Swamped in the Jardin Natural

First Days

We were delighted upon our return from three weeks in the States to find Francimar and John at our apartment. After a bit of lunch, we were on our way for a long Sunday afternoon walk to the Northeast Corner of Paris. The weather was cool for June -- quite a change from the 100 degree weather the city had experienced (mostly without air conditioning) while we were in moderate Houston.

Pere-Lachaise

Our first stop was the Cimetiere Pere-Lachaise, Paris's oldest cemetary. You probably caught the Martha/Jon/PaulM/Cindy visit there recently. If not, more than you ever want to know about this final resting place for a million Parisians can be found by clicking here.

Here's a picture of our Sunnyvale visitors just inside this sculpture garden posing with the ghost of Jackie Bouvier who undoubtedly wishes she were here:

Droppin' in on Chopin

Next we wandered by Chopin's grave where this world-renowned concert pianast posed in front of her idol who Parisian's buried 150 years ago.

Of course, we exited the cemetery in order to visit the natural garden stocked with native grasses and flowers. That picture is at the top of this page. To find out more about this spot of wilderness in the heart of Paris, click here.

Le Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Next we walked north through the gritty 20^th arrodonisment past brightly dressed African immigrants enjoying their Sunday afternoon together. Without too much difficulty, we emerged at one of our favorite (and Paris's largest) park, the Buttes-Chaumont park.

We climbed to the top of this old quarry and took this picture from nearly the highest point of Paris. You can see another famous Butte behind John in the picture below:

The view from the bridge

To get to the top, you cross a pedestrian suspension bridge. Here's a view of Francimar and John from there:

French girls like to have their wedding photos taken in Paris's beautiful parks. In the Spring, hardly a sunday walk in the park takes place without seeing one or two of them. Here's a photo shoot in progress as seen from our perch atop the park:

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