Walking Tours

Rossini's grave.
Chopin's grave.
Jim Morrison's grave.
Edith Piaf's grave.

WWII moved many people.
Another monument for Holocaust victimes.
A monument/grave for Holocaust victims.
A weird painting from the Carnavalet--people pulling the devil.
Just change this scrawny cat to grey and you'd have Tally.
Below is the Bastille monument and the Opera House.

In the past, Larry and I have had times of discontent during vacations--what to do. Each of us will ask the other what he/she wants to do that day, then get a little frustrated when we hear, "I don't know. What do you want to do?" This trip we've got scripts to fall back on if we don't have original ideas on what to do. We just look at Rick Steve's guide books and follow his recommendations for exploring neighborhoods. He has guided walks as well as ideas for what to look at in the major museums. It's perfect for when you don't want to have to plan too much, but don't want to be on a big guided tour with hoards of other people. Of course, this strategy only works when you don't feel self-conscious about walking around with a guide book and map. It didn't bother us, especially since this is the height of tourist season and many Parisians are gone on vacations themselves.

Today we started with the Marais walking tour. We got there on Metro, which was easy. We looked at what was left of the Bastille, which is only a tall monument in a traffic circle. A new opera house is in the background. We found Victor Hugo's house, the lovely square, Place des Vosges, then found the Carnavalet Museum, which specializes in Parisian history. We were not really planning on going to any more museums today, but discovered that Rick recommended this place and there was no admission charge. We went for it. The building is a converted mansion that is lovely to look at and the exhibits were interesting. We continued on in the Jewish Quarter (the Marais). We needed lunch and fell back on our strategy to just do what Rick suggests--in this case a falafel sandwich. It was vegetarian and great!

We had enough time for a second walking tour. We chose the Pere Lachaise Cemetery Tour, which we accessed by the #69 bus instead of Metro for a change. Rick had a handy diagram in his book. We followed it through the impressive cemetery, passed tombs of Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Frederic Chopin, and G. Rossini. Although it was interesting to see the graves of those famous people--and others, it was moving to see the graves and memorials to WWII victims including concentration camps and resistance workers. We were tired after this tour, so went on home via the #69 bus, which took us right to the Eiffel Tower. We decided upon a light dinner of fruit and green salad, which we bought at our supermarket.