Day of the Dead, part I
Jun. 10th, 2002 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blodeueddOne of the offshoots of being a world capital with a long history is having lots of famous dead people to bury. I went and visited some of the illustrious corpses at the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise this morning, among them Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Appolinaire, Colette, and of course Jim Morrison. I tried but couldn't find Corot's grave.
The cemetery is a wonderful place to wander around in. Very peaceful, except when you run into visiting school groups, very green and filled with birds, mostly crows and magpies. I even saw a little cat, but it ignored me and walked away.
I didn't bother updating yesterday because I spent most of the day on the train. I stopped for half and hour in Belgium, just to say I was there, and arrived in Paris at 6 o'clock. I'm staying at a different hostel this time, on the other side of town, called the Three Ducks Hostel.
After the cemetery, I decided to go to the Louvre, since I wanted to go there anyway. I spent over four hours and that was the high-speed visit. The place is huge! At first, in the Egyptian and Greek and Roman collections, I actually took the time to stop and read some of the little placards, but soon realized the error of my ways. I zipped through Mesopotamia and the Middle Ages (but I'd seen lots of similar medieval things at the Cluny and Kunsthistorisches museums, so that's okay) and a few rooms of French Impressionists, on my way to visit Vermeer and Rembrandt... or so I thought. Turns out, the Dutch and Flemish wing is closed on Mondays. I don't know, is it worth paying admission again to go?
That, in fact, is the only reason I saw the lady with the mysterious smile; I was planning to skip her to see the Lacemaker, but then thought, "I'm here, and I have the time..." It's pretty funny, how she has a whole wall to herself when a few rooms away Delacroixs of gigantic proportions are crammed together. I even did myself proud and recognized a Caravaggio from across the room!
My time's up, more tomorrow!
The cemetery is a wonderful place to wander around in. Very peaceful, except when you run into visiting school groups, very green and filled with birds, mostly crows and magpies. I even saw a little cat, but it ignored me and walked away.
I didn't bother updating yesterday because I spent most of the day on the train. I stopped for half and hour in Belgium, just to say I was there, and arrived in Paris at 6 o'clock. I'm staying at a different hostel this time, on the other side of town, called the Three Ducks Hostel.
After the cemetery, I decided to go to the Louvre, since I wanted to go there anyway. I spent over four hours and that was the high-speed visit. The place is huge! At first, in the Egyptian and Greek and Roman collections, I actually took the time to stop and read some of the little placards, but soon realized the error of my ways. I zipped through Mesopotamia and the Middle Ages (but I'd seen lots of similar medieval things at the Cluny and Kunsthistorisches museums, so that's okay) and a few rooms of French Impressionists, on my way to visit Vermeer and Rembrandt... or so I thought. Turns out, the Dutch and Flemish wing is closed on Mondays. I don't know, is it worth paying admission again to go?
That, in fact, is the only reason I saw the lady with the mysterious smile; I was planning to skip her to see the Lacemaker, but then thought, "I'm here, and I have the time..." It's pretty funny, how she has a whole wall to herself when a few rooms away Delacroixs of gigantic proportions are crammed together. I even did myself proud and recognized a Caravaggio from across the room!
My time's up, more tomorrow!
Un peu longuet cet hiatus ma Greluche
Date: 2002-06-10 12:44 pm (UTC)Je n'oublierai pas de mentionner à Tristan que tu as vu le tombeau de Jim lui-même.
Tout d'un coup il me revient un souvenir. Je ne sais pas si le Quai de la Mégisserie existe toujours comme au bon vieux temps. Il y avait là une sorte de longue rue où il y avait plein de magasins, genre animalerie.
Puis si tu n'as absolument rien de mieux à faire, tu peux bouquiner sur les quais (comme dans la/les chanson/s) et aller faire un tour sur la rue Mouffetard, en pensant à moi.
J'espère que ton genou va tenir le coup. Je suis encore à Bisson, donc en principe au travail, je vais donc couper court et probablement t'envoyer un autre petit mot plus tard.
Colle-colle.
Mamansan.