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Monday, November 11, 2013

A Promenade Through Centuries

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The Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is one of the places that I was longing to go back again since my last visit 5 years ago. It was one of those November afternoons that makes you melancholic. I was supposed to meet a friend at a nearby metro station and I was an hour early. I decided to have a look inside the cemetery and it fascinated me. I thought I could stay there forever. It offered me a moment of meditation while I was walking in a state of melancholy among the exquisite and mysterious tombs. It is an open air museum of funerary art from the 19th and 20th century, where wealth, fame and dignity unite in a gloomy athmosphere. I'm glad that I found the opportunity to go back there last September.
Le Cimetière du Père Lachaise à Paris est l'un des endroits que je désirais ardemment d'y retourner depuis ma dernière visite il y a 5 ans. C'était l'un des après-midi de novembre qui vous rend mélancolique. Je devais rencontrer une ami dans une station de métro à proximité et j'étais une heure en avance. J'ai décidé de jeter un oeil à l'intérieur du cimetière et il m'a fasciné. Je pensais que je pouvais y rester pour toujours. Il m'a offert un moment de méditation alors que je marchais avec mélancolie au milieu des tombes magnifiques et mystérieux. C'est un musée à ciel ouvert de l'art funéraire du 19ème et 20ème siècle, où la richesse, la gloire et la dignité s'unissent dans une atmosphère sombre. Je suis contente que j'ai trouvé l'ocassion d'y retourner septembre dernier.

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"... The secret
Of this journey is to let the wind
Blow its dust all over your body,
To let it go on blowing, to step lightly, lightly
All the way through your ruins, and not to lose
Any sleep over the dead, who surely
Will bury their own, don’t worry."

--James Wright, The Journey, 
Above the River: The Complete Poems

2 comments:

  1. it is very elegant and I'm reading all of them with a smile in my face thank you so much and good luck in your way to make your dreams come true Betül:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. thank you so much Damla! :-)

    ReplyDelete