Parks, Cemeteries, Etc.

We started our day at Luxembourg Gardens. It is a large and very beautiful park, containing many statues, some ponds, fountains and other park-like things. It is anchored by a large palace with gorgeous gardens. We heard a lot of noise coming from one end of the park, so we had to investigate. Through the fence we saw a large group of high school aged students in front of their school protesting. We asked what they were protesting about. Apparently the French government wants the work week to go from 35 hours per week to 36 hours. The French are not having any of that nonsense, so protests were being held all over the country.

After leaving the park, Marie had success with her shoe quest. With her newly happy feet we headed to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It is a very old and large cemetery. Many very important people are buried there. We were just looking for one - Jim Morrison. We didn't have much time and we couldn't find him.

We had to meet someone at 3:00 p.m., so we had to give up. Before our trip I submitted an application to a program called Paris Greeters. They have volunteers who show tourists around. We were matched up with a nice man named Alain, who showed us around the Marais. He was born and raised there, but moved to western Paris after he got married about 40 years ago. He spent over 3 hours walking around with us and explaining things. We came across another protest in the Place de Bastille. They were protesting the same things the kids were, but these were adults and beer was involved. From the looks of it, a lot of beer!! Another good, but long day!