When Akira left, Linny and I had a few days before taking trains to Rome, where we'd meet our art group. There were still a few stops to make in the city, and we were looking forward to going to our friend Penny's place for dinner and conversation. But the first stop was just across the street. Père-Lachaise Cemetery is an interesting place for more than its antiquity and the notoriety of some guests. It's a park. It's a meditation. And probably a mediation. It's an ecumenical graveyard where rituals mingle. It's also got some great doors.
Père-Lachaise fascinated me the first time I visited when Penny Allen lead Linny and me on a super walking tour of this walled city of the dead and the adjacent neighborhoods--including visiting a tree that she and the neighborhood had fought the city to preserve. Now, we were staying directly across the street from the famous and now less dead for it. We'd also been dealt good weather. Plus I had gotten a map for my phone that promised (and fulfilled) that it would lead me right to any famous grave I chose. It's usually pretty easy to follow the flow, too, or just ask "Whose grave are you head for now?" Some are attractions because they're attractions etc, i.e., Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Modigliani, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Marcel Proust, Isadora Duncan, and Richard Wright. Most are less well known or even unknown. There are also the memorials to victims and heroes of too many wars and other inhumanities. Yet, it is a peaceful space.
Also on our list was Linny's sketching session at Deyrolle and my search for a new fountain pen near the Sorbonne. The perfect neighborhood for such a quest. I scored a sweet new tool and took some interesting photos in neighborhoods nearby toward the river. We were getting a bit weary of walking on cobbles—or anything hard, at that point. Our sojourns were less aggressive, but we were still packing in at least five miles per day when we left the flat. Our most walking had been the day before with Akira, when we logged over 7 miles of cobbles on hills and we'd gone up and back down 62 stories according to the tech in my pocket.After I rendezvoused with Linny, we walked back where I'd been to small bistro that was just opening for the day. The morning had been calm and good. Unhurried, but with the realization that we'd soon be gone. After our rejuvenating lunch, we went back out to chase one more Paris moment. Maybe more, if we were quick about it.
We may have overdone it when we walked down to L'Orangerie, but once we were inside, we stayed on our feet and we toured it all and then we sat and stared. Both of us sketched, but Linny persisted and I followed my camera around the galleries. Above are a few I stared at. I was noticing with more sophistication because of Linny's pursuit of craft and art. And from my more thoughtful photography. On this day, I felt more like a collector than a viewer or participant, but my collecting was visual and I was gathering evidence of what I found interesting and what I wanted to learn.
We decided to spend another couple of hours in the Louvre. Linny wanted to look at the "Old Masters" and I was happy with any agenda, but preferred more modern. We hadn't counted on there being a long line on a rainy day, but there was. The umbrella vendors were cashing in. We'd learned our lesson when we wanted one for shade on the day we were here with Akira. So we had a large one we'd brought from home, but it was a blustery slow march toward the security checkpoint. The day withered, and by the time we got in and bought tickets, we figured we could only tackle a couple of galleries. Off we went. Soon, we were lost and frustrated, especially after several docents gave us specious information that was only about getting us out of their hair. The galleries we searched for simply didn't exist. We looked. In fact, they existed, but they were boarded over so the entrances were completely gone but nobody seemed to know. In fact, two galleries the Louvre was touting in its literature had been disappeared temporarily. By the time we gave up that quest, we raced to the far reaches of the European "Old Masters" and began our retreat toward the eventual exit, since the clock ticked toward closing time. We were just a bit pissed off. Those two tickets could have been dinner.
The exhibit I like best from that rainy day is the photo series near the hedge garden (above).
Photos above are inside our flat on Menilmontant. The layout was: one high-ceilinged great room with corner kitchen. Major portable storage along one wall, but a good basic livingroom space. Fully updated utilities with central space inside the front door given over to sink & shower, washer & dryer, and toilet. Three large bedrooms are in the rear within the general building that shares entry and stairs. It looks like this space was created from a ground floor flat and an existing wood structure—probably stables. The great room's four large automated skylights are an important feature, since there is no a/c. Paris can get insufferably hot and humid in the summer, but we were mostly enjoying dry autumn weather. Occasional showers.
As I've possibly already mentioned it: this flat was a lucky find, since it was not only spacious and well-located, but it came with an amazing library and a rich music collection. All three bedrooms had a wall of books. It was also in a good neighborhood to introduce Akira to France, Paris, & Europe.
Thank you!
