Advertisement
Published: July 19th 2009
Day 12: Friday, July 3, 2009
PARIS, FRANCE I'd set the alarm to awake at 7:00 am, but didn't really get up until a bit later. Was scheduled to check out today and had intended to go to Normandy, but that didn't happen. I spent morning gathering information and planning, but it became evident at 10:00 am that I really wasn't ready to go to Normandy yet. So I opted to stay in Paris another day to rest, catch up on my Blog, and better prepare for Normandy.
Gorgeous sunny day. Haven't had rain since reaching Paris. Didn't want to waste the entire day sitting in my room, so looked for things I could see or do. Decided on the following:
• Visit Le Pere Lachaise cemetery on northeast side of Paris.
• Go by Arc de Triumphe, get a good picture. Last time I was here, it started raining when I was there.
• Purchase charger for cell phone. I have UK charger which I can't adapt for use here.
10:30 am - Asked hotel staff if I could stay another day. No problem. Will settle additional charges when I check out tomorrow.
Stepped out of hotel to
look for quick breakfast. Just wanted a croisant and orance juice, but didn't see what I wanted. Instead went to local Franprix grocery store and purchased a salmon sandwich and orange juice for 2.61 euro total (2.07 euro sandwich + 0.54 euro orange juice; 3.66 USD total). Returned to hotel.
New plan is to get up early Saturday, check out, take train to Caen, France. Tour Normandy. Finish touring Sunday, St. Michel. Maybe it would be smarter to go to St. Michel Saturday, then tour Normandy beaches Sunday. Look into it. Made reservation for Hotel du Havre in Caen through Booking.com. With that done, I can go about my day.
1:00 pm - Left hotel to go to
Pere Lachaise cemetery. At S. Germain metro (subway) station, purchased Paris day pass. Took #4 line north. Intended to change to the #3 line at Strasburg Saint-Denis. However, once I got there, found that #3 line doesn't stop in that station. Either my metro map bad or I mis-read it. Took #4 line back one stop to Reaumur Sebastopol station, then transferred to #3 line east (headed towards Gallieni). Went six stops to Pere Lachaise station where I got off.
2:05
pm - Arrived at Pere Lachaise cemetery. One of the cemetery entrances is right across the street from the metro exit. As mentioned in "Rick Steves' France", there was a woman next to the cemetery entrance selling maps of the cemetery. I purchased one for 2 euros (2.80 USD). The map provides a layout of the cemetery with the location of many popular names. It has an index of names and shows on the map where they are located. Quite nice and well worth it considering the size of the cemetery.
About Père Lachaise Cemetery: According to Wikipedia, it "is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France at (48 ha, 118.6 acres), though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs. The cemetery takes its name from Père François de la Chaise (1624-1709), confessor to Louis XIV." (1) Established by Napoleon I in 1804, the cemetery is home to some of the city's most illustrious dead. Frédéric Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf, Molière, Jean de La Fontaine, Sarah Bernhardt, Isadora Duncan, and Jim Morrison are just a few of the notables to be found here. Though it's another sunny day, it's not as hot as the past two days. Humidity seems down and there
Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery
This cat was hanging out near Chopin's grave.is more of a breaze. It also helps that the cemetery offers a lot of shade.
The cemetery is very large and quite interresting. The cemetery almost has a park feel about it. Many of the grave markers are ornate monuments to the departed or structures like mini chapels. It's facinating to walk around and observe the various designs. I highly recommend it.
A lot of walking. I feel the makings of a blister developing. Seems like there is a lot of auto traffic in the cemetery. I'm guessing all the vehicles are the maintenance personel, but gets a little annoying constantly having to get out of the way of these vehicles. Some of them seem to be moving along faster than they should.
Jim Morrison (of Doors fame) seems to still be a popular stop for people. Fresh flowers were on the grave and I had to fight a crowd to get close. His resting site is wedged between some others, so difficult to get to it when there is a crowd.
Chopan's grave site is well taken care of. Many flowers. A maintenance person was watering all the flowers when I was there. He
kept getting in way of me taking a photo. Also had to contend with two different school groups that parked there for a few minutes.
