I have so much new info to talk about that I need to break it up into a few posts, so please bear with me. I will get it all up though over the next week or so.
I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far. I don't know about you, but I only got to take off 3 days for Christmas (Noel) and New Year's. But I have a friend in town (Danielle Francis) and we should be partying it up, Paris style, in no time. I have no doubt in my mind that the French will be excited wish her a Bon Voyage after the next week. No offense D...
Joyeux Noël.
First off, I am not sure whether the normal Parisian gets the eve of Christmas off, but this American did not. I worked until about 6pm with only my Creative Director. Everyone else was, in my mind's eye, eating lots of food and partying. Mon patron (my boss) took off at about 5:30 and asked what I had planned for the evening. I wished that I had something amazing to reply with, but, "luckily" for me, I had come down with what I would consider to be flu-like symptoms the day before. So my night was full of laying in bed and reading a book about someone Else's turbulent travels in Paris. He understood, went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of champagne. He told me, "Sometimes, this is the best medicine..." I agree and wished him a Joyeux Noel.
On a side note, I have not noticed a single hospital in Paris yet, so when I became sick I decided to do a little research on how to get treatment. I came to the conclusion that France is far ahead of the US in this arena without a doubt. There are some major differences that I found a bit strange. For instance, doctors work out of their apt. So you may be living next door to a pediatrician, optometrist, gyno, etc... Seems a bit weird and unsanitary, but very convenient I suppose. Also, the doctors have a system of home visits that is quite amazing and reasonably priced. You can call a phone line (something like you might call an ambulance in the US but not as serious) and a doctor will be at your doorstep shortly after. He will treat you for what you have and be on his way. I have even saw this in action with my boss. He had some serious illness and called a doctor to come to our office. The doctor showed up very quickly, diagnosed him, and gave him a shot, all within the office. They give you your shot in the ass here too. LOL. Weird, right? Yep my boss dropped his trousers and laid face first on the office couch to receive his buttocks injection. Also, the only place to but anything with any type of medication is a pharmacy. Now these are located about every 20 feet and nearly impossible to miss because they all bear a neon cross that hangs just above the store front on the sidewalk. This is the spot you must go to if you need anything from contact solution to penicillin to a medicated shoe pad.
The sign above every single pharmacy in Paris:
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Ok, let's get back on track here. So I spent my Christmas Eve "medicated" reading a good book called A Year in the Merde (merde means shit and it is refering to Paris). But then on Christmas day the fun began. I decided that even though I was a bit under the weather, I still wanted to do something memorable. "What is a better way to spend Christmas than in a cemetery?", you are probably asking yourself. I couldn't agree more, so in light of this I decided to go visit Père Lachaise Cemetery which is one of the most beautiful and historic cemetaries in the world. Before you get all creeped out by my trip to the land of the dead, you must understand that this is a very popular tourist destination as well. In fact, it is supposed to be the most visited cemetary in the entire world. It is not just a trip to a cemetery. It is a trip into the past.
The story of the cemetery is that it was established by Napoleon in 1804, but noone was having their funeral and getting buried there. In order to increase it's popularity, he began to bury famous people here. This eventually worked and it became the powerhouse of a cemetery that it is today. The first 2 famous folks to be laid to rest in this historic place were La Fontaine and Molière. Both were transfered here from other cemeteries. Even back then they had to "sell" people on the idea and apparently celebrities have always been a good selling point. In case you are not up on your 18th century hipsters, La Fontaine was a super famous French poet and Moliere was "the" top playwright/actor of his time(comedy was his thing, think Ben Stiller). Anyway, a couple other people of note were Georges Méliès, filmmaker, who created A Trip to the Moon, Jean de Brunhoff who created Babar the Elephant (loved that as a kid) and, my reason for the visit, Jim Morrison, singer of the Doors. One grave I think is worth mentioning is that of Victor Noir. It isn't that he is super important as a person, but his grave certainly provokes interest. In fact I may model mine after his design. As you can see in the photo below, he appears to be at least partially sexually aroused, his penis pushing his part-unbuttoned fly open. This site has been a symbol of fertility since it arrived and women have been seen kissing his face and rubbing his "area". So much, in fact, that in 2005, they put a fence around the site due to deterioration. What better way to "rest in peace"?
Here are some more photos of the cemetery:
I am not entirely sure what is going on here, but it doesn't look good:
This guy had the right idea, "Never Give Up":
As far as Jim Morrison's site is concerned, it is nothing to write home about (even though I am). He died at age 27 of an unconfirmed drug overdose. The French doctor was kind enough to declare heart failure as the cause of death, so no autopsy was ever required. Anyway, he was laid to rest in a modest grave. Nothing too exciting, just thought I should at least pay some respect to one of the greatest poets of our time. Take a look for yourself:
After bidding Pere Lachaise adieu, I wanted to spend the second half of my afternoon with more dead people at the Catacombs. I had not previously heard of the Catacombs until I watched the film, 2 Days in Paris by Julie Delpy. Excellent film, by the way. I could really relate to what the American in the film is going through. Here is the preview:
Anyway, in the film, the main character, who grew up in Paris, describes the Catacombs as her favorite place to go in Paris. Now even though this movie is fiction, I still believe there to be some truth in her conviction about the Catacombs. This is the reason I added it to my itinerary for Christmas. So I took the short Metro ride over there only to discover that they are closed for renovations until Feb 6th. What kind of renovations happen to a tunnel of death? Someone please elaborate... For anyone who is unfamiliar with what the Catacombs are exactly, please read the following... Apparently the Catacombs came into existence originally as a series of mines or quarries. Then in the 1700's cemeteries within the city limits of Paris were being overfilled and causing health concerns for those people who lived nearby. So the solution was the turn the mines into underground cemeteries. This sounds to me like it would have come from the mind of the times most prominent horror author, but no this idea was from the city. Anyway, all the cemeteries were moved to these underground tunnels and cemeteries were outlawed within the city until 1804 when Pere Lachaise opened. Today, the Catacombs are open to public self-guided tours(unless your name is Chris Abbey, in which case they will be closed during your stay). Take an online tour here or check out these photos I found online...
That was about the extent of my excitement on Christmas day. There was some drunkeness and Hard Rock Cafe dinner involved, but it wasn't worth talking about. So to conclude my reentry into blog world, I would like to introduce you to my new friends here in Paris, Mag and Clem. Mag moved to the US when she was 16 and then went to college in San Fran, but she is originally from Paris and just recently moved back and Clem Is also from Paris. He moved to the US for a couple years and just moved back with Mag. Here are some random party pics:
Oh yeah... And this is Peter. Peter is a Canadian Rocket Scientist who works for NASA and lives in Los Angeles. What are the chances we would meet in Paris?
Well, I hope that was enough to keep everyone satisfied for a few days. I have a post about my trip to the Eiffel Tower almost ready to go. There is even a trip to the top in 60 seconds so get ready... Talk soon...Bonsoir...
