AN EROTIC HIKE

 

 

 

 

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 lusty Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Noir's grave in the Père Lachaise cemetery

The journalist was killed in a duel in 1870. His grave, which you will find on the map given by the cemetery's caretaker (no need to buy any of the maps sold around the Père Lachaise), is one of the most visited. Noir has not left anything of interest, but his grave is visited by hundreds of women each year. He lies flat on his back on his grave, his top hat at his side. The elegant bronze statue has become green with time except in two places: his sex and the tip of his shoes. They stand out: the thousands of people who have rubbed these parts have given them a polish. The legend has it that sterile women who touch the journalist's feet or sex are able to have children. Some women have even been seen riding the poor dead journalist. 92e Division. Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Boulevard de Ménilmontant. 20th. Metro: Père Lachaise or Philippe Auguste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


  • La Musardine. In this little bookstore which you could easily miss, you might not find works of Spinoza or Kant, but among the 8,000 erotic books, you should be able to find something to your taste -art books, classics of the erotic genre, all the way to the porno comics. The bookstore has also a great selection of CD Roms. 122, rue du Chemin Vert. 11th. Tel:01 49 29 48 55. Metro: Père Lachaise.
  • Curiosa, near the Luxembourg garden, is becoming the city's great erotic bookstore. You can find everything there: literature as well as sex manuals or videos, La Fontaine's licentious tales as well as the complete works of Jean-Paul Sartre. Danièle Masson, the lady who runs the place, calls it "the library of eroticism and love". "Women are more and more interested in the genre," she says. "I see every type of persons, every age and every social status." Masson has also launched a web site, "enfer" -"hell"- where one can download out of print or hard to find masterpieces of the erotic literature. 7, rue Crébillon. 6th. Tel: 01 40 46 01 15.

 

 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.
117, blvd de l'Hopital. 13th. Tel: 01 45 86 34 09 		  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.

 

 

 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: ? Also visit her gallery: 36, rue Jacob, 6th. Tel: 01.42. 60.2318 http://www.musee-maillol.com

 

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

 

Other sensuous places:
  • Latina Café. A big Latino space on three levels. On the lower level, hot dance floor. 114, ave des Champs Elysées. 8th. Tel:01 42 89 98 89.

  • La Casa 128. restaurant-bar-discothèque with a Cuban patio atmosphere. 128, rue Lafayette. 10th. Tel: 01 48 01 05 71.

  • Le Sanz-Sans. In the heart of the Bastille. Baroque decor and grooving rhythms for the pretty young women and good looking men who flock to the Sanz-Sanz. 49, rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine. 11th. Tel: 01 44 75 78 78

 

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 CourbetŐs "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 dŐOrsay. www.musee-orsay.fr

 

  • Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs. The anonymous work, painted in 1594, presents Henry IV's mistress and one of her sisters. In the background, a woman in red is absorbed in some sewing work. In the foreground, lie two naked ladies, which is highly unusual for the 16th century: one of the two ladies is holding the nipple of the other one between her delicate fingers. Musée du Louvre. www.louvre.fr

  • Le Baiser. Rodin's kiss is more than a romantic kiss. The marble sculpture presents two lovers, Paolo de Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, killed by a jealous husband but embracing for eternity in this erotic kiss. Musée Rodin. www.musee.rodin.fr

 

  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). www. cnac-gp.fr

 

 

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."

  • The most sought after club is L'Overside, with its zen and cozy boudoirs, in the heart of the elegant Left Bank. 92, rue du Cherche-Midi. 6th. Tel: 01 42 84 10 20. Open 7/7. www.overside.net

  • Les Chandelles. The other big club in the city. Some find it too formal, other, very elegant. 1, rue Therese. 1st. Tel: 01 42 60 43 31. 7/7.

 

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.