Dead Bones Day (Day 34 - GToE)

Today was all about being in the world of the dead. Okay, maybe not actually in the world of the dead, but surrounded by the dead. I visited two tourist sites today that are all about dead people: Père Lachaise Cemetery and the Catacombs of Paris.

Opened in 1804, Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris; measuring 110 acres. Currently, there are over 1 million bodies buried there, and many more in the columbarium, which holds the cremains of those who had requested cremation. "Père Lachaise is still an operating cemetery and accepting new burials. However, the rules to be buried in a Paris cemetery are rather strict: people may be buried in one of these cemeteries if they die in the French capital city or if they lived there. Being buried in Père Lachaise is even more difficult nowadays as there is a waiting list: very few plots are available" (Wikipedia). Burial in this prestigious cemetery carries a price tag of approximately €11,000 for a 21 square-foot plot. Ouch. But some of the most interesting famous people are buried here. Just to list a few names of the graves I visited today: Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Moliere, Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison of the Doors and quite a few more. I spent the entire morning trekking all over this incredible cemetery, hunting down all the plots that interested me. Weirdly, I was unaware that Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tokas are buried at Père Lachaise. For some reason, they were left off the official map. Drat!

I will say that there were some changes to the cemetery from 14 years ago. One being Oscar Wilde's grave now has a clear plexiglass box around it. The other that Jim Morrison's grave now has a barrier around it so you cannot get close to either grave. It is a sad statement of the current times that people cannot be trusted not to desecrate the tombs. Makes me glad that I'm on my way out and I hope I return to a better world. 

After leaving the cemetery, I headed back to my hostel because I needed to do laundry. Oh, so exciting! Fortunately it didn't take me long.

Then I was off to visit the Catacombs (the underground ossuaries). The ossuaries hold the remains of about six million people and fill a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of historical stone mines, giving it its reputation as "The Worlds Largest Grave". If you remember, when I was in Prague, I went to visit the Bone Church in Kutná Hora a little more than 2 weeks ago. That was bizarre, but the Catacombs are just overwhelming. The amount of bones just seems interminable. Just when you think there can't be any more bones, you turn a corner and there they are. While not as artistic as the Bone Church, the Catacombs are ... erm ... is it wrong to same impressive? 

While waiting in line for the Catacombs, I met a very nice young American couple who are currently living in England. He is in the US military and she works in a video shop. It made the hour long wait in line much more enjoyable. After departing the Catacombs, I took a quick jaunt over to the Arc de Triumphe in order to photograph it at night and then I was going to hit up La Duree for dinner and scrumptious desserts but the wait was entirely too long. I decided to eat a little cafe near my hostel instead.

Check out all Day 34 photos on my GToE photo site. Tomorrow, I'm either off to the Loire Valley or Mont Saint Michel. I will know when I get to the tour office which it is.