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Paris
is the city for lovers in the full sense of the word: not only romantic
love, but also carnal love. Take this walk through an erotic and lustyParis.
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Musée de l'Erotisme. It might soon become the Eiffel tower's main rival on the tourist map of sites to visit in Paris. The Erotic Museum, at the edge of Pigalle, the red light district, claims to be the only Paris museum to be open night and day. This unusual institution opened its seven floors in 1997, when three collector friends put together their collection of erotic objects and works of art.More than 2,000 objects are on display from all over the world -statues from 200BC, Thai terra cotta, Mexican masks with the seven deadly sins, X films from the silent era, or illustrations of all the positions in the Kama Sutra, as well as painting and photography. |
| The Erotic Museum also presents the works of contemporary artists. Alain Plumey, the museum curator organizes interesting exhibitions twice a year, like the current one on the early century brothels. 72, blvd de Clichy. 18th. Tel: 01 42 58 28 73. www.eroticmuseum.com. Open daily 10am-2am. Metro: Blanche. |
| Sex
shops used to be an all-male seedy world where
women could hardly enter. It is quickly changing. To begin with, they are
moving out of their traditional neighborhoods to open in bourgeois quartiers.
The Concorde sex shops are the best examples of this new wave in X-stores.
"You'll find sex dolls for women and funny dildos," says Dalila
Kerchouche, a young woman who recently explored these places for a French
weekly. "With the arrival of Chippendale's boys, a few years ago, there's
been a feminization of the world of sex." 6, rue du Dahomet. 11th. Tel: 01 40 24 11 81. Metro: Faidherbe Chaligny / 117, blvd de l'Hopital. 13th. Tel: 01 45 86 34 09 Metro: Campio Formio |
For those who prefer the S&M universe, Demonia is THE place to visit, even just to look. Go through the long tunnel covered with leopard pattern paper and you are in the heaven of S&M. The day we went on reconnaissance, a skinny man was "testing: some material before buying it. Each month, Demonia organizes shows of "domination-fétichisme: but often the show is in the audience. Mon.-Sat. 10am-7:30pm. 10, Cité Joly. 11th. Tel: 01 43 14 82 70. Metro: Père Lachaise | |||
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After this visit, maybe some high art and a little bit of natural light is what you need. Walk through the voluptuous and monumental sculptures created by Aristide Maillol. "Give me a garden and I will fill it with statues," said Maillol (1861-1944), the great sculptor of female bodies. In 1963, André Malraux, finally gave Maillol, 10 years after his death, a garden: the Jardins du Carrousel, in the Tuileries. Eighteen monumental sculptures of naked women grace this corner of Paris. Their appeal comes for a good part from the great softness of the material (cast iron and lead) with its blue tones under the Ile de France sky. | ||
| The woman who was Aristide Maillol's model, is still alive. She has opened her own museum with her extraordinary collection of 20th century painters and artists: Gauguin, Bonnard, Redon, Dufy, Kandinsky, Ingres, Degas, Cezanne, Picasso, Valadon, Foujita. Very young, Dina Vierny became acquainted with many artists. At 15, she met Maillol and immediately became his model during 10 years. A large part of the sculptor's monumental work is the fruit of this collaboration. The Collection Dina Vierny. 61, rue de Grenelle. 7th. Tel: 01 42 22 59 58 Metro: Rue du Bac. Also visit her gallery: 36, rue Jacob, 6th. Tel: 01 42 60 23 18 Metro: St- Germain des Près www.musee-maillol.com |
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If
there was a Richter scale for sensuous places, Favela Chic would be the "Big One". The little Brasilian restaurant which has moved from the rue Oberkampf to the Republic is the hottest place in the city. Its ambience is legendary. You cannot see Favela from the street. Go up a few steps and push two heavy doors and you enter another world: Tropical heat, Latin music at full blast, colorful decor, big communal tables. The evening starts quietly enough but the temperature gets quickly hotter. Suddenly, the whole house is swaying to the music of the DJ. "Caliente-caliente!" |
| Everybody is sharing the joyfulness and the ambience is very friendly and sensuous. Everything stops at 2am but the "habitués" know the next evening will be the same. Favela Chic. 18, rue du Faubourg du Temple. 11th. Tel: 01 40 21 38 14. 7pm-2am. Closed on Sunday. Metro: Republique | |
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Even visiting Le Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay can turn into an erotic experience. The French museums are full of paintings which created a scandal when they were first shown.The most shocking is without contest Auguste Courbet's "L'Origine du Monde". Courbet's allegorical painting is a close-up of a woman's sex, as she is laying on a bed and the top of her body is not visible, as if not to distract the spectator from the subject of this 1866 painting. Interestingly, one of the last owners of "L'Origine du Monde", was French psychoanalyst Lacan. Musée d'Orsay. 1, rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 7th, Metro: Solférino Closed Mon. www.musee-orsay.fr |
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John de Andrea's naked couple facing each other is more real than real, in their Polyester and acrylic reality. You can also see one of Balthus' most famous paintings, "Alice". In this 1933 painting, the 93 year old Balthus, presents a mysterious girl doing her hair, one foot on a chair, her very short skirt revealing her body. Musée National d'Art Moderne (Pompidou Center). Metro: Châtelet. Closed Tues. www. cnac-gp.fr |
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Nights in Paris have gotten hotter than ever. Since the monumental success of Michel Houellebecq's novel, Les Particules Elémentaires, peaceful citizens have discovered that the city had more private clubs for couples than Nero's Rome had bordellos. There are more than 40 "libertine" clubs. As a rule, these clubs are open to couples. "There is a real tidal wave of interest for libertine life," says Pascal Giraudeau, editor of a monthly magazine dedicated to people who like to experience sex with other couples. "Now, even in chic dinners, people will openly talk about it."
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| If you are exhausted, you can finish the night at the Hôtel Opéra Maintenon. Maybe the ghost of Brassai, the great photographer of the demi monde, still haunts this place, a former "maison de plaisirs". The hotel is now very respectable and chic but the owners have kept two rooms in the old style. 36, rue Sainte Anne. 1st. Tel: 01 42 97 41 53. |
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