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Published: October 4th 2009
My last few days in Paris were quite busy as I was trying to see everything that was left in the City of Lights. Needless to say, I failed, but hopefully I can head back every now and then to see some more sights.
Thursday, Peter and I went to Père Lachaise cemetery, which lies on the outskirts of the city. My Lonely Planet guide tells me it's the most visited cemetery in the world. It was really interesting and walked the line between pretty and slightly creepy quite well. We chose not to buy the expensive tourist maps to the cemetery and instead just used the free one given to us by the nice man in the office. They listed the most famous people in the cemetery and marked their plot with a large circle, so when we actually found their area, it was kind of like Where's Waldo. We saw some of the most popular ones: Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, La Fontaine, Molière, and Oscar Wilde. Jim Morrison's grave had the most people clustered around it, but Oscar Wilde's was the most interesting. It was covered in kisses and messages all left in red lipstick. Had I known
this was the thing to do, I would have tracked down some red lipstick and brought it with me. An Australian lady asked if Peter and I were planning to kiss the statue because she really wanted a photo of someone doing it but wasn't willing to herself. We said no (due to lack of appropriate red lipstick, obviously) and she said it was probably for the best since we didn't want to catch swine flu from kissing tombstones...
Friday, I went up to Montmartre, which is probably my favorite touristy thing in Paris. If you've seen the movie Amélie, then you know the neighborhood. Sacré Coeur is an absolutely beautiful church, and it just so happened that the weather was perfect so I got some great photos of the white church against a very blue sky. After wandering through Place des Tertres (a square full of cafés and artists selling their works) and fighting off the artists who wanted to sketch my portrait, I sat on the step leading up to Sacré Coeur to eat my lunch. I overheard some Americans talking near me and I commented on the woman's shoes (the topic of the discussion). This led
to me being kidnapped by the family and taken around Paris with them.
It turns out the family was from Atlanta (and boy did they have southern accents!) and were in town for Katie's wedding to her French boyfriend. I met Katie, her mom, her brother, her aunt, and her fabulous gay cousin. We crossed the city together and went to Notre Dame (I actually went in this time), then wandered around the Latin Quarter with them. I helped them get back to the apartment they were renting, where they gave me real southern sweet tea and some ice cream. It was nice to hang out with some Americans for the day, and they were just as crazy as my own extended family, so it felt a bit like home.
We had planned to go to Versailles together the next day, but things ended up not working out. Instead, I stayed in Boulogne-Billancourt with Aude and we baked up a storm. She made a quiche lorraine, while I made chocolate chip banana muffins and a chocolate-pear crumble (which is pretty much the best idea EVER).
I somehow managed to shove all my stuff back into my bags,
but then realized I wouldn't be able to carry them all at once. I had to take two métros, go up a bunch of stairs, then catch a train up North, then somehow get my bags to my dorm. I ended up leave a duffel bag and a small backpack at Aude's and just struggled with my suitcase and trekking pack up to Douai.
At the Gare du Nord, I dropped quite a few euros on a train pass (for 49 euros a year, it saves me at least 20%!o(MISSING)n all train tickets, which will be very useful when I travel on the weekends!) and three train tickets. I am coming back to Paris next weekend to get the rest of my bags and so Mozart, l'Opéra Rock. I am SO excited about the show. It's a comédie musicale about the life of Mozart, which sounds terribly boring, I know. However, please watch the video for
l'Assasymphonie or
Tatoue-moi and you'll get an idea of how ridiculous this is. Aude swears it's not a farce, however. I suppose we shall see.
Anyway, at the train station, I met up with Sarah and ran into Brian...and off we
went up north!
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Julia
non-member comment
You will make this chocolate pear thing for me when you get home. Oh, you will. That sounds awesome. Mozart was fabulous.