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Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and More
We spent all day on our famous dead people pilgrimage to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. This is the best cemetery I've ever been to! Similar to New Orleans cemeteries in style (maybe it's a French thing), it's full of above-ground tombs, many old and crumbling, but also quite a few new ones, as recent as 1999 that we saw. Sprawling, crowded, cramped, crazy paths twisting between houses of the dead and trees and cobblestones.
 
 
 by Thomas Half our reason to go to Pere Lachaise was to find Jim Morrison's grave, whom my mother briefly dated at Florida State University, before he went out West to seek fame and fortune. Given my tie to him in a very distant sense (or because we're both musicians, a more direct sense), I had to have a photo taken next to he who called himself "The Lizard King." This brought the number of photos I've had taken next to famous dead rock musicians' graves to a whopping two, the other being a picture of me next to the plot of Ian Curtis (of Joy Division fame). Jim Morrison's lyrics, combined with the innovative musicality of the Doors (named after Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception), also became perfect "hippie rock" music for me growing up, too. It was the most different music I listened to in high school, certainly more evocative and "strange" than even Joy Division or Bauhaus. I never grow tired of hearing stories like this one from my mom about she recounted Jim's days at FSU. It is believed that Jim's mother and father (whom he had claimed were dead when he was interviewed) took the parents of Pamela Courson, Jim's late wife, to court to claim Jim's estate. Due to all of the vandalism, his headstone was mostly replaced in 1991. Rumor has it that his body must be removed by 2004 at the latest because of apparent lawsuits filed by families of those buried nearby where the vandalism has spread and that his remains will be moved to Los Angeles.
 The words are Greek, likely translating to "Faithful to his spirit."
Jim Morrison's grave is undoubtedly the most popular attraction for both tourists and the French alike. A police offers stands guard nearby to prevent any Morrison-like activities from the pilgrims who leave flowers, cigarette butts, candles, beer cans, photos, and messages to Jim. It's a modest grave. The bust is long gone and a newer brass plaque has been added with an enigmatic inscription. A stupid tour group intruded, though it's not like Jim Morrison's grave is ever a solitary spot. The guide knew nothing about Jim, and his American teenaged-girl school group knew less. We met them again at Oscar Wilde's grave where they were patently offensive and thank the gods they were too ignorant to stay long.
And alien tears will fill for him
by Trystan Dear Oscar Wilde's tomb was a lovely spot, once it was quiet. Lipstick kisses covered much of the large, Art Deco angel atop his grave, and I added a purply stain of my own. Someone had scribbled a note and tucked it under a red votive candle -- "I can resist everything except temptation." Many flowers graced the memorial, and I left my own long-stemmed rose there.
 "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do." ~~Wilde's last words as he lay dying in a drab Paris hotel room
When You Go: Many shops near the cemetery's entrances sell maps that point out where the most famous graves are.
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