Just want to dash in and leave Jim Morrison a joint? iPèreLachaise
So my nephew came to Paris all by himself to visit his auntie for the first time this summer, a week before he turned 13. I planned the gothic and gargoyle teenage boy trip for him, though I did sneak in a little high culture and baroque architecture. He got chandeliered out at a certain point, but I made up for it on his last day by taking him to the creepy catacombs in the morning and Père Lachaise in the afternoon. Of course, he had been waiting for Père Lachaise. Or rather, Jim Morrison.
Since I’m an appy auntie, I searched for a Père Lachaise app as soon as I knew he was coming. It is the coolest place to visit in Paris. There were several apps, but I picked iPèreLachaise, the free one, and didn’t need to look any further.
He had promised his girlfriend (I was as shocked as you are) a picture of himself in front of Jim Morrison’s grave, so we headed there first, guided by the GPS. Pictures taken (complete with all the flowers, bottles of whiskey and joints people had left in tribute). No smiling, of course. Too cool for that. Then we just wandered.
You can zoom in on the map and switch from map mode to augmented reality mode (hold your phone up to see what’s in front of you, and the app tells you if there are interesting graves ahead and how far they are).
What’s missing in this app is background info on the people buried there, but it was adequate for my purposes (at 12, do you really want to hear about Molière?). It’s also annoying that Oscar Wilde is labeled a “writer,” while Colette and Gertrude Stein are labeled “women of literature.” They should have had the app translated by a native English speaker.
Devices: iPhone
Cost: Free
iPèreLachaise on the App Store
