Paris in a hurry!

The last day we had in Paris, Thursday, was a whirlwind of sightseeing.  Dave went to the last session of his conference and then we went sightseeing.  We first headed for the Pere Lechaise cemetery - the largest and oldest in Paris - because what's a vacation without a visit to a cemetery, right?  It's a HUGE cemetery and we were looking for a few notable graves, and encountered some weird stuff too.

Our hotel was on rue du Casimir Delavigne, so it was appropriate to pay respects here.  He was a poet and librarian to Napoleon. Terrible liver problems caused his demise.

This photo is weird at every angle, but it is the grave of Jim Morrison of The Doors.  I knew Dave really wanted to see this, and it was the main reason we tromped through the cemetery.  It's in a very strange, angled place, that is hard to reach, but there are groupies there to show you the way.

And of course, Fred Chopin.  There is a month-long concert series of Chopin going on during July in the Paris parks, open concerts that are really great and attract lots of people.

After leaving the cemetery, we went to the Sacre Coeur, the highest point of Paris.  It is adjacent to Montmartre, an artists enclave.

We rode the funicular, instead of walking - yay!!

 The Sacre Coeur - you can take a walking tour inside, but no photos.

I was thinking I would see mimes at the Eiffel Tower, but he was hanging out at the Sacre Couer instead!!

View from the steps - the tall tower on the right is Montparnasse - a  large tower that is pretty ugly, but as tall as the Eiffel Tower. 

Behind Sacre Coeur is  Montmartre, and some famous painters hung out there. 

Renoir hung out and painted here. Dali also.

This was where Van Gogh lived.  Other people live there now. And they were having work done, as there were painters coming in and out as we tried to take photos. 

Ok, from Montmartre it is a short walk through Pigalle, otherwise known as Pornville.  We didn't take any photos and a couple of times Dave stood in a window laughing with his mouth open and I had to tug on his sleeve to get him moving again.  Yeeks!!!!

To be continued . . .