Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Our last day in Paris...

Phyllis and I split up today. I wanted to go to the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery and the Sacre Coeur / Montmartre and she wanted to go to the L'Orangerie and the Luxombourg Museum to see the special Tiffany collection on loan.

At the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery I saw the graves of Maria Callas, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf, Moliere, Jim Morrison (pictured), Frederic Chopin (pictured), Heloise and Abelard (oldest residents of Pere-Lachaise), Collette, Gioacchino Rossini, and Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann (who redesigned the layout of Paris). It was amazing to see all the old statues and some small...but some huge grave sites.

It was then off to Sacre Coeur...yes, I climbed the steps to the level with some fountains and ate my sandwich there, then walked the rest of the way up the stairs. Although the church isn't very old...finished in 1919...it sits on the highest point in Paris, and what a view.

After the Sacre Coeur I walked through Montmartre. I saw one of Paris' oldest churches, built in 1147 founded by King Louis VI and his wife Adelaide. Then wandered through the town, checking out where some famous painters such as Picasso, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent Van Gogh used to live when they were getting started. I ended up at the Moulin Rouge.

Then I went back to our room to wait for Phyllis, but she hadn't come back yet, so it was back out to see the Eiffel Tower lit up and sparkling...what a sight...and then catch bus#69 for a "tour" to see some of the sites and monuments lit up at night.

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