A Quick Stroll in Père Lachaise . . .

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I've been away from the blog and the blogosphere for a little while, have been a bit under the weather of late, but am hoping all that will pass and the breezes that blow will soon fill my sails again, and set us off across the blogging seas, full speed ahead, and damn the icebergs !
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The two books of photos that were in the works have just arrived, and I'm thrilled with the quality of the printing, they are a pleasure to peruse. I've added links in the post about them (here) which you can click on to see a full simulation of both books, with pages you can turn right on your screen.
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In the meanwhile, I was in Paris again the other day, and couldn't resist the opportunity to go take a quick stroll in Père Lachaise on a chilly but sunny late afternoon. These are a few of the photos done that day. The problem with Père Lachaise Cemetery is that it is so incredibly densely packed, and vast, that one could spend months trying to explore all its nooks and crannies and alleys and cul de sacs. Nearly everywhere one looks there is art, art from over the past few hundred years. A gold mine for photographers who enjoy that sort of thing. Like me. Believe me, I often count my blessings for living so close to Paris and being able to go spend a day there whenever the spirit moves me. For even just a short walk in a previously unexplored corner of Père Lachaise can yield up unsuspected visual treasure.
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Just inside the entrance on the west side, along the Boulevard de Mesnilmontant, this woman in bronze greets the arriving visitor. I can think of worse welcomes. And then setting off into the maze, one quickly stumbles on all sorts of sights. Oh, and am entering this over at Taphophile Tuesday, as I suppose after all these years, I am a confirmed taphophile, there can be no doubt.
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This translates as : "The book of life is the supreme book, which one can neither close nor open of one's own volition, and when you would like to return to the page in the book where you were in love, you find that you are already at the page where you die"
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The Alpha and the Omega...
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This next is interesting in that the name at the base of the bust, if you can make it out, is Pozzo di Borgo. Over the past few months a new French movie titled "Intouchables" has set records for attendance, a truly fabulous film, about a paralyzed man and his caretaker. The film is based on a true story, and the name of the handicapped person the film is about is Pozzo di Borgo. Am wondering what the relationship between the person buried here in Père Lachaise and the man in the film is, but most probably an ancestor. A chance find, out of the tens of thousands of graves in Père Lachaise.
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