Canal St. Martin, Hôpital Saint-Louis and Lachaise Cemetery

Slept a little better last night but my sinus headache and sore throat won’t go away so after breakfast we went back to our thriving pharmacy and bought Efferalgan and went home to take some. Sinus headache zapped!

Ed found a Paris Walk card along Canal St. Martin so we went up to the rue de Bac Metro and took it all the way to Pigalle where we changed to line #2 to the Colonel Fabien stop and walked to the canal and started the Paris Walk at rue Varlin, down Quai du Valmy along the canal. We got to watch several boats go through the numerous locks. Fun! We tried the suggested lunch stop but could find no indication of food so walked on, now in search of lunch. Paris Walks and food are not a good combination. So far, everyplace they have suggested is either out of business or, in this case, doesn’t serve food. At the rue Dieu intersection we found La Marine and got a seat overlooking the canal with a lovely breeze. Ed got pork and I got lamb and both were excellent. He got a caramelized apricot dessert and I got a very good crême caramel. Great lunch choice in a perfect setting. [La Marine, 55 Bis Quai de Valmy 75010 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 4239-0733; La Marine Restaurant web site]

We then crossed the canal and backtracked to ave. Richerand where we turned up toward Hôpital Saint-Louis. It had been built in the early 17th century for plague victims and is still a working hospital. You go in the pedestrian’s entrance and there’s a map. You continue through the next portal and enter a lovely square with grass, flowers, paths and benches. Through the next portal is a garden. It’s all completely hidden from the street, thus quiet and utterly lovely.

The architecture of the surrounding hospital has been compared to the Place des Vosges and you can see the resemblance, but of course there are not the shops, galleries and restaurants because this is a hospital garden.

Back to reality . . . We returned to Canal St. Martin and continued to where it goes underground at rue Faubourg du Temple and turned right to Place de la Republique that we heard before we saw. They were setting up for a very loud rock concert and playing that horrible thumping music that sounds like satanic ritual. Fortunately the Metro station was on our side of the square so we dived for comfort. Sad when a Metro is more peaceful than the square!

We took line #3 to Père Lachaise Cemetery and there is an entrance right across from the Metro. We climbed the steps to a list of famous burials and a map to locate the graves. We looked for Chopin and had no luck but after climbing myriad stairs, saw marvelous views of Paris including the Pantheon covered with white plastic sheeting. We gave up on Chopin and went in search of Heloise and Abelard and had no better luck but at one point I looked up and we were standing at the tomb of Francis Poulenc so we did find one famous person.

Buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery are Apollinaire, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Bizet, Caillebotte, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Daudet, Daumier, Delacroix, Modigliani, Molière, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Pissarro, Pleyel, Poulenc, Proust, Rossini, Seurat and Simone Signoret among others.

Had a very easy but long Metro ride to St. Lazare and then home . . . no weird happenings on the Metro today. We never did find out why all the riot police in the Metro yesterday afternoon.