DAY 42 - THU 4/11- Cim. Montparnasse

We got a late start today and by the time we were ready to go out for the day it was lunch time. So we found a small bistro highly recommended by Michelin (our bible since we lived here 45 years ago) that was within walking distance of our apartment, Bistro Casse Noix. 

It was great, and just the type of small cozy French bistro with no tourists, a local place. 

We finally had white asperges vinegrette which were delicious, and Marty followed with duck and I with pâté de compagne (country pâté). We finished off with Gateau Chocolate and Ile Flottante (Floating Island)...had to try it! 

We ate too much for lunch, but we loved it. As we were almost the last to leave, they were already changing the hand-written menu board for the dinner menu, and getting out the pressing machine to do the clean linens for the next meal too...everything is done in-house by hand.

We then strolled around the neighborhood a little, which we hadn't had time to do before because of all our guests. It's really a lovely neighborhood that we can now appreciate. 

     

By this time it was almost 4 o'clock, and we wanted to do something interesting for a few hours, but not too far away. We decided to take the Metro a few stops away to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, a smaller cemetery than Pere Lachaise, but also with some famous people buried there. It was spritzing a little when we got there, but we didn't care...it's a good thing to do when it's raining a little, even romantic like in a movie (please forgive us, we're dreaming again).

We got a map of the Allees and sections, highlighted with important gravestones, and here's who we found (the map doesn't make it easy):

1) Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir - (1905-1980) and (1908-1986) the famous existentialist couple, writers, philosophers, undisputed leaders of the post-war literary scene, who lie here close to their left bank haunts. Admirers leave Metro tickets and hand written notes.

     

2) Charles Baudelaire - (1821-1867) the 19th-century poet is buried here in his detested step-father's family tomb, along with his beloved mother.

3) Man Ray - (1890-1976) the American painter and photographer who immortalized the Montparnasse artistic and cafe scene in the 1920's and 1930's. His wife Julliet is buried with him...'together again.'

 

4) Serge Gainsbourg, born Ginsberg - (1928-1991) the French singer, composer and pop icon of the 1970's and 1980's, best known for his wistful and irreverent songs. He was married to the actress Jane Birkin.

5) Jean Seberg - (1938-1979) the Hollywood actress, adopted by the French New Wave film-makers of the 1960's, the epitome of American blonde beauty, youth and candor. She died of a drug overdose at 40.

6) Charles Pigeon - (1838-1915) the inventor and industrialist (he invented the Pigeon lamp), buried in a wonderfully pompous Belle Époque tomb depicting him in bed with his wife.

7) Andre Citroen - (1878-1935) the engineer and industrialist who founded the famous French car company.

8) Auguste Bartholdi - (1834-1904) the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty.

9) Constantin Brancusi - (1876-1957) the great Romanian primitovo-cubist sculptor, actually buried just off the Rue Emile Richard, but whose masterpiece The Kiss (a response to Rodin's Kiss) is hidden in a far little back corner of this cemetery, under serious surveillance of course.

     

10) And a few other interesting sights and curious tombs (such as a man on a horse, a weird big bird) are included here too, among many other notables that we didn't have time to find, although this cemetery is much easier to navigate than Pere Lachaise was.

     

It was an interesting and quiet respite from the outside world. We noticed many school children cutting through the cemetery on their way home from school, possibly improving their education in the process. At 6:00pm the cemetery closes. So at 5:30 a security guard came walking through all the Allees swinging a big bell, sounding like a church bell, and we figured out that he was telling everyone they must walk toward the nearest exit to leave, or they will be locked in till the next day.

We decided to walk home, several miles, passing beautiful apartment buildings and cute Smart cars, all the way to rue Roeulle in the 15th to work off our fabulous but weighty lunch. Jill navigated and Marty became tired and grumpy, but the marriage survived. We discovered so many beautiful and interesting areas and neighborhoods along the way as well as interesting shops, auto dealerships, cafes and restaurants. You learn so much more while walking and we are liking our neighborhood more and more.

We were so full from lunch that we decided to cancel our dinner reservation at a recommended restaurant for tonight and just pop in to La Coupole, still one of our very favorite restaurants, for some of our Parisian 'comfort food'...oysters, onion soup, and profiteroles...that's all we wanted. (We wish there was a good place back home where we could get such fare and such quality.)

We got to La Coupole at about 9:00 and it was packed, just how we like the atmosphere and energy, but not good when you don't have a reservation. It was 3-deep at the bar waiting for tables, and the place holds about 500 people! But we spotted our now dear friend and buddy Sebastion Adam, the Maitre D', and he immediately said we wouldn't have to wait long for a table. True to form, two glasses of champagne arrived, and soon we were seated at a nice table in the heart of the scene...we have become VIP customers! Waiters who recognized us (we've been there once a week, 6 times already) came to greet us and say hello, and we really felt at home, even in this cavernous place.

The dinner was perfect and just what we needed.

 

It was about 11:30 when we paid the bill, and then Sebastion came over to talk to us before he left for the evening. We ended up chatting with him till about midnight about the restaurant, issues he has as the boss, his family and his future plans and career. He embraced Jill and hugged Marty and we walked out together, not exactly closing the place down, as that would be impossibly late for us, but feeling like we belong here...a nice feeling...that was the whole goal of this trip.

Bon nuit...