Life, Death and the Beauty in between

Day 8

I made sure that my back was in top working order for today we went to the famous cemetery Pere la Chaise. Now the number of people inhabiting this cemetery is impressive seeing as how it has reached over 300,000 people between burials and those that chose cremation. This is impressive but not that staggering for while in the Army I was stationed at Ft. Myer in Arlington, Virginia. This is the location of the Arlington National Cemetery which has well over that number as is still growing steadily. But what did stagger me, and yes I will admit brought me to tears with some of the people buried here, was the beauty the French try to achieve even with death. Also some of the inhabitants of this cemetery came as a shock to me as well.

To name some of the celebrities that I knew were here, Jim Morrison who was famous but did nothing to warrant the defacement of the other gravestones around his grave by idiots; I don’t care if he was the Lizard King. I also was familiar with the fact that Oscar Wilde was buried here from previous discussions held during this trip, but what I didn’t know was that he used to be anatomically correct until some overzealous admirer/enemy removed the necessary appendage. Another thing that surprised me was that both men and women would put on lipstick and kiss the grave marker. This sounds like a lovely way to get sick to me.
Now as to the celebrities that I was not aware of being buried here were people such as Frederic Chopin, whom I have been of a lover of his music since I was 5 years old. Thanks for that mom. Also Gertrude Stein, Sarah Bernhardt, and Moliere to name just a few that are buried in this beautiful piece of ground. Not to mention the fiancé of Maximilien Robespierre, to my great lament I can not remember her name.
These parts were impressive in a surreal sort of way but what brought me to tears were the different ways in which the warriors who had fallen to protect France either of French blood or from other countries were honored here. Being someone who has seen several friends of mine end up being fallen warriors who never received the honor due them, I must say that am proud to see that someone does appreciate there fallen warriors. For the monuments raised in the section in honor of people sent to concentration camps in World War Two, to the commandos who fought against the Nazis, to the people with the guts to stand up to the Nazi occupation which normally led their death. This is always the downside to fighting against a ruthlessly oppressive force. I just hope that whatever faith those people transcribed to was able to help them in their time of need and that their souls rest in peace.

This is the conclusion to my Paris trip for the next day we got on a plane and said goodbye to Paris with all of its culture and beauty. Now I will admit I originally went on this trip for the sole reason of keeping my wife company and to keep her safe. But this trip opened my eyes to another culture that I could see myself happily merging with and hope that anyone else who reads this will at least be a little inspired to try and experience what Paris has to offer for themselves.