June 11, 2016 – Day Fifteen
Even though our trip is coming to an end, we still had a very exciