Last Weekend in Paris

FRIDAY

a.k.a. "Day of Death"

Up early to explore the catacombs again with Steph, one of my favorite places in Paris to this day. 7 million bodies were "arranged" in the catacombs. A morbid experience, but also fascinating. Besides, where else are you going to see so many skulls and bones??


After the catacombs, we went to two famous Parisian cemeteries: Cimitiere Montparnasse, and Cimitiere Pere-Lachaise, of which the latter is one of the largest and most famous cemeteries in the world. Walking around cemeteries, however, prooved a tiring and largely annoying experience, since nothing was numbered and we didn't have a particularly useful map. Still definitely worth it, though. In Montparnasse we saw the graves of Charles Baudelaire and Jean-Paul Satre and Simone de Beauvoir (they are buried together).

I found this clever little note left on Satre/de Beauvoir's grave(s) to be particularly intriguing:


It was my first time at Pere Lachaise, and I was fascinated. GORGEOUS cemetary, but extremely large and confusing. I saw the infamous grave of Oscar Wilde, with its lipstick-covered tombstone! And yes, you might say that I left a mark of my own...



Well, at least I can now die knowing ONE life goal was accomplished!

We also saw Edith Piaf's grave! Very exciting. I absolutely love her life story, and not only because I had to present on her for French class/listen to her songs about 1,000,000 times. For those less familiar with Edith Piaf's songs, download/youtube the following: La Vie en Rose (duh), Padam Padam, Non Je Ne Regrette Rien.


We also saw Moliere's grave and Jim Morrison's, both of which were a bit disappointing. Especially Jim Morrison's... not even a bust! Sad, just sad. And after all those angsty teenage years listening to the Doors!

Friday we also went to le Louvre for the last time, where we did a quick round of "best of" le Louvre: Renaissance and later years. I'll spare you pictures of the Mona Lisa, especially since, to be perfectly honest, le Louvre was one of my least favorite museums in Paris. Hold the rotten tomatoes, kids: I just like smaller museums.

Then we grabbed some delicious Lebanese food near the Pompidou (mmm... schwarma...) and called it a night, exhausted from walking so many miles of catacomb, cemetery, and museum. Oof!


SATURDAY

I took Steph to the famous flea market, where she bought a beret! This isn't the beret itself, but it looks pretty similar, and I like the picture:


After several hours of bargaining and scoping around, we trudged back to Montmartre, where we had our "Bohemian Day". We climbed the hill from Abbesses and FINALLY I got a chance to go to the Espace Dali! I was SO EXCITED. And it was in fact a fantastic museum, just small enough to be manageable, with plenty of amazing works. My favorites were his drawings; I might like them even better than his paintings! His Old Testament illustrations were my favorites. Here are a few from the "Don Quichotte" series, and my favorite from the Old Testament:


Next, exploring Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur again. We followed the Montmartre day with lunch/dinner at Cafe des Deux Moulins, where I made the unfortunate mistake of ordering Carpaccio de Boeuf when I was in a mood for a filet, having had a craving for hamburger for the past, oh, 4 months. Well, all in due time, I suppose.

Afterwards, the Pompidou for the last time! The Pompidou is one of my favorite places in Paris. As beautiful and much larger than the MoMA, with an amazing collection. And the architecture! I love it. Here is my favorite sculpture in the MoMA, which reminds me so much of Truffaut's Jules et Jim, which all of you should see:


After that, we were quite pooped, so we headed back for a nap and watching Wall-E on my PC (only the cutest movie in existence), where I took a nap to refresh for one of my favorite experiences of all of Paris: COEN BROTHERS MOVIE NIGHT AT LE CHAMPO! Le Champo is a movie theatre dedicated (found? maybe?) by Jacques Tati (the Charlie Chaplin of France, who directed and starred comedies like the adorable Mon Oncle of 1958, a veritable auteur of his time). So somehow Steph and I made it through three Coen Brothers movies and a croissant breakfast in the morning, with a total of about 1 hour of sleep all night. We saw Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou (HILARIOUS movie-- my first time seeing it!), and The Big Lebowski (of course). Now I have a hankering for white russians.

And thus, we arrive at SUNDAY, which I am currently spending (slowly) packing and gathering my thoughts. Au revoir, Paris! You have not seen the last of me.