La Madeleine and Père Lachaise

Just wanted to share some photos from my last weekend with you ! For a change, I stayed in Paris and therefore had plenty of time to discover some new places. On Saturday I went to the Opéra and did some window shopping in the Japanese quarter there (J took me out there for dinner on Friday and I've discovered that traditional Japanese cuisine is much more my cup of tea than sushi). But what really impressed me was La Madeleine. It was originally intended to be a Greek temple honouring Napoleon's troops, but after he lost in Russia, this didn't seem to be so appropriate anymore, so they converted it into a church instead. They kept the temple style, however, which gives the place a very unique atmosphere indeed. Instead of the usual Catholic bits and pieces, there are lot of huge stone statues just like The Goddess of victory over at the Louvre. And the altar is just soo ... stylish. One of my favorite churches so far!

On Sunday I took the métro to Belleville. I actually only wanted to go the parc there to get yet another bird view of the city (note to myself: make a list with the best places to do so), but when I emerged from the station I was like "怎么到了中国?" (which means: how the heck did I get to China?). It turned out that Belleville is yet another international part of Paris, Little Shanghai, to be precise. In fact I found that it had much more atmosphere (and better stores) than the actual Chinatown in the 13e where I went yesterday, but maybe that's just because I didn't expect it.
Anyways, I made it to the parc (and can recommand you to do so, too, when you happen to pass by), but my ultimate goal that day was the cemetery of Père Lachaise. In fact [oh no!! I'm starting to talk French English!!], my mum had been nagging me for ages to go there because when she went there (admittedly some time ago) it was THE cats' paradise in Paris. Not anymore, though. I met exactly one cat and believe me, I did a fair share of walking in order to find them! But I wasn't disappointed because the cemetery itself was well worth the trip. As you've probably noticed, I'm all about "the atmosophere" of a place and Père Lachaise has plenty of it! It's totally different from the neat, look-who-hasn't-weeded style that is common for modern German cemeteries. Instead, once you step off the main road, you find yourself in a cluttered maze of tombs without names, once-gorgeous-but-long-since-gone mausoleums and the odd hole waiting to be filled. Not creepy at all, just very tranquil and soo interesting!

More photos!