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Tagged With "Pere Lachaise"

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Re: Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

PortMoresby ·
Poor Mme Derval, who seems not to have had a name.
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Re: Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

Paul Heymont ·
I noticed that...but for me, the hardest moment of the afternoon was the sense of relentless mortality I felt at the grave of Louise Weber, "La Goulue." To look at the severe and confining stone box, and think at the same time of the image we carry of her...
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Re: Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

PortMoresby ·
Speaking of la Goulue, you know the neighborhood, PHeymont. She could have just about fallen off the stage at the Moulin Rouge into that box. The famous nightclub is at the bottom of Rue Lepic, mentioned in a recent blog, and some of my "best friends" were can-can dancers. Before someone asks, not la Goulue. And don't feel bad, P., she's enjoying the rest.
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Re: Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

Paul Heymont ·
She died nearby, as well. She returned to Montmartre in 1928, a year before her death, and eked out a living selling matches and peanuts on a corner near the Moulin Rouge.
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Re: Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

PortMoresby ·
Hmm, that sounds pretty good, ending my days in the old neighborhood, selling peanuts to supplement my Social Security. What I don't sell, I can eat. I can think of worse ways.
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Re: Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

DrFumblefinger ·
A fascinating tour, Paul. But I'm a little disappointed there's no pic of Jim Morrison's grave (he of the rock group "The Doors" fame).
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Re: Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

PortMoresby ·
On the day I visited Pere Lachaise there was an elderly man flamboyantly "tending" Piaf's grave. Dressed theatrically, with long silver hair, he'd drawn a crowd, as I'm sure was his intent, while pretending to all appearances, that we weren't there. He circled the stone with over-the-top caring gestures and I wondered if he considered it his "job" to perpetuate the drama of The Little Sparrow. He was certainly succeeding that day.
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Re: Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

Paul Heymont ·
Sorry, Dr. F...we would have stopped by there, but the weather was looking worse...and I knew he'd have told me "Please don't stop the rain..."
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Re: Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

Paul Heymont ·
PM, we didn't see the Piaf admirer, but the cemetery has quite a few characters in attendance; it can be quite a show. And there are some who will gladly lead you all over...and only tell you at the end that they are expecting to be paid. We'll probably visit Montmartre cemetery next summer...it's a grave commitment...
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Re: Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

PortMoresby ·
Pheymont, I'm sure you're familiar with Montmartre and know when you're at the cemetery you'll be very close to Rue Lepic and environs, my "home" neighborhood. If you haven't already, from the cemetery walk east on Blvd Clichy to Rue Lepic, turn left and go uphill, jog right/left at the top onto Rue Tholoze where you'll pass my first Paris home, and on a few steps more to the old moulin of Impressionist fame. After years and many visits it's still my favorite village and, after trying...
Blog Post

Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

Paul Heymont ·
For reasons I can’t completely explain, the great cemeteries of Paris are among the city’s major tourist attractions. There is the amazing statuary to be seen, yes. There are the graves of the rich and famous, certainly. There is the...
Blog Post

Pere Lachaise: Home to Permanent Parisians

Paul Heymont ·
After the French Revolution, came the cemetery revolution. Paris' Pere Lachaise cemetery was in the vanguard of this 19th century movement, when small churchyards in expanding cities could no longer hold all the dead--and could no longer be allowed to...
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