Even the McDonalds Have Macarons

This week I got to spend an afternoon in Chartres, and it was a really interesting reminder that most of France isn’t Paris. Paris is so true to basically every stereotype it has, including being fast paced and quite presumptuous. However, from my experience so far, you don’t have to leave all that far for that to change. The obvious destination in Chartres is the cathedral. It is on a hill in the center of the town, and you can see it from basically any location in the city. The rest of the city was just like something out of Beauty and the Beast. While Paris has a lot to offer, it also has a lot of expectations. And don’t get me wrong, I love being in Paris, but it was really relaxing to be out of that for just a bit.

I have been dying (get it?) to visit a cemetery since I have been in France, but I hadn’t made it out to one before this last week. I think cemeteries are the coolest places, and the older the better. The Père Lachaise Cemetery was easily the most interesting cemetery I’ve been to yet. The site had some very exquisite statues and tombs, and held the remains of such prominent figures as Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison. I showed my Mom a picture of Jim Morrison’s grave. Even though he died over 50 years ago, his tomb was still covered in fresh flowers, about which she noted that “Some people are forgotten before they even die and some are remembered for so long.” This really got me thinking about some of the unique ways some of the dead in the cemetery were celebrated, as many of them had specific traditions surrounding them (I’m looking at you Victor Noir). For example, again at Jim Morrison’s grave, there was a tree covered in chewing gum that visitors would leave as a tribute to the singer. There was also a wall surrounding the sphinx on Oscar Wilde’s tomb to prevent people from leaving lipstick stains on it, as that was another tradition in the cemetery. Even I read a poem we had studied in my literature class this last week over the grave of its author in the tradition on my teacher. It’s interesting to think about where some of these traditions come from and what they mean, but I think most important of all is that we are remembering those that came before us and what they stood for. It defines a lot about who we are.