Day 9 - Richard Lenoir Market & Pere Lachaise Cemetery

This morning when I peeked out my window I saw - miracle of miracles - blue sky and sunshine!

I rode the #29 bus over to Place de la Bastille to the market on Blvd Richard Lenoir.  This is the largest of Paris' many markets, and it is BIG. There were countless people and most of the locals seemed to have either a trolley to carry their purchases, a dog, or a child, or all three.  The main dangers of navigating the market is the uneven pavement and curbs, as well as all of those trolleys.  You really have to watch where you're going, but it's hard because there is so much else to see.  I bought a few souvenir-type items and shopped for tonight's dinner: a demi-poulet (half a chicken) and the potatoes that are cooked with the chicken fat dripping on them.  Also some vegetables.  I rode the bus back to the apartment to drop off my purchases.  Some of the streets had been blocked off from 10 til 7:30 PM, reserving them for bikers and walkers only, so the bus had to make a detour.  The buses don't run as frequently on Sundays so I had to spend quite a bit of time waiting.

All day I felt like I was missing something because I didn't have to carry my umbrella - such freedom! It did get cloudy later in the day, but it didn't rain, so I have high hopes for tomorrow. The breeze is cool and some leaves are starting to fall - autumn is in the air.

I had a quick lunch in the neighborhood of a ham & cheese crepe and a "coca light" (Diet Coke), which, by the way, tastes different than Diet Coke at home. It wasn't as good as the crepes in Brittany, but it was quick and cheap.  I then walked down to the river so I could catch the #69 bus out to Pere Lachaise cemetery.  On the way, I watched a performance artist at the Pompidou Center (see picture).  When someone dropped money in his box, he would nod, and I saw him twitch his toes; otherwise, he stood motionless.  I also went inside the church of Sainte Merrie, another very old church in the area.

Pere Lachaise is Paris' largest cemetery, and is the final resting place for many famous people.  The most interesting feature, however, is the statuary and the tombs.  Since there are no signs pointing the way to the famous plots, you have to look for them, and and found only two: Heloise & Abelard, medieval lovers (Google them) and Jim Morrison of the Doors.  Also there are Moliere, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and many others.  There is room for 70,000 plots and people are still being buried here.  Many of the tombs have sadly deteriorated, but they are very old as the cemetery dates back to the 18th century.  The cemetery is built up a hillside and the cobblestones are killers, but it isn't at all creepy.  It was an interesting way to spend the afternoon.

I got on the #69 back to the Bastille and changed there to the #29, so I would be closer to home.  Then treated myself to some excellent gelato at Amorino's where I could watch the activity at the Pompidou Center.