Pere Lachaise; Jardin des Plantes

Posted 4/28/2014

I marched all over Pere Lachaise today, as well as a couple of other spots in the 20th arrondisement, with my "big" camera, my guidebook, and my umbrella, so I'm a little worn out... I will probably take tomorrow off from sightseeing to rest and try to do some more blogging.  But here are a few items...

Look who was hanging out across from Chopin's tomb!

I was even more delighted than I normally would be, because you don't see many cats out and about in Paris.  This was a very friendly little kitty.  So Chopin's tomb was a good place for him/her to hang out, since it probably gets the most traffic after Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison.  (The kitty's person called him/her away a few minutes later -- maybe someone who works there?)

More about Pere Lachaise later, but on my way back, I went through the Jardin des Plantes, which is near my apartment and is becoming one of my favorite places.  There are funny things about it.  Like this tool shed:

Right nearby is a table or bench of sorts with a taxonomic diagram of the plant kingdom (Tina, I think you would like this place):

I also came across this sign, beneath a maple tree, which apparently warns passersby about falling leaves:

Further investigation confirmed my suspicion that this was meant to be a funny, because they don't seem to be overly solicitious about safety in general.  I found this growing, big as you please, with no warnings whatsoever:

Wow!


Update:  For more funny stuff, there was later an exhibit, in comic form, extolling the humane treatment of the animals in the neighboring menagerie (which I didn't visit, but I still liked this exhibit).  Here are a couple of examples, with translations:

"Once we had noticed that a female crocodile was depressed..."

 To (know how to) distinguish:
        Happy croc
        Dubious croc
        Depressed croc

"We left her alone, one night, with a pigeon that had entered her enclosure.  The next day, things were going better."  [well, not for the pigeon!]
Word balloon:  "Ah!  You look better!  I'm pleased to see that!"
[of course, the croc always looks exactly the same]

"Thus, we trained the parrots to enter tubes willingly."  [by putting peanuts in the tubes]
Parrot is thinking:  Peanut?
"This practice is used for insemination, less stressful than the traditional method."
Parrot is thinking:  Prankster peanut!


All of the above photos are from the "educational" area of the garden.  Here are some nice flowers from the "fancy" area of the garden (my terminology):

There are also several inexpensive and interesting-looking museums on the grounds.  (I have been to one, which had an exhibit of ornithological art.)

More later!