Not Another Holiday Part I

I told you that May was the holiday month in France.

Today (May 13^th) is Ascension Day here – the day that it is believed that Christ was raised up to heaven to be with God.

According to the French, that means that you need the day off work. And probably Friday, too.

I don’t know if I’m all with that religious stuff – but Paul and I thought it was a fitting excuse to pop up to the (lower) cemetery here in Town. The finest views in all of Menton are from the heights of the 2 cemeteries.

The one that all the photos are from today are the Vieux Châteaux cemetery. Apparently once upon a time there was Châteaux on this spot, that by Napoleonic times had had become pretty dilapidated. Napoleon declared that no more bodies were to be buried within town limits (as a measure of hygiene). Although Menton didn’t become part of France until 1860, they joined the band-wagon, tore the old Châteaux down and started burying people here instead.

This is a most fascinating place of tranquility, profound beauty and history. It is the final resting place of the every-day person, Princes, Paupers, French, Italian, Russian, American, Canadian (!), British… they’re all here if you look hard enough.

Once upon a time, the Riviera was a popular place to go to escape the malaise of various diseases, like tuberculosis. It doesn’t seem to have worked so well, though, because the cemeteries are full of people who died in their 20’s and 30’s, most likely from the various diseases that they came here to recuperate from.

While there is Royalty and Nobility buried here, most people who visit are coming to see a small and simple grave that you would walk past and not notice if it weren’t for all the attention that it gets. It is situated on a bend on a terraced part of the cemetery, on the west side, and gets just a little bit of sun every day.

That grave belongs to William Webb Ellis. He invented the game of Rugby, and his grave is covered with remembrances from people all over the world – literally - including Chile, Australia and South Africa! It is a shrine to all the dedicated fans of the sport that come from all corners of the world to pay their respects to the inventor of their passion. There is a major memorial to him at the gates, and several signs direct you to his final resting place.

The Russian chapel, which dominates the lower cemetery, belongs to Alexandrine de Tapliakoff, who died in Menton in 1884. This beautiful chapel also contains the remains of Prince Troubetzkoy (1822-1892). No less than 6 princes of the Russian Royal house are buried in Menton. The photo of Paul in front of it we snapped for Anthea – it shows Paul getting in touch with his “eastern roots.”

The cemeteries also give you an interesting sense of the French (and more so Italian) rights around death. Cemeteries here are not like at home. Many of the plots are fenced with the most beautiful iron fences; some are built with chapels including stained-glass and domes! They have a peculiar habit of purchasing these unattractive ceramic arrangements of flowers to leave on the tombs as permanent memorials – but of course here, they don’t have to worry about snow in the “winter.” On certain anniversaries of a person’s death, they place these little marble markers on a tomb with words of thanks, and they even write letters to the departed and leave them there. Interesting, and a testament to their unwavering Catholic faith.

So here they rest for eternity. As I say several times in my videos, not a bad place to spend it. I’m going to post several photos and videos. Be sure to see the photos of the Canadians from Toronto, Cobourg and Québec. See the posting below this one for more photos from up there.

Rest in Peace.