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Day of the Dead, part I
Jun. 10th, 2002 06:12 pmOne 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!
