Re: Cimetière Montmartre

On Dec 19, 2017 18:22, debrajoycedawson@gmail.com wrote:

December 19, 2017

We've been in Paris for 6 days. Every minute we have been on the move flitting somewhere by Metro in the morning, and walking for the rest of the day, before returning to our garret well after dark.

We're not really in a garrett; we are on the 2ème étage of a quirky hotel in the 11th arrondissement called Les Chansonnières.  This establishment is 150 yards from the Ménilmontant Metro stop. Most mornings, we exit the hotel walk a few steps and enter the bakery to buy a croissant, before hopping on the metro to be whisked away to our day's destination. We are walking between 6 to 10 miles a day, and in this manner, we have managed to cover quite a bit of Paris.

Today is our last full day in Paris, and I am so very anal about chronological order that it pains me to start writing about our last full day first! But, here goes.

We decided to do a self-guided walking tour of Montmartre, after which we walked to Cimetière Montmartre. I'd heard that quite a few famous artsy folk are buried there. We arrived at 4:50 pm, with a closing time of 5:30 pm. Hardly enough time, as this city of the dead is wall to wall graves, mausoleums, narrow cobblestone paths, moss, and uneven stairways. It was once a mass burial ground in the time of the Revolution; today, today it is so jam-packed that even if you have a map you are hard pressed to find someone.

The entire place has a heavy feel with so much stone. We felt we had time to locate three graves: two writers, Victor Hugo and Stendahl, and the artist, Degas. We only found Hugo, and search as ee dod the yhe other two, we were forced by time to flee bevause I had no deaire to be loced in a cemetary on a cold and damp winter's night.

I share three photos: Martin with Victor Hugo; and with a monument that reminded me of the Tardis; and a beautiful bronze tomb sculpture.