Ian "Marvin" Graye > Status Update

Why two days a week? I think it's this new trend towards cremation.

Gabriel spotted a sucker when he asked me if I needed directions and then expressed surprise that I wasn't French. Of course, I would now follow him all over the place like a lost puppy, until finally he asked for money to make me go away.

He had this fantastic ability to go cross-country between some of the million graves, and find exactly the one I was looking for. Jim Morrison? Easy. Come this way, and off we went, me terrified initially about the risk of anal rape, but he had only money in mind.

Plus I had to finish off a grave with him before he finished for the day:



So, here are a few shots of the Lizard King's grave:




Gertrude Stein:



Alice B. Toklas:



Edith Piaf:



Max Ernst:



One of the Fuckers (before they changed their name to Focker for the movie):

Some more shots of Proust's grave plus his parents:



His father:



His mother, a German nee Weil:



Across the way was the grave of Apollinaire, which contains a poem, which my grave digger friend was able to recite from memory:





Here is a verse in the shape of a heart:

I've told you about my obsession about gates and doors. Well, here's some from the cemetary:

But wait, there's more:

Wow...amazing pictures! I love all those cool doors!

My other Parisian obsession has been the female form:





It's everywhere and it's done in style:

I left Gabriel and the Cemetary and immediately my new Italian friend Francesco asked me for directions.

We decided to walk together into the Bastille and the Cite.



The column and statue is called the Colonne de Juillet.

I had assumed this referred to a woman, but it refers to the month of July and the figure is actually a male (photo courtesy of wiki):



This is the place to drink coffee:



This photo doesn't do justice to how huge this dog was:



This inscription was on the side of a monument to Rimbaud:



Another bridge, another cathedral:



A book stall on the banks of the Seine (all in French):

Some of my photos for the rest of the afternoon are on my old phone, and I haven't been able to upload them yet.

More to come (including Shakespeare and Co and the Musee Carnavalet).

ETA:

OMG! Were these done with your iPad, Ian? The quality is absolutely wonderful! Just for that, i'll accede the iPad isn't too bad... :P

I had to smile at this: Plus I had to finish off a grave with him before he finished for the day:

Glad your rear end ended up safe and sound. ;)

Trav, all of these shots were done with my HTC phone camera. It's Android, but the battery is playing up.

Ian wrote: "Trav, all of these shots were done with my HTC phone camera. It's Android, but the battery is playing up."

In that case, Ian, your family has nothing to smirk about save for the short battery life. Those photo's are wonderful!

Great pictures!

oh the doors!!!!!!!

Velvetink wrote: "oh the doors!!!!!!!"

Oh the Doors!

I hadn't realised that this might be a twofold Doors obsession I was dealing with here.

Traveller wrote: "In that case, Ian, your family has nothing to smirk about save for the short battery life. Those photo's are wonderful!"

Of course, it's the quality of composition that stands out!

Ian wrote: "Traveller wrote: "In that case, Ian, your family has nothing to smirk about save for the short battery life. Those photo's are wonderful!"

Of course, it's the quality of composition that stands out!"

A good workman with adequate tools. ;)

Traveller wrote: "A good workman with adequate tools. ;)"

Haha, that just about sums me up, except when it comes to communication.

It's great looking at these again, Ian.

Thanks, ALOLhaha.

My greatest disappointment of this trip was that I found a tomb that looked like the Tardus. Unfortunately, I had run out of hard drive and wasn't able to snap it.

Ian wrote: "I've told you about my obsession about gates and doors. Well, here's some from the cemetary:

@Ian I have some more doors for you:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...















"

ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Ian wrote: "I've told you about my obsession about gates and doors. Well, here's some from the cemetary:

@Ian I have some more doors for you"

Absolutely beautiful, right down to the composition of the whole presentation.

What did you think of the photo of the circular opening looking out onto the mountain?

Stunning! How about the door directly above that photo? I believe I have some others saved of windows,stairways... Let me go do a search.

ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Ian wrote: "I've told you about my obsession about gates and doors. Well, here's some from the cemetary:

@Ian I have some more doors for you:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s......"

Thanks for posting that, Reem. I "liked" it on my FB so that I can see any updates. I have a book on doors, and it's not as nice as those.

Did you take these, Reem?

If only I'd known, I would have tried a bit harder with the quality of mine.

Ian wrote: "Did you take these, Reem?

If only I'd known, I would have tried a bit harder with the quality of mine."

Don't I wish Ian. No, they were taken by Francky Otedesc , also known as Franco Di Capua. He is on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and You tube. I'm a huge fan! I tried to find you the other collections he put together of windows and stairways, but I have so many things bookmarked, I can't seem to find them. If I come across them soon, I'll come back and post them here. I'm not on FB, you might be able to check his page and find more there. So glad you liked them too Aloha. :)

I have to come back and look at his staircases as well.

ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "So glad you liked them too Aloha. :)"

ALOLhaha is very philosophical about doors: her attitude is, "one door closes, another one opens". And it works for her.

Ian wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "So glad you liked them too Aloha. :)"

ALOLhaha is very philosophical about doors: her attitude is, "one door closes, another one opens". And it works for her."

Yup, yup, and yup.

That must be why you are so widely adoored.

Finally struck gold! I was only able to find the one about staircases:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...

which is a real shame because I also wanted to share the one he made about windows.

Ian wrote: "That must be why you are so widely adoored."

You should play the hashtag game on twitter.

Love the spiral stairs. I also love the hammock pictures. I developed a love for hammocks from laying in them on the porch in Hawaii, reading.

You found them Aloha? I've been spending hours checking my bookmarks and favorites when I should have been checking Di Capua's twitter!!! Here are your hammocks: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...

Thanks, Reem. I wanted to link to the pictures, but I'm on my iPad all snuggly in bed. It's harder to do this on the iPad,

I love this!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...

Sorry, I give up. I'm at the point where I believe the window collection were a figment of my imagination. I just couldn't find them! Ugh :(

Thanks, Reem. Good night! I'm drifting off to dream land.

Aloha wrote: "I love this!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb..."

Fabulous! Great find Aloha and sweet dreams.