36 Hours in Paris
5 p.m. Wander among the graves
Under a viaduct, the Montmartre Cemetery is an oasis of calm. Built in the early 19th century, it is the resting place of French painters, authors and performers, yet it also feels slightly anarchic, with less-famous tombstones that are just as arresting (try to spot the one shaped as a large question mark). The cemetery is free to visit: just borrow one of the laminated maps under the large sign by the entrance to find your way to specific graves, like that of the dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, adorned with a statue that shows him in one of his most famous roles, Petrushka. Other notable tombstones include a life-size statue of the singer Dalida, a bust of the author Émile Zola and the raised grave of the courtesan Alphonsine Duplessis, the inspiration behind Alexandre Dumas’s 19th-century novel “Lady of the Camellias” (to this day, visitors leave camellias for her).
Source: The New York Times
