Pere LaChaise Cemetary

We visited the Pere La Chaise Cemetery on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning. The cemetery stretches out over 109 acres and so we only saw a small portion of it. We picked up a map on our way in and I picked three of the graves I was interested in seeing and then we started our walk. As you can see the site was very old. I don't know exactly how old but I'm sure their website would give that information. You can even take a virtual tour and walk through it yourself.

There were stairs there also but not as many as you would expect. Mostly we just walked on cobblestones that were tilted to the point that you had to really pay attention where you were walking so as to not twist an ankle. All the tombs were right next to each other. Row upon row of the most beautifully designed homes of the beloved that I have ever seen.

As an artist I kept looking at all the detail and thinking I would use some of the design elements in my art. I took so many pictures here. Some were up close so that I could see the design.

It was overwhelming to see so many beautiful structures and I kept wondering who these people where and what their stories where. I did see some famous people's graves. Jim Morrison, Delacroix, Fredrick Chopin. There was a group of teenagers there looking for Jim Morrison's grave and we were all a bit lost because the map was a bit unclear but leave it to the teenagers to find it. It took some maneuvering between graves to find his so that is why we, who were staying on the path, were not being successful. This one was Fredrick Chopin's grave and as you can see, people still bring flowers to honor him.

I think this one may have actually been a chapel for services there. In any case, they were all amazing. The sun was filtering through the trees and the birds where chirping and it was a beautiful morning to walk through the cemetery and take pictures.