Ile St-Louis
This weekend the afternoon rains finally ceased and I was able to visit some outdoor places I had wanted to go for a while now. The days were actually gorgeous sunny days with clear blue skies. The only “but” is that they were way too cold and windy. This week we are in the 30–35 degrees with you actually feeling between 25 and 30 degrees due to the wind factor. I had wanted to go to the island of St. Louis (a small island on the Seine River right next to Notre Dame) for some time now because they had recommended it to me as a very nice area to walk; but every time I got there it started to rain. So Saturday I was able to finally stroll down its little streets filled with shops, art galleries, restaurants, cafés and tourists. According to my teacher and other sources the best spot to eat ice cream in Paris is located in the island of St. Louis. The ice cream shop is called Berthillon and usually a long line forms right outside of it with lots of people wanting to try it. But as much as I love ice cream I had to pass on it this time around. I did not have any desire to eat ice cream with an outside temperature of about 33 degrees. The only thing I was craving for at that time and that temperature was a hot cup of chocolate or café con leche...with churros. It is horrible, but the cold weather increases your appetite for all this kinds of foods that are extremely high on calories. Ile St. Louis is located right behind Notre Dame, which also gave me a chance to make more pictures of the church but this time from the back.
I also went to Buttes Chaumont, a park located on the northeast side of the city, which was built by Napoleon III. The park is supposed to be filled with Parisians in the summer who go there to sun bathe, have a picnic and just enjoy the warm weather. So around this time of the year you do not find that many people. However it provides a good view of the city from a different angle and it also gives you the chance of disconnecting from the big city without being overwhelmed by a humongous and boundary-less park. I ended the day with yet another visit to my favorite spot in the city: Montmartre.
Notre Dame (side view) -- Notre Dame (back view) and Ile St-Louis (on the right)
Buttes Chaumont
Cemetery of Pere Lachaise
On Sunday afternoon I had an encounter with death…or should I say with the dead…But don’t worry, it was all done for “touristy” and “getting to know the place” reasons. I went to the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. Not that going to a cemetery is how I would envision spending my afternoons now, but having so many people told me how nice this place was and then having read again and again in all of the Paris city guides and books that this is the most visited cemetery in the world I decided to go. The first thing that stroked me happened even before leaving the house: the cemetery’s official web site. Yes, in this day and age of technology where there is a website for every one (just look at me) and every thing, the cemetery has its own site. A French and an English version are available as well as a virtual tour, a map with the locations of the different graves and a search engine to locate the famous dead person of your interest. Of course, knowing me and knowing that I’m a planner at heart I took a couple of minutes to study the names of the famous people who were buried at the Pere Lachaise and more or less plan my visit. The cemetery is on the opposite side of the city from where I live so I believe me it took me a good 30 minutes on the metro to get there: perfect timing to catch up on my reading. When I arrived the setting was perfect for the place I was about to enter: the sun was setting and giving way to the first glimpses of gray of a late afternoon and it was very very cold. I saw a lot of people walking around who just like me were impressed with the place. I have to admit I was a little skeptic before going there but the place is so peaceful, tranquil and also beautiful that all of my skepticism went away quickly and easily. Lots of famous people are buried here: Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Honore Balzac, Frederic Chopin, Isadora Duncan and Oscar Wilde just to name a few of them. Lots of graves are a work of art themselves, with many having impressive sculptures or a bust of the deceased. Lots of people also come to pay their respects to the different personalities buried here and to bring them flowers. One example is the grave from Frederic Chopin, the polish pianist and piano composer, who died here in Paris in 1849. Besides the graves the cemetery is also home to various war memorials dedicated to the French soldiers who have died in the different wars France has participated in.
Cemetery Pere Lachaise - Frederic Chopin 's tomb
After being out on this cold and windy Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours I was not only tired but in need of looking for refuge in a warm place: and what could be a warmer place than home? I did not really know this but I’ve discovered that the cold weather makes me very tired. I’m not sure if it is the carrying of all those extra pounds on your body from the 3-4 layers of clothing between t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, coat, and then the scarf, the hat and the gloves; or if it is the battling against the wind when you walk with the 3-4 layers of clothing on top of you; or if it is from all that mental effort I make trying to convince myself that “No, it is not cold” “No, I’m not freezing”, “No me voy a congelar!, no me voy a congelar!, no me voy a congelar”. So I decided to go straight home and make it a blockbuster night. I watched “The Perfume: story of a murderer”, the 2006 movie based on the novel by the German writer Patrick Süskind, and called it a night.
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