You are now standing at the Gambetta entrance to the Père Lachaise cemetery, with the road behind you. My name is Joe Start, expat resident around Paris for more than a dozen years. I'm the author...

Keep going straight.

Admire the ornate tombs on your right as I tell you about this place. Père Lachaise translates to 'The Chairfather' in English. I've titled these tours with that silly nam...

Let's take a right turn here onto Avenue Carette and head over to our first host.

He's the tall white block, 17 tombs down on the right.

”There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."

Oscar Wilde said that, and he certainly got a bit of both. He sought gratification in all...

You're doing fine, keep going straight.

I know this doesn't look much like a walkway, but most of the interesting spots are accessed through dirt paths like these, or smaller. Getting accustome...

Once your feet hit cobblestones, turn left on Avenue Greffulhe just ahead and keep going.

Turn right onto Avenue Circulaire and keep going.

Our next hosts love entertaining, especially if the conversation is intellectually stimulating. You may have visited their apartment building at...

The American writer Gertrude Stein is more famous for the company she kept than what she wrote. She left Oakland, California (near my hometown) because "there's no 'there' there" "Here, here" call...

Turn right here onto Avenue Pacthod and keep going.

On your way to our next hosts, let's glance ahead to our left for an unusual creation.

This odd monument is a cenotaph, meaning a monument in honor of a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere. ...

Turn left on Avenue Transversale #3. Then turn right precisely at the third tall tree on your right.

Go past Madeleine Goukassof on your left and the tall monument to the family Kanjovnzeff on your right. Our next host is the second on the left just after the pine.

[4 SECOND PAUSE]

Amedeo Mo...

At the first little opening make a left on the walkway and then an immediate right. Our next host is three down on the left.

[5 SECOND PAUSE]

A 'piaf' is a common little brown bird. They are ...

Henri Salvador was a contemporary of Edith Piaf, but lived nearly twice as long. I don't know if he enjoyed himself twice as much, but he certainly spread as much good feeling as was possible in on...

Here, you're walking among many fascinating Jewish graves. Rather than flowers, a metaphor for the brevity of life, the Jewish tradition is to place a stone at the site, symbolizing the permanence ...

You'll come out on the other side to a larger path, Avenue Transversale #2, which has a slight uphill grade.

Continue cutting diagonally across the cobblestones and turn left on the little path...

After the fourth tomb on your right-hand side, turn right on a smaller path. Looking up over your right shoulder, you should see the name Allioli on the back of the grave as you turn.

(4 SECOND ...

Take an immediate left on Chemin Suchet.

Keep following the path as it curves to the right and changes names to chemin Masséna. Just keep on this path.

With four of the next sites, we'll r...

You'll see two tombs on your right with Chinese writing followed by a white tomb surrounded by a square of white stone. This is our next host.

Make your way over to him.

Pierre-Augustin Caron...

Hey, are you up for a quick and spooky detour? Then check out the tall dome on the right, and stand before its glass front.

This is known as the "Grave of Noailles" because the writer Anna de ...

Leave the rightmost Glandaz tomb on your right and the tall tree on your left. Walk forward for 10 meters and that should head you straight for what is known as the Dragon's Tomb. It's a peach-tint...

Before meeting our next révolutionnaire, take a peek at the wide grave at the intersection of the cobblestone path, Chemin des Chèvres and the dirt path Chemin Saint-Louis.

It’s peach-tinted, s...

While you're walking up Chemin Saint-Louis, look ahead for the tallest tree around with five trunks stretching into the sky like fingers. At its base is the sepulchure of the family Barbe.

Ma...

Now look for a set of three tombstones with rounded tops. They are surrounded by a wrought iron gate.

Turn left behind the back of the three, then make an immediate right.

Continue to cli...

Cross the cobblestones and join a tiny dirt path, leaving the grave of Mondoloni on your right. Take the first left.

Make a right at the grave of Frimat. Look up and you'll see beyond another cobblestone path. Walk in-between the graves gingerly and get to the cobblestone path which is Avenue Transversale #1.
...

Here's the tomb of Quintin Craufurd, a Scot who was a francophile and an unabashed royal family fanboy. He tried to help them escape during the French Revolution, then wrote gushingly about Louis a...

Ahead make a right on Avenue Greffulhe, a narrow cobblestone path.

Fun fact, when Père Lachaise opened in 1804, during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, there were only a dozen tombs. Years l...

Make a left at the main intersection ahead onto Avenue Transversale #2 and keep going.

We will meet our next host further along this road.

Our next host is on the right in a lower tomb under a bronze plaque.

Victor Noir is in-between the tall tombs of Boudot et Thierry on the right and De Ycaza on the left.

[5 SECOND PAUSE]

...

Take your first left onto another cobblestone path. This is Avenue Carette. Continue to the end of it.

At the end of the path you'll have to slide in between the tombs of Giot and Laffitte, then take an immediate right on the little path and keep going.

To find the tomb of Sarah Bernhardt, turn left at Familles Torbier et Ortoli, leaving the tall tree on your right. Just after you see the tomb about waist-high on your right. It looks like a little...

Just ahead on your right is a larger cobblestone path, Avenue Aguado. Turn right onto it and keep going.

You'll see the next two hosts a little bit farther on the left, six graves from the end.

Make your way over to them.

[4 SECOND PAUSE]

They were the original cinema couple that endured, mar...

Turn left here onto Avenue Transversale 2 and keep going.

Turn right to enter the Columbarium or Mausoleum. People who chose cremation are housed here.

As you enter, you'll see the inside of the walls are covered with squares. Behind each of these are ...

This host is the original San Francisco free-spirit, Isadora Duncan.

It's by abandoning convention that you can create something completely new. Boy, was she unconventional for the turn of the...