Red Light District in Paris

It may surprise some of you to know this, but it takes a lot to shock me. Especially around the more adult topic of relationships....and the physical side of that.

I'm pretty open minded and if it's not my thing, and everyone is consenting and of age, good on ya. 

There was one museum in Reyjakvik, Iceland dedicated to the male organ and has over 200 specimens from different land and sea mammals. If you are interested, click here for more information.  

I was not interested in going there. I don't like medical stuff and that was just too much for me. So, that's my ewwww level...parts in jars.

But other than that, I seem to be pretty open minded. When I found out that my hotel in Paris (July 2006 trip) was in the red light district, down the street from the Moulin Rouge, I was so excited! 



How iconic!

I was also down the street from Le Chat Noir (that famous cat poster) and the Museum of Eroticism. 

First of all, it's the former red light district...it wasn't even all that seedy anymore, not since Starbucks bought out the adult video store. I mean, there were a couple of risque storefronts but aside from the iconic landmarks, it was pretty tame. There's even a graveyard right next to the hotel I was staying at. 

But it was such a fun neighborhood! 

My tour guide, Pascal, made a joke about the Erotic Museum and some people were like, "We should go!" tee hee.

Now, I hadn't been to any museums in Paris, so instead of going to see classic art, I thought it'd be funny if the only museum I went to was the adult museum. 

So I went by myself. 

It was 7 stories laid out by time. They had some really old carvings from the bronze age, paintings from every century, porn movies from the silent era playing, and pictures from the invention of the camera to modern times. They also had different machines from like hundreds of years old to modern as well. 

I was allowed to take pictures but I only had my phone and I didn't want my little niece or my mother scrolling through my phone and seeing something traumatizing. 

I went level to level, trying to maintain a dignified scholarly air because I'm above such childish behavior as jaw drops, snorts, and shouts of "WHAT!?!" 

I tried to be friendly to the other patrons but there was a strict sense of DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT that everyone seemed to adhere to. 

Which was a shame because the experience was so different than I expected and I would have loved to share what I was seeing. 

That museum made it so clear that as soon as some people could carve, draw, paint, or take pictures....they had one thing on their mind. And it was all connected...the human spirit...the need for connections and passion....I was looking at things older than Paris itself and it could have been carved yesterday. There was some kink but really it was mostly just your normal acts of passion.

There was no shame in any of the displays and maybe that what was different as well. It was "this is what we do behind closed doors." This is what we cover up. This has been going on for thousands of years and as long as the human race keeps going, so will this. 

It was like 7 levels of the endurance of the human spirit...

I don't know what I expected walking in but I walked out thinking it was such a cool experience. It was almost like a spiritual experience feeling so connected to people from the past. 

Since researching the museum for this post, I have found out that the Musee de l'Erotisme has closed it's doors last year due to lack of attendees. Tourism was down to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and the museum never recovered. They cited it as a lack of desire... 

I guess I'll just have to go the Louvre like everyone else this time.