Paris, Day 23: Père Lachaise, Vogue Café and the Last Walkabout

There was no time wasted on the last day in Paris.

After the final exam, we went to Père Lachaise, the cemetery where several famous people were buried--Colette, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, and Gericault to name a few. It was amazing to see how old the cemetery was and how large many of the graves were.



Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde's grave was built by a woman who was in love with him. The tradition for many years was to kiss the statue with lipstick...you'll notice that the grave is surrounded by a protective barrier to protect the stone...

Edith Piaf

The grave of Gericault. His friend, Delacroix, made sure that his grave was taken care of and well done. Unfortunately, when Delacroix died, no one returned him the favor--he's buried in an ordinary style grave nearby.

Apparently Gericault still has admirers

Colette

We went back to the FIAP together and had our last lunch at the dining hall. Everyone planned to go to Opéra Garnier afterwards, but since I had already gone with my home university, I went to the Vogue Café at the original Printemps department store, then met up with my friend Jim to give him a mini walking tour of Paris. 

Jim and I started at Opéra Garnier and went through Place Vendôme, Place de la Concorde, Les Jardins des Tuileries, Le Louvre, Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf and ended at Boulevard Saint Germain. It was a good realization that I could comfortably walk around the streets of Paris without getting completely lost.

I met up with the everyone at Linda's apartment on Île St. Louis by Notre Dame for appetizers and dinner. We had invited our professor to come as well, so she joined in on the fun with her students. Linda made reservations at a restaurant down the street from the apartment and treated us to a delicious "last supper" in Paris...

Gnocchi and Gorgonzola sauce

Last night shot of Paris...

Paris, Day 22: Latin Quarter and Bateau Mouche Tour

For the second to last day of class, each one of us had to write a paper and give a presentation on a historical place. There were three monuments that were presented in class--Monica chose Mont. St. Michel; Misael chose Chateau de Chantilly; Sara chose Versailles--but the rest of us presented at our sites located within the Latin Quarter.

We started with Kelly's presentation at La Sorbonne, then moved onto St. Étienne-du-Mont with Linda, the Panthéon and St. Sulpice with Jackie.

Montagne's statue in front of La Sorbonne. If you look at his right foot, you'll notice it's quite worn--students touch his foot for good luck before exams.

La Sorbonne

We walked through Les Jardins des Tuileries and Le Palais du Luxembourg on the way to the other monuments to see La Fontaine de Medicis. It's strange that this was one of the first places we went and we revisited it the last day of class...

St. Étienne-du-Mont

Fun fact: This door was featured in Woody Allen's movie Midnight in Paris

Le Panthéon. The dome is currently undergoing a restoration process. Because of the lack of air circulation and the level of humidity inside, the dome and ceiling are starting to fall apart...

St. Sulpice

If you've seen The Da Vinci Code, chances are you've seen this copper line. On every summer solstice, the sun hits this line and it reflects light in the church.

We had our last excursion provided by AIFS in the afternoon: a boat tour on the Seine. We had already walked past all of the sites over the past three weeks, but seeing everything from the river gave a new perspective.

Pont Alexandre III

Place de la Concorde

Musée d'Orsay

Le Louvre

Academie Française and Pont des Arts

Le Louvre and Pont des Arts

Pont Neuf

The grotesque faces are rumoured to be Henri IV's friends

Notre Dame

Hotel de Ville

I hope you know what this is by now.

Bir Hakeim bridge (aka the bridge in Inception where Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page are experimenting with the architecture of a dream)