Oscar Wilde's grave stone/monument is a bit different in that people seem to think its a form of respect to deface his grave stone. Not in a bad way, but with lipstick kisses and messages of endearment. The entire stone is covered with it and you can see where many other messages have been washed/scrubbed off before.
I covered a good bit of the cemetery, but it's so large that it's difficult to cover all of it. So after I had my fill, I left around 4:30 pm. Next stop,
Arc de Triumphe. Took #3 metro line to Opera station. The Opera station is joined to the Auber station which allows for the transferred to RER "A" line,... long walk though. Took RER "A" line to Charles de Gaul Etoile (which I believe it the traffic circle around the Arc de Triumphe) station. The station exits right at the Arc de Triumphe.
Still very sunny. Sun not coming from an ideal direction, but still got some good pictures. The traffic through the circle is
a free for all. Vehicles are going in all directions with cars constantly getting cut off. It appears the circle favors the bold, while the timid get cut off.
Feeling hungry. Could really go for food and a beer. Instead of doing what I'd like to do, I saw a McDonald's across the Champs Elysees and opted to go there so as to save money and time. I wanted to get back to my hotel to get caught up on my Blogs and prepare for tomorrow. Was a little surprised when I walked in. They had a McCafe to the left and the main McDonald's was streight ahead. Unlike in the USA, the McCafe was a separate thing with real cafe offerings that you never see in a McDonald's, such as pastries, muffins, and such. Lines weren't too bad a the McDonald's, yet they seem to be moving slowly. When I finally got served, had terrible difficulty ordering. Ordered the #1 meal (Big Mac, fries, and Coke), yet this became a very difficult process. I specifically ordered the #1 because I thought it would be simple. Of course not. The kid behind the counter seemed to be new and
he didn't understand english. He kept asking me questions. Some I understood, but most I didn't...
• Meal?
• Size of fries?
• Size of drink?
• Type of drink?
These were the questions I was getting, but in French. Meal? Oui (yes) was my response; Size of fries? Petit; and so on. I felt like saying just give me something, I don't care. Finally we got through all the questions and I received my order. Cost 6.10 euro (8.55 USD). Went upstairs and took stool against front window so I could watch crowds go by while eating. I ate fast and was out of there fairly quickly.
Walked along Champs Elysees a bit when I saw an Orange store which sells cell phone and computer items. Stopped in and purchased a cell phone charger for my Nokia cell phone (24.90 euro; 34.87 USD).
Went in George V station and took metro #1 line to Concorde station. Trains on #1 line were fully packed with people. Didn't get on first train that came through, but pushed my way onto the next one (literally). Off at Concorde station and changed to the #12 line heading south. Got off at Rue du Bac station.
Figured this was close enough for me to walk. It was, only problem is I didn't have my street map and was a little disorented. But I eventually found my way.
7:00 pm - Returned to hotel, preceeded to get some things done. Downloaded photos from camera to computer, then started sorting them. However, I started to nod off. Decided to take a nap.
Awoke sometime between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm. Still light out. Dusk hasn't been falling until nearly 10:00 pm. Still groggy, but I want to get work done. Decided to step out for some desert and caffine.
While working, I had CNN on TV in background. It's only one of two stations that are in english. The other station is BBC news. Problem is, if you watch for any length of time, you see the same stories over and over.
One thing I like on CNN is every so often they provide weather info for all the different european cities. According to CNN, the high in Paris today was 27 C (81 F). This agrees with what I felt. Definitely better than previous days.
Notes & Misc Information: • USD =
Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery
Jim Morrison's grave. Off to the left was a crowd of people. United States Dollars.
• Currency: The currency in France is the Euro (EUR). The exchange rate was 1.40042 USD = 1 EUR or 1 USD = 0.71407
EUR as of June 25, 2009.
• Sunrise = 4:45 am
• Sunset = 9:22 pm
• Temp Low = {unknown}
• Temp High = 27 C (81 F)
Sources: • 1. Père Lachaise Cemetery:
http://www.pere-lachaise.com/perelachaise.php?lang=en. Also check out Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%!C(MISSING)3%!A(MISSING)8re_Lachaise_Cemetery.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.276s; Tpl: 0.03s; cc: 6; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0503s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
