luggage up a flight of stairs to the platform, #19, and onto the train, # 20, then a 2 hour train trip and hauling it off the train #21, then out to a taxi and into the cab #22, then out of the cab # 23. Thank goodness the hotel has elevators or Ray may have shot himself on the spot. Good Sherpa Ray.

Toilets in France can be tricky. The one in the buffet where we had lunch was just one room that looked as if it only had urinals, so I assumed there was another room and quickly exited the men’s. But no, this was the room and I finally found the 1 separate toilet behind closed door for ladies. While at the station, we practiced our French, which we have been so lax in learning. We watched the crazy man dressed very nicely with a tartan hat who talked to himself, cursed at the coffee machine, argued with his seat on the train, hit the door when it closed too quickly and then yelled at it, threw his luggage across the seat then argued with it. Thank goodness he got off at the first stop.

Saw several of the communal gardens as we passed through the lovely French countryside. Many of the cities seemed deserted as did the side streets. I was very sleepy and all you have to do is get me on a train and I am gone, so I may have missed some great sites. I did wake up for the pretty brick Abbeville train station with the blue trim.

We arrived at Gare du Nord and quickly found the taxi stand by some miracle. It was a long taxi ride out to the Vincennes area of Paris, and when we alighted from the taxi, the cab driver said the tab was 48 Euros. What? We had been watching the meter and it said 24 when we got out of the cab. Luggage supplement, he explained. Yes, but that much. No. Ray looked at the meter and told the driver that it said 24. No, 44, he argued. No, look, it says 24. Oooh, the driver then said, so plus 4 for luggage will be 28. He apologized, but I’m not sure he wasn’t trying to pull something over on us.

We checked in and made a quick trip to the market—which was quite an experience with the language differences. I SO wish I had practiced my French better. We had scrambled eggs and toast and had a relaxing night of watching British TV—and I am so thankful for it. At least I can hear SOME English every once in a while. Although after hearing today that Southwark is pronounced “Suh-thirk,” I wonder if I might be better speaking French. : )

Je suis épuisé! C’est l’heure où je me couche. (I am exhausted. It is my bedtime.)

Pictures from top: Churchill Hotel Lobby; Sunrise in Dover; 2 views of the White Cliffs—our last views of Great Britain; inside our first class train—nice seats.