Paris - Day 7
Saturday 2010-05-01
So I miscalculated the effects of Labor Day, but ended up having more fun serendipitously in the end.
The Chateau Versailles was closed, presumably for the holiday. I did a half circuit of the immediate grounds, and decided to hop the train back into town. I don’t feel I’ve missed much, except for the experience of walking down halls once walked by kings. There’s always next time (or next week).
I bought some more postcards in Versailles, and should really get around to sending them. Always the dilemma, which ones to send to whom? (Not really, I’m just lazy)
So instead of Versailles, I went to the Père Lachaise cemetery. The idea of a cemetery as a tourist attraction seems odd, but then many things about Paris are odd at first blush (in comparison to elsewhere; while here, it seems just a matter of course/no big deal).
I made it to Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, and happened upon a couple random notables (Chopin, Picard). Mostly it was just a pleasant, if maudlin, stroll through a garden chock full of mausoleums and statuary. Well-shaded, and not too strenuous if you start from the back and work your way “forward”. (Naturally the route prescribed by Mr. Steves, though not exactly, as somebody keeps leaving the guide at the hostel)
I had a late lunch / early dinner at a cafe across the street from the cemetery, also named Pére Lachaise, which had wifi. It was much higher quality than at the Séraphin (perhaps they don’t keep their router inside an impromptu Faraday cage). It looked like a family-run establishment, and the teenaged server had fun checking out my iPad.
As I was exiting the République station on my way back to the hostel, a wild cacophony of sounds arrested my attention from behind. It turns out Place de la République was the staging ground / origin of a large, rowdy May Day parade. Lots of vibrant red and yellow, hallmarks of various Communist / left-wing political groups.
A riot of people and messages, I almost cackled with glee as I whipped out my bazooka and dove into the fray. It was exactly the kind of kinetic people photography that I love, the environment where my baby shines. Great fun walking up and down several blocks on Avenue de la République, wading in and out of the fringes of the procession itself.
Such chants and decibels, sacre bleu! I was quite worn out after only a few blocks of frenzied shutter action, I can’t imagine following the whole parade next to one of those screeching loudspeakers.
Well, I should get on those postcards already. Tomorrow, Mont St Michel!
