Almost 7 years ago today I was in Paris with my university comrades, with the purpose of visiting Premiere Vision Design show. But, admittedly, after a short time looking at the endless booths of fabric and frowning faces warding off students I wasn't feeling the inspiration the trip was supposed to be filling me with. I became hungry for the richer, darker things that Paris had to offer. So at some point during the trip my good friend Stacey Bell and I decided to explore one of the most ground breaking cemeteries in the world; Pere Lachaise.
I still look back on that experience with very fond memories, and for that reason I've always wanted to return to Pere Lachaise to explore more of the utterly vast cemetery.
Luckily, the Roadtrip provided another perfect opportunity to return to this incredible place and I (utterly deliberately of course) picked us a hotel which was just a couple of minutes walk from Pere Lachaise.
By the time we arrived in Paris from Rouen and sorted out a little parking issue and checked into the hotel there was just enough time for an afternoon stroll around Pere LaChaise in the barmy June sunshine shaded by the many trees, with my sandals rubbing on my heel in the cruelest way possible.
Learning from a previous mistake I insisted we purchase a map, there was no guarentee of bumping into an American Nuclear Physicist with a map to guide me a second time! The cemetery is so incredibly vast without a map it is easy to become lost in this labyrinth of the dead. At 110 acres and over a million graves Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery I've ever visited and has some of the most spectacular monuments. Never for a second are you short of somewhere to look.
Eventually the afternoon wore on, and the toll of the attendants bell marked the end of our visit and urged my poor foot towards rest with a Belgian Beer on the bustling street where the frivolities of life continued. I felt contented at finally making it back to Pere Lachaise over 6 years after my first visit. Exploring another tiny strip of this beautiful cemetery was something I had wanted to do for so long. I must make sure its not another 6 years before I return to glimpse another corner of this amazing place.
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