I Love Touring Paris - The Twentieth Arrondissement

The 20th arrondissement of northeastern Paris is located on the Right Bank of the Seine River. Its land area is 2.3 square miles or a sliver less than six square kilometers. The population is over one hundred eighty thousand and the district is home to about fifty five thousand jobs. The arrondissement contains two special neighborhoods, Menilmontant and Belleville discussed below but we'll start with the Twentieth's number one tourist attraction, the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, the largest cemetery is Paris and frankly one of the best-known cemeteries in the world. This slice of Paris attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. While there are several metro stations serving Pere-Lachaise many tourists prefer the Gambetta station right near the tomb of Oscar Wilde and from there its downhill in more ways than one. This property occupies almost 120 acres (almost 50 hectares) and includes several war memorials.

This unusual tourist attraction is named for Pere François de la Chaise, confessor to Louis XIV, who lived on the property some three hundred years ago. For health reasons cemeteries were banned in Paris way back in 1786. When Pere-Lachaise Cemetery was established by Napoleon in 1804 it was far from the city. To drum up business the remains of La Fontaine and Moliere were transferred there the same year. Then in 1817 the supposed remains of the famous couple Abelard and Heloise were reinterred on the property. Within a few years its population went from a few dozen to well over thirty thousand. Today over three hundred thousand have been buried without counting those who were cremated. The notables who repose here include the French writer Honore de Balzac, the French actress Sarah Bernhardt, the Polish composer Frederic Chopin, the American dancer Isadora Duncan, the American singer and songwriter Jim Morrison whose grave has a full-time security guard, perhaps the French Resistance leader Jean Moulin, the French singer Edith Piaf, and the Irish writer Oscar Wilde.

The Mur des Federes (Communards' Wall) is also located in the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. This marks the spot where 147 Communards, the last ditch defenders of the Belleville workers' district, were shot in May 1871 effectively marking the end of the Paris Commune. The cemetery and in particular the wall are a short of shrine for French left-wingers and many of their leaders are buried in the vicinity.

Belleville which means beautiful town is a Parisian working-class neighborhood situated mostly in the 20th and 19th arrondissements with a bit of overflow into the 10th and 11th. It was once an independent village and distinguished itself during the fight for the Second Republic in 1848 and the Paris commune from 1870 to 1871. It's quite a colorful area and is home to a large Chinese community. Tuesdays and Fridays you'll find farmers from the region selling their wares in an outdoor market on Belleville Boulevard. Many artists now live and work in this district. According to popular legend the incomparable singer Edith Piaf was born under a lamppost on the Rue de Belleville. This part of Paris was featured in many films including the 1951 Casque d'or (Gold Cap), the 2003 Triplets of Belleville, and the 2007 biography of Piaf, La Vie en Rose (Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses), the name of one of her signature songs.

Of course you don't want to tour Paris without sampling fine French wine and food. Let me suggest a sample menu: You might start with Escargots de Bourgogne (Snails in Parsley Butter). For your second course savor Fondue Bourguignonne (Beef Fondue). And as dessert indulge yourself with Poires pochees au vin de Bourgogne (Pears poached in Burgundy Wine). Your Parisian sommelier (wine steward) will be happy to suggest appropriate wines to accompany each course.