Hey everyone it’s time for another installment of one my favorite games while traveling: grave hunting. If you don’t know what grave hunting is, there is a crash course in the intro of our previous post on Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. And I know it’s two days due because last Saturday was Halloween and last Sunday it was All Saints Day (where you have to hear this on a loop) and the Dia de los Muertos in Mexico!
The undead are coming for you
Let’s get infused in history because that’s what cemeteries are about. Cemeteries were banned from Paris when the Cimetière des Innocents was closed in 1786, due to health issues. The cemeteries that were created then were all in the outskirts of the city, but apparently the city grew in a way that these were later assimilated. There is one for each cardinal point: Montmartre in the north, Père Lachaise in the east, Montparnasse in the south, and Passy in the west (I’m tempted to have a typo with this one).
The cat is the last from Les Petits Fréres des Pauvres
The cemetery is located at 37 Avenue Samson, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The cemetery is built below street level in the hollow of an old quarry with its entrance on Avenue Rachel under Rue Caulaincourt. It is a popular tourist destination. Not only is located in a popular neighborhood, it’s a ticket through Paris history and it also holds the graves of many famous artists who lived in the Montmartre area. Montmartre is known for having been an artsy center of Paris. Come to think of it, all of Paris is artsy.
An exhibitionist statue man
You can always check Wikipedia for a complete list of personalities that are buried there so that you can “hunt” them. We give you a short list of the big fish (not) swimming there:
- André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836), physicist (the electrical unit ampere is named after him);
- Dalida (1933-1987), Egyptian-born singer/actress (she was the first singer to receive a diamond disc);
- Edgar Degas (1834-1917), famous painter and sculptor;
- Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824-1895), novelist, playwright, son of the guy who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo;
- Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950), Russian ballet dancer (one of the most gifted dancers in history);
- Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), musical instrument artisan (inventor of the saxophone).
Vaslav Nijinsky is dancing in heaven with Patrick Swayze
Do it like Pokémón, gotta catch them all! If not, again, it’s a nice place to visit, relax, with a beautiful garden and trees. Well, a garden using dead people as compost.
Dalida forever
