Cimetière Père-Lachaise, October 30, 2013

Recently when I have been lucky enough to accompany Pat on a business trip to Paris, I endeavour to visit different parts of this beautiful city which are unknown to me. This time I started off with a few peaceful hours in the beautiful and very large cemetery, the world's most visited. As it was close to All Saints' Day, there were many people working on family tombs, cleaning them and changing flowers. A map obtained at the information office in the Rue du Repos helped me get my bearings, though not all the little laneways within the cemetery were marked! First grave I visited was that of the Italian composer, Rossini, 1792-1868:


View down the Avenue Principale towards the main entrance:


The Monument aux Morts:


The Chapel:


View over the city from in front of the Chapel:


Grave of Georges Bizet, composer of the opera, "Carmen", 1838-1875:


French author, Honoré de Balzac, 1799-1850:


English author, Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900:


To the memory of those who died in the WWII concentration camp at Auschwitz III-Buna-Monowitz:


To the memory of those who died in the concentration camp at Dachau, which I visited with my mother in the summer of 1973:


To the memory of those who died in the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen:


To the memory of those killed in the concentration camp at Buchenwald-Dora:


To the memory of those killed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau:


The grave of Gertrude Stein, feminist, 1874-1946:


The graves of French authors Jean de la Fontaine (left), 1621-1695, and Molière (right), 1622-1673:


The grave of Frederick Chopin, Polish composer and pianist, 1810-1849:


And from our generation, the grave of Jim Morrison of The Doors, 1943-1971:


There you have it, the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in a nutshell...

Location:Paris, 11e arrondissement

Fall trip to Paris October 28-November 3, 2013

We left Caldes d'Estrac on Monday morning, October 28th to drive to Paris where Pat was to have two days of meetings at the Coty office downtown. We spent the first night at Hotel La Terrasse in the village of Meyronne, overlooking the Dordogne River, about 500 km from home. It was almost the end of the season for the hotel and we were the only guests! Here's the website for more info: http://www.hotel-la-terrasse.com/en/index.php
Our tower room 15:


The view from our window, before the rain!


The village Church and hotel to the right:


Front entrance to the hotel:





Village square:


Next stop Paris...

Location:Meyronne on the Dordogne River

Moving our wine cellar October 26, 2013

We moved house on October 24th, just around the corner to a third floor condo...same great view of the Med and a better view along the coast towards Barcelona and the setting sun! Two days later, we started a transfer of our wine cellar to Cornudella, in the Priorat, thanks to Enric and Joan and his trailer!

Joan (junior) and Kitty, the rabbit!




Loading up the trailer and two cars:




Pat's BMW:




Our house from the past four years, now empty:




A few cases left behind in the garage, to be stored in the condo:




Saturday lunch in Cornudella:




Various mushrooms for the grill:




Cheese and sausages:







Trinxat with blood sausage, made by Pilar, Joan's mother:




Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...




Chris, Pat and Enric admiring Enric's motorcycle collection:




Lunch!



Lucia and Meri:




Pat having his siesta:




Enric snagged the hammock for his:




Lucia curled up in her mother's lap:




Chris, Karen, Pat and I spent the night at the Mirador de Siurana overlooking the village of Cornudella.

Sunday night our first dinner in the condo: rabbit in garlic cream sauce! Chris and Karen's last night with us before heading to Seville.




Next stop, central France en route to Paris...

Location:Caldes d'Estrac to Cornudella del Montsant