Paris 2015 Day 5: Père Lachaise and Promenade plantée
The sky was already covered with clouds in the morning so it made sense to change plans and visit some lesser known places that day. The visit of a cemetery seemed appropriate.
There was no particular reason to first make a slight detour to the Belleville metro station other than my desire to take a picture to honour the triplets.
Along the outside walls of the cemetery people prepared for a weekend flea market. If you're in Paris ever in need of a psychodelic Yoda portrait, that's the place to go to.
Main entrance of the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Paris has a number of cemeteries where famous people are laid to rest. Père Lachaise in the Northeast is the largest and most popular one. Other places worth a visit are the Montmartre Cemetery in the north, and the Montparnasse Cemetery in the south.
The tomb of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini who spent much of his life in Paris. The tomb is now empty. Regular travelogue readers will may remember that he's now buried at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.
Tombs in all shapes
and sizes.
The cemetery was first established in 1804. It covers 44 hectares. One million people have been buried there to date.
War memorial for the defenders of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s.
Someone didn't make it back in time.
Grave of French composer Georges Bizet.
Resting place of French writer Honoré de Balzac.
Not a lot of people around in the morning.
Grave of French writer Marcel Proust.
The crematorium of the cemetery.
One of the entries of the columbarium.
Maria Callas still has a cenotaph here but I didn't know the number of her place.
Two of France's most famous actors, husband and wife Simone Signoret and Yves Montand.
The tomb of Oscar Wilde. By now covered by a glass barrier to prevent his admirers from leaving lipstick marks. Though they still leave them on the upper half.
There's not much space left.
A number of Asian graves that stood out.
I almost gave up searching for her grave since I wasn't looking for Madame Lamboukas.
Tomb of French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, again better known under his stage name Molière.
The Carrefour Grand Rond.
Probably the most popular grave of the cemetery, Jim Morrison.
So popular that they again had to install a barrier to keep people from getting too close.
French director Claude Chabrol.
Tomb of Vivant Denon. He was the first Director of the Louvre museum. They named one of the three wings after him.
Richly decorated tomb of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin who lived many years in Paris. Parents didn't stop taking pictures of their two kids in front of the tomb.
By the time we left things started get a little more crowded.
Next we went to the Promenade plantée, which is just a short Metro ride away. This split house is part of the promenade.
The Promenade plantée is an almost five kilometres long park built on top of obsolete railway infrastructure. This might sound familiar to people who have visited New York. The High Line was inspired by the Parisian project.
Eye-catching building next to the park.
The Coulée verte was created in 1993.
The promenade is part of Celine and Jesse's walk and talk during which they catch up on what happened during the nine years they didn't see each other.
I like the small smoke stacks.
The western entrance of the promenade.
Under the first kilometre of the promenade is the Viaduc des Arts. It consists of about 50 arches, home of craft shops, ateliers and galleries.
Bridge with the promenade on top.
View along the arches of the Viaduc des Arts.
The southern part of the Canal Saint-Martin, the Bassin de l'Arsenal, which flows into the Seine behind that bridge.
The Jardin du port de l'Arsenal, a public park along the port.
There were surprisingly many boats at the port.
The canal disappears underground at the Place de la Bastille for about two kilometres until it re-surfaces near the Place de la République.
There was no particular reason to first make a slight detour to the Belleville metro station other than my desire to take a picture to honour the triplets.
Along the outside walls of the cemetery people prepared for a weekend flea market. If you're in Paris ever in need of a psychodelic Yoda portrait, that's the place to go to.
Main entrance of the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Paris has a number of cemeteries where famous people are laid to rest. Père Lachaise in the Northeast is the largest and most popular one. Other places worth a visit are the Montmartre Cemetery in the north, and the Montparnasse Cemetery in the south.
The tomb of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini who spent much of his life in Paris. The tomb is now empty. Regular travelogue readers will may remember that he's now buried at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.
Tombs in all shapes
and sizes.
The cemetery was first established in 1804. It covers 44 hectares. One million people have been buried there to date.
War memorial for the defenders of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s.
Someone didn't make it back in time.
Grave of French composer Georges Bizet.
Resting place of French writer Honoré de Balzac.
Not a lot of people around in the morning.
Grave of French writer Marcel Proust.
The crematorium of the cemetery.
One of the entries of the columbarium.
Maria Callas still has a cenotaph here but I didn't know the number of her place.
Two of France's most famous actors, husband and wife Simone Signoret and Yves Montand.
The tomb of Oscar Wilde. By now covered by a glass barrier to prevent his admirers from leaving lipstick marks. Though they still leave them on the upper half.
There's not much space left.
A number of Asian graves that stood out.
I almost gave up searching for her grave since I wasn't looking for Madame Lamboukas.
Tomb of French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, again better known under his stage name Molière.
The Carrefour Grand Rond.
Probably the most popular grave of the cemetery, Jim Morrison.
So popular that they again had to install a barrier to keep people from getting too close.
French director Claude Chabrol.
Tomb of Vivant Denon. He was the first Director of the Louvre museum. They named one of the three wings after him.
Richly decorated tomb of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin who lived many years in Paris. Parents didn't stop taking pictures of their two kids in front of the tomb.
By the time we left things started get a little more crowded.
Next we went to the Promenade plantée, which is just a short Metro ride away. This split house is part of the promenade.
The Promenade plantée is an almost five kilometres long park built on top of obsolete railway infrastructure. This might sound familiar to people who have visited New York. The High Line was inspired by the Parisian project.
Eye-catching building next to the park.
The Coulée verte was created in 1993.
The promenade is part of Celine and Jesse's walk and talk during which they catch up on what happened during the nine years they didn't see each other.
I like the small smoke stacks.
The western entrance of the promenade.
Under the first kilometre of the promenade is the Viaduc des Arts. It consists of about 50 arches, home of craft shops, ateliers and galleries.
Bridge with the promenade on top.
View along the arches of the Viaduc des Arts.
The southern part of the Canal Saint-Martin, the Bassin de l'Arsenal, which flows into the Seine behind that bridge.
The Jardin du port de l'Arsenal, a public park along the port.
There were surprisingly many boats at the port.
The canal disappears underground at the Place de la Bastille for about two kilometres until it re-surfaces near the Place de la République.