There is no need to pay $40 to $50 for a bus tour around Paris when you can jump on the #69 bus and ride the loop around the city for under $2.50 each way. And you can get off whenever you see something you want to explore and can hop back on to the next magnificent place along the route.
My daughter (my traveling companion to Paris in April) is here this weekend for a quick trip from her home in the midwest and we had the chance to look through my photo albums and do a little reminiscing. We both agreed that bus #69 is the best way to get an overview of the City of Lights and some of it’s most famous sites. We were there for two weeks so could go back to the places we wanted to explore in more detail, but if you have only a few days this is the perfect was to get a glimpse of Paris.
The route begins at the Eiffel Tower, and at the half-way point, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, you have to get off and buy another Metro ticket for the second half of the trip. You have the opportunity to see some of the most interesting neighborhoods in Paris. The complete loop is approximately 8 miles long with stops every 3 or 4 blocks along the way. If you take the trip in the evening you will see the lighted Eiffel Tower and the dazzling city in all its splendor.
At the end of the first half of the ride you can walk through Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Named for Father (Pere) La Chaise, whose job was listening to Louis XIV’s sins, the cemetery was opened in 1804 and now contains thousands of graves, crammed every which way, with only a few walking paths to help find the way. Some of Paris’s most well known citizens are buried here: Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Colette, and Sarah Bernhardt to name just a few. Above is Chopin’s gravesite, well tended and covered with flowers.
In contrast, this is the spot where Jim Morrison (singer in the rock band The Doors) is buried, wedged between many other head stones and surrounded by an iron fence so the many thousands who visit the site each year can only toss their bouquets and hope they land somewhere close to his grave marker. He wanted to be buried in this cemetery but officials refused the request until somebody convinced them that Morrison was a writer. He died alone in his Paris hotel room in 1971, in his bathtub, at the age of 27, officially of a heart attack, but probably from an overdose. An all too familiar sad story.
Maps are available at the cemetery entrance and admission is free. If you have the time, this stop is a must see.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
How nice to have your daughter home for a visit and how very nice that she traveled with you to Paris!
I enjoyed your photo tour…especially the cemetery pictures.
I have a trip planned to Seattle in two weeks to see my oldest. I am looking forward to our visit and cooking time together!
Wonderful photographs, Cathy. How great to have your daughter home, if only for awhile.
I love it when you talk about your trip to Paris…it makes me want to go! Great pictures.
What a great tip and a lovely tour, Cathy!
Beautiful!! I hope to get there one day…I'm a big Morrison fan, so that of course is one place I want to visit. Gorgeous photos of the Eiffel Tower
I've never really had the desire to go to Paris, but with your photo's of the cemetery – you may have just twisted my arm!
Thanks for taking us on a sightseeing tour with you. I love your photos, Cathy. Gorgeous, as always -
What a fun trip down recent memory lane for you..I shall not forget that bus route..or your pics:) It's my address.. albeit not in Paris! One day:)
beautiful photos!!!
Very interesting! I didn't realize Jim Morrison was buried there..and yes, such a sad waste of talent, and so common!
Thanks for visiting Delights of the Heart and for the tip on bus #69. We will be in Paris in September, my third time there and I love it. Now I will have to look for you at the farmers market. Which one are you at. If we go it is usually to Hollywood or the one at PSU.
Hi Marilyn – Thanks so much for stopping by. I am at the Beaverton Farmers Market on Saturdays at the Bavarian Nut Company booth. Hope you make it out that way one day.
Sure wish I was going to Paris for the third time. I love that city.
Thanks for the ideas on getting around Paris! You also remind me of all the posts I never got around to from my trip to Switzerland last year. I love foreign travel.
WOW I'm gonna do it!
My advice is shell out at the airport for a 1-month Metro Navigo card and your set.
That's what I do anyway.
For 48? euros it's worth every sou
Carolg