Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

On Sunday afternoon, after attending a lovely service at the American Church in Paris in the morning, I went to Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, the largest cemetery in central Paris. It's a fascinating tangle of cobblestone streets, dirt paths, and memorials from simple headstones to elaborate miniature chapels. 

I had a map with a list of famous folks I wanted to visit, and I found most of them:

 Composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

 Composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Writer Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)

 Writer Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

 the mother of modern dance 

critic, teacher, scholar, and composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice  

Oscar Wilde has to be protected from lipstick kisses...  

writer and salon hostess Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)

singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) and family 

French comedic playwright Molière (1622-1673)

He died 150 before the cemetery began... his body was moved here as a publicity stunt because no one was buying grave sites...

Jim Morrison (1943-1971) of the Doors

Another grave that has to be blocked off by metal fences and apparently sometimes a security guard because people are insane... 

 (my) composer Francis Poulenc! I'm perplexed by his grave because his birthdate is off by one year... he was born in 1899 but it says 1900 on this little chapel. His niece is buried here as well - she died a few months after he did - and maybe she wasn't sure of the year? It's also interesting that while the chapel has that little cross-like symbol at the top and stained glass in the back, there is nothing overtly religious about either one. Then again, compared to some of the other musicians' graves, like those below, it does look more "religious." Interesting... 

 composer and piano builder Ignace Pleyel (1757-1831)

opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

His birth year is off by one, as well... Is there something I'm missing here? 

good old Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) 

Beethoven's favorite composer, Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842)

It was a little warm this afternoon, and the next few days are going to be pretty hot - for Paris, anyway - but it was fun to poke around! After dinner, Steve and I went to see the Arc de Triomphe and get a closer look at the Eiffel Tower. 

The traffic is light in this picture, but we both thought the roundabout around the Arc is insane and we'd never want to drive through it. No lanes, ACK. 

Lady Liberty's eyes... yikes!