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The Rest



tour We started one day at Montparnasse on the roof of the tallest building in Paris. It's a commercial building in the midst of an otherwise ordinary neighborhood, known once for the so called "Lost generation" of 30s and 40s. The great artists and writers such as Picasso, Hemingway, Cocteau, Giacometti, Whistler, Matisse, Modigliani and Chagall all lived there.

Without the Let's Go to Paris book, we'd never had made it to the rooftop, which had a great view without all the tourist schmaltz and crowds of the Eifel Tower.

Immiediately after our viewing, we tried to walk to the Jardin de LuxembourgJardin Luxemburg , only to get lost as I tried to navigate through Cimetiere du Montparnasse.



opera We flew acrossed town on the Metro to see a moat under the opera, which was supposedly only viewable on Tuesdays. Unfortunately, if such a body of water does exist under the Opera , it isn't ever available for public viewing. (Note to readers - This building is spectacularly gilded. I couldn't find a decent daytime photograph which shows its true splendor).


Hard Rock
Of course, since we missed viewing a moat in the Opera, we had to rest. What better place for a teenager than the Hard Rock Cafe Paris?


We got the primo spot outside the Hard Rock. There was a cute girl greeter at the door. She had a strange tatoo on the back of her neck that reminded me of "©." During our cheeseburger-and-fry lunch, our waitress called her over to another table. "Julie, you speak Swedish don't you?" she asked.

I wondered how many languages a greeter at the HardRock cafe in Paris would need to know. My guess is more than some American language professors.

From the Hard Rock, we found a video store and bought jacob "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob ." Unfortunately, the DVD doesn't work on American machines. How do I Ebay France?


We went to some other interesting sites as well. Take a look at them if you're not too tired of these pages:

Notre Dame
Notre Dame


Paris Pantheon[outside pantheon]

One of the most interesting parts of this building were the crypts, where we visited the grave of Marie Curie (Sklodowska) , who was Polish and is related to Irene. Her grave was the only one with flowers and it looked exactly like this:
Curie grave


We had a grand time. I took a camera and shot no pictures.  My last trip to Europe is displayed here: Various Online Pictures .  All images displayed on these pages were found online.

Oh, this page is somewhat macabre as it is, isn't it?  Well, the ultimate macabre visit was to the Paris Catacombs.  Whatever possessed us?  I must tell anyone who reads this, if you go to this place, beware that your shoes will become splattered with mud, or as I imagined, bone and earth!  There are miles and miles of bones and skeletons.  We came out four Metro Stops from where we entered!
When cemeteries are full for different reasons (war, epidemic), it is necessary indeed to make something with the bodies : common graves poured little by little in the quarries under the cemeteries. One finds bones under all the main cemeteries of Paris: cemetery Montparnasse, Montrouge's cemetery...
bones


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