Since I've been in Paris seven days and still have over a week off before I begin my classes, I've had a lot of spare time. So much so, that I've started coming up with assignments for myself. I guess maybe "assignments" is the wrong word – it's more like a list of potential accomplishments, I suppose. Perhaps one of the most developed of those potential accomplishments can be summarized in three words: Tessa's Cemetery Tours.
I visited Père-Lachaise Cemetery during my first trip to Paris in 2009 and was astounded by the history, beauty and peacefulness the nearly 109-acre cemetery had to offer. So I figured this time around, I would do more than visit le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise – I would start my own non-profit business: individual self-guided tours of 20 of Paris's most notable cemeteries. These cemeteries include (but are not limited to): Auteuil, Batignolles, Belleville, Bercy, Calvaire, Charonne, Gentilly, Grenelle, La Villette, Montmartre, Montparnasse, Montrouge, Panthéon, Passy, Père-Lachaise, Saint-Denis, Saint-Mandé, Saint-Vincent, Valmy and Vaugirard.
I visited Père-Lachaise Cemetery during my first trip to Paris in 2009 and was astounded by the history, beauty and peacefulness the nearly 109-acre cemetery had to offer. So I figured this time around, I would do more than visit le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise – I would start my own non-profit business: individual self-guided tours of 20 of Paris's most notable cemeteries. These cemeteries include (but are not limited to): Auteuil, Batignolles, Belleville, Bercy, Calvaire, Charonne, Gentilly, Grenelle, La Villette, Montmartre, Montparnasse, Montrouge, Panthéon, Passy, Père-Lachaise, Saint-Denis, Saint-Mandé, Saint-Vincent, Valmy and Vaugirard.
Le Cimetière du Montparnasse
Montparnasse Cemetery was the first stop made by Tessa's Tours, and boy, was it good one to start with (even though it was completely unplanned).
Tuesday morning I decided to head over to the sixth arrondissement and check out my school, l'Institut Catholique de Paris. After exploring campus a bit, I headed to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens for an afternoon stroll, followed by a few cups of tea at le News Café. It was only 4:30 when I was finished, and I was feeling too adventurous to just head back to my apartment. Instead, I pulled out my pocket-sized Paris map book (courtesy of Émilien's mother) and decided to venture to the neighboring 14th arrondissement.
That's when I found le Cimetière du Montparnasse. One thing I noticed almost immediately was the variety of the origin of the people buried there. Some had traditional French names, while others had last names like "Lopez" or "Colin-Bianchi." There were also some names I couldn't tell you, because I don't understand how to read or pronounce Chinese. It's what some people might call "funny" – how sometimes society can only recognize those who are different as equal once they've already passed on. It was thoughts like this that filled my head as I walked up and down the passages at Montparnasse. But all this time spent philosophizing left me with not enough time to adequately explore (that and the fact that I got there 40 minutes before the gates closed for the evening).
Unfortunately, I didn't see any famous names or graves while I was there, but that's not because I didn't try. Like I previously said, I didn't plan to visit Montparnasse Cemetery that day, so I hadn't researched which graves I should hunt for, and I certainly didn't download a map of the cemetery like I wish I had in retrospect. I think I would have needed at least an hour and a half, maybe even two, to really get the full experience the cemetery has to offer. So once I'm done with all of Tessa's Tours, I think I might just have to make a second visit. I definitely wouldn't mind going there again, but next time I will make a point to see Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir's graves.
Tuesday morning I decided to head over to the sixth arrondissement and check out my school, l'Institut Catholique de Paris. After exploring campus a bit, I headed to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens for an afternoon stroll, followed by a few cups of tea at le News Café. It was only 4:30 when I was finished, and I was feeling too adventurous to just head back to my apartment. Instead, I pulled out my pocket-sized Paris map book (courtesy of Émilien's mother) and decided to venture to the neighboring 14th arrondissement.
That's when I found le Cimetière du Montparnasse. One thing I noticed almost immediately was the variety of the origin of the people buried there. Some had traditional French names, while others had last names like "Lopez" or "Colin-Bianchi." There were also some names I couldn't tell you, because I don't understand how to read or pronounce Chinese. It's what some people might call "funny" – how sometimes society can only recognize those who are different as equal once they've already passed on. It was thoughts like this that filled my head as I walked up and down the passages at Montparnasse. But all this time spent philosophizing left me with not enough time to adequately explore (that and the fact that I got there 40 minutes before the gates closed for the evening).
Unfortunately, I didn't see any famous names or graves while I was there, but that's not because I didn't try. Like I previously said, I didn't plan to visit Montparnasse Cemetery that day, so I hadn't researched which graves I should hunt for, and I certainly didn't download a map of the cemetery like I wish I had in retrospect. I think I would have needed at least an hour and a half, maybe even two, to really get the full experience the cemetery has to offer. So once I'm done with all of Tessa's Tours, I think I might just have to make a second visit. I definitely wouldn't mind going there again, but next time I will make a point to see Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir's graves.
Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
Now I know I said Tessa's Tours were self-guided and normally only meant for one (myself), but it's not every day you get to meet up with someone from back home in a foreign country. And Père-Lachaise is definitely not an every day cemetery. It's filled with tens of thousands of monuments, many of which are dedicated to some of the world's greatest names in history.
So Wednesday I met up with my friend from Marquette University, Tony Manno. We had both been to Paris and Père-Lachaise in high school, and since we're both studying abroad here, we figured we'd go back together.
After wandering around aimlessly for about 10 minutes, a middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown curly hair, complete with two dreadlocks and a bald spot, approached us. He told Tony and I that he knew a "short-cut" to Jim Morrison's grave. Normally I would have said no thanks and walked away, but this is Jim Morrison we're talking about here, people. Naturally, we followed him.
Please keep in mind we never asked for help from this man. We didn't ask for a tour or to be shown any short-cuts. But that one short-cut turned into somewhere near 20. After visiting the graves of famous people like Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Molière and Édith Piaf, our friendly little "tour guide" graciously asked us for a tip. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess my Economics professor was right, "there's no such thing as a free lunch." Oh well. A couple euros and one good story later, Tony and I were on our separate ways back to our respective apartments, and I was checking off another item on my to do list.
So that's two down and 18 to go for Tessa's Cemetery Tours. And I'm having a great experience so far. Did I mention all but one of the cemeteries on my list are free? Because as a broke college student studying abroad, that's definitely one of the perks ...
So Wednesday I met up with my friend from Marquette University, Tony Manno. We had both been to Paris and Père-Lachaise in high school, and since we're both studying abroad here, we figured we'd go back together.
After wandering around aimlessly for about 10 minutes, a middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown curly hair, complete with two dreadlocks and a bald spot, approached us. He told Tony and I that he knew a "short-cut" to Jim Morrison's grave. Normally I would have said no thanks and walked away, but this is Jim Morrison we're talking about here, people. Naturally, we followed him.
Please keep in mind we never asked for help from this man. We didn't ask for a tour or to be shown any short-cuts. But that one short-cut turned into somewhere near 20. After visiting the graves of famous people like Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Molière and Édith Piaf, our friendly little "tour guide" graciously asked us for a tip. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess my Economics professor was right, "there's no such thing as a free lunch." Oh well. A couple euros and one good story later, Tony and I were on our separate ways back to our respective apartments, and I was checking off another item on my to do list.
So that's two down and 18 to go for Tessa's Cemetery Tours. And I'm having a great experience so far. Did I mention all but one of the cemeteries on my list are free? Because as a broke college student studying abroad, that's definitely one of the perks ...