The final resting place

Père Lachaise Cemetery is Paris's largest cemetery. I was surprised to discover that it's not much older than our Downey Cemetery. But the similarity stops there.

When the cemetery was first created, Parisians thought it was situated a little too far from the city. So the administrators came up with a marketing plan to increase its popularity by transferring the remains of several notable French people to the new cemetery. The campaign worked, and soon everyone was clamoring to be buried here.

There are now over 1 million people buried in the 110 acres of the cemetery. The grave sites are a jumble, sometimes nearly on top of each other. Some are cared for, others have grave markers that have fallen over. Those buried here range from the nobility to the ordinary, from the famous to the unknown.

Frederic Chopin is buried here in 1849.
His grave is surrounded by fresh flowers.

Marcel Marceau was buried here in 2007.
His grave, in the Jewish tradition, is
covered with small stones.

Jim Morrison was buried here in 1971.
The trees surrounding his grave are
covered with graffiti.