Among famous bones

Enclosed by a massive wall and lined with 5,000 trees, the peaceful car-free lanes and dirt paths of Paris’ Pere Lachaise Cemetery encourage parklike meandering. Opened in 1804, it still accepts new residents today (adding to its population of 70,000), but the real estate is very high.

Even though it seems strange to say, a day spent under the dappled sunlight wandering the “boulevards” of Pere Lachaise can be a relaxing, enjoyable introduction to France’s history. By getting to know the necropolis, you get a personal, revealing look at the country’s most beloved artists, musicians and writers. Included in the multitude are many American ex-pats, who made Paris their final resting place.

For many people, Pere Lachaise is a place of rock pilgrimage, a way to pay homage to Jim Morrison (1943-1971). Morrison, lead singer for The Doors, arrived in Paris in the winter of 1971; he came to leave celebrity status behind and get healthy. Instead, he died in his bathtub, officially of a heart attack, but most likely from a drug overdose. His friends approached the director of Pere Lachaise about burying the rock star here, in accordance with his wishes. The director refused to admit him, until they mentioned that Morrison was a writer. “A writer?” he said, and found a spot.

While traveling through Europe, American Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) dropped out of med school and moved to Paris, where she resided with her life partner, Alice B. Toklas. Every Saturday night, Paris’ brightest artistic lights converged at Stein’s salon for dinner and intellectual stimulation. Pablo Picasso painted her portrait and Ernest Hemingway sought her approval. Her last words, when asked, “What is the answer?” were “What is the question?”

Fresh-cut flowers and geraniums on the gravestone speak of the emotional staying power of Frederic Chopin’s music, which still connects souls across the centuries. Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) arrived in Paris when he was 21. He fell in love with the city, and never returned to his Polish homeland. As he played private parties for Paris’ elite, Chopin wowed them with his technique, his ability to make a piano sing, and his melodic, soul-stirring compositions. Idolized as a brooding genius throughout his life, he died at age 39. The grave at Pere Lachaise contains Chopin’s body, but his heart and his music lie in Warsaw.

A child of the Parisian streets, Edith Piaf (1915-1963) was raised in her grandma’s bordello and her father’s traveling circus troupe. The teenager sang in Paris streets for spare change, where a nightclub owner discovered her. Waif-like and dressed in black, she became the toast of pre-WWII Paris society. With her strong but trembling voice, she buoyed French spirits under the German occupation, and her most popular song, “La Vie en Rose” (“The Rosy Life”), captured the joy of postwar Paris. Her personal life declined into ill health, alcohol and painkillers, while onstage she sang “Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I don’t regret anything”). The same motto might be true for most of the cemetery’s most famous residents, who lived extraordinary lives and gained an immortality that transcends Pere Lachaise’s stone walls.

Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 27 European travel guidebooks including “Europe Through the Back Door” (published by Avalon) and host of the PBS-TV series Rick Steves’ Europe, airing weeknights at 7 p.m. on Channel 9. (Programs, except Thursday, pre-empted for the Republican National Convention.)