Paris 2014 - Day 10, route 69 and Pere Lachaise

Today's agenda was strongly influenced by the Rick Steves 2014 guidebook ( that Chris and Jason took out of the Toronto library) and Chris' internet research.
Jason and Chris went for a morning walk and bought back coffee, croissant and baguette (Chris is not going to be able to stay on her no carbs diet here). Chris (Welsh friend, this is going to get confusing) and I made up baguette sandwiches for a picnic lunch, had another coffee at the café and then we set off on the Metro (Line 6) to the Eiffel Tower. We just walked underneath it to where we could catch the Route 69 bus. This was recommended in the Rick Steves book as the best way to tour the sights without paying for a tour bus. So for the price of a bus ticket (1.37Euro) we drove past various sights (Les Invalides, Notre Dame, H'otel De Ville. Place Bastille etc. etc) with Christine reading about the locations from the guide book.

We got of the bus at the end of the route and walked straight into Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Again with the help of the guidebook we walked down the hill, through the cemetery, meandering back and forth from the grave of one famous person to another. We saw the graves of Rodin, Stein, Edith Piaf. Moliere, Chopin, Colette, Rossini, Haussmann and Jim Morrison. Its rather sad that with all those other famous and brilliant individuals, Jim Morrison's garners the most visitors. This time I played the tour guide and read aloud the information about each grave and its occupants life and connection  to Paris..

Covered with lichen and I couldn't read any identification but very brooding.

The angel on Oscar Wilde's tomb. Fans put lipstick kisses all over the tomb. It now has a plexiglass
frame around it and people kiss the stone itself  or kiss pieces of paper and toss them behind the glass.

One of the many sculptures on the tombs for victims of the concentration camps and
French resistance.

Some graves are very old and falling apart, some in good repair, some very modern
as a plot can still be purchased for 11,000Euro.

This is a 100 acre cemetery with a population of 70,000

Chris and Jason eating lunch half way through our cemetery tour

A little black and white cat, asleep on a tomb, made me think of Rasta.

We probably spent at least 2 hours in Pere Lachaise and then Christine and I caught the 69 back down to Isle de la Cite while Chris and Jason headed off to do a walking tour (from another library book) to Sacre Coeur (they didn't make it by the way, had to take the metro).
While Chris and I walked we did some souvenir shopping and the plan was for Chris to tour Ste Chapelle while I did some sketching in the flower market. However the line up at Ste Chapelle was too long to be bothered with, so we walked over the river to Shakespeare and Company, where we were to meet Chris and Jason again. This is an English bookstore in an amazing old building. A warren of small rooms, beamed ceilings and floor to ceiling bookshelves. They stock new, used and rare books and also run a program where aspiring writers can sleep there if they help with the store and read and write every day. We were there for a free concert that was given by a young Australian called Lily Louise Richardson. Christine found out about it while wandering on the internet looking at the writers program info. The concert was about 40mins long and held in a small upstairs room. She has a lovely voice and sang covers and songs she had written:

Tomorrow another big day - Versailles