Of all the cemeteries that I visited, perhaps the most melancholy was Batignolles. It's in the north of the 17th, at Porte de Clichy. This was an area of unrest during the banlieue riots a few years ago, and overall was perhaps the sketchiest area I visited during the trip. I was propositioned (at 10 in the morning!) by two aging Parisian prostitutes on the way to the cemetery, which tells you a little something about the area. The cemetery itself is quite big, but its nestled up against the Peripherique, and in general seems less maintained than the other cemeteries. One gets the sense that like the surrounding neighborhood, the cemetery has seen its time pass. Most of the memorials are moss covered, and there are more broken stones here than at the other cemeteries I visited. Most of the celebrities are 19th century actors or dancers who mean little to the foreign tourist, although there are two big names in the cemetery. Andre Breton is hidden almost directly under the raised Peripherique in the back of the cemtery, but the poet Paul Verlaine's tomb can be found at the first circular intersection one encounters. Verlaine's tragic life (divorced, imprisoned for shooting his lover Arthur Rimbaud, late years as a denizen in absinthe bars) seems to suggest that the punishment for going astray can be banishment to a second-rate cemetery, but how does one explain Breton's final resting spot? At any rate, I only brought the small camera out to the site because of the sketchy neighborhood, so sorry for the quality of the picts. Along with a couple of shots of Verlaine's grave, I've included some of the general cemetery, as well as a scan of a postcard of the older Verlaine in an absinthe bar.
