Paris – Day 4 - Montmarte and Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise

On the morning of day 4 we headed via metro to the Montmarte area of Paris. As we exited the metro station we and the other riders were assailed by aggressive sellers of contraband cigarettes. We were still inside a gated area and the sellers were reaching between the bars calling out and hawking their wares. Not sure why this is a thing?!   Montmarte is a large hill in the northern part of Paris and affords beautiful views of the city. One thing this area is known for is the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.  From the lower street in front of the Basiica you can walk up 222 steps or take a funicular. Dennis, being a fan of funiculars, took that route. Maureen took the stairs where she encountered another common Parisian scam.

This from Fodor’s Travel:

Authorities have acknowledged a huge increase in a scam carried out by Romanian gypsies in Paris, this one based on requests for money for so-called deaf/mute girls.

The scam is straightforward. A young girl approaches the mark (usually a tourist) with a piece of paper and a pen, pretending to be deaf. The paper names a couple of charities, both real and fake, and bears the signatures of a few previous marks. The current mark is asked for money, and if he's naïve enough, he gives it. In some cases, the paper and request for money serve as a distraction for stealing a wallet or purse.

None of the girls is actually deaf. They are all Romanian gypsies. They are under 18, making it difficult to prosecute them. Their leader is nowhere to be found, so he cannot be arrested and prosecuted, even though the penalties for compelling children to beg are very severe (one sentence a few years ago was a 30-year prison term).

She did not fall for it. The Basilica itself is quite dramatic and a climb up to the dome yielded the best views over the city.  We had worked up quite an appetite after all that climbing.  We found a lovely little restaurant, Le Poulbot, in the area around the Basilica where Dennis reports that he had the best duck confit that he has ever tasted.

Inside the basilica. A mass was being held.

View from the dome looking toward the Eiffel Tower.

The next item on our agenda for that day was a trip through the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, final resting place of several notable people. The weather was starting to turn on us but we were not deterred; we had rain jackets and umbrellas. What better conditions for visiting a cemetery. 

We had downloaded a Rick Steves guide which faithfully directed us through the visit. The persons whose graves we saw included: Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Colette, and Frederic Chopin. There are also a few dedicated moments including for: foreign soldiers who died for France during WWII; victims of concentration and extermination camps; victims of Air France Flight 447; Rwanda genocide.  Rain came down pretty heavily during part of our cemetery tour; seemed appropriate to the setting.

Oscar Wilde's tomb. Guess they had a problem with vandals.

A memorial to the holocaust.

Gertrud Stein's gravesite.

Edith Plaf's burial site.

Frederick Chopin's grave. He was not buried here initially, but somehow the owners of the cemetery got permission to move the remains so that the cemetery would become more well known. Guess it worked.

The Haussmann tomb. Georges Eugene Haussmann led the effort to modernize the city's street layout in the 1850's under Napoleon III. 

And last, but not least, here lies Jim Morrison.