The original cemetery is the one for cats and dogs, located in Asnières (suburbs near Paris). French people are not particularly animal rights activists (even if there is some progress there), but they love pets! And for more than a century now, pet lovers can bury their pets in this special cemetery, located in a very peaceful and beautiful area along the river Seine.

Reading the pets’ names, and their owners’ short epitaphs (some of them in English) is quite entertaining, and there are actually beautiful graves, showing how some people can be more attached to animals than to human beings. The place also hosts a shelter for abandoned -living- cats, which brings life to this area where death reigns.

To get there: metro line 13, until «Gabriel Péri» (be careful, you have to use the yellow branch after «La Fourche»), or bus 54 until «Place Voltaire».  Keep in mind it’s closed on Mondays and on national bank holidays (except of course the 1st of November, which is the unofficial ‘cemetery day’).

If you’re still in the mood for another cemetery, walk along the Seine opposite its flow and cross the next bridge until rue Baudin, in Levallois-Perret: this (human) cemetery, not as famous as the big three: Père-Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmartre, hosts a British WW1 memorial, and the graves of Gustave Eiffel (you might have heard of his tower…), Maurice Ravel (you might know his Bolero) and Louise Michel (the Red Virgin, a key figure of the Commune). Open between 09:00 and 18:00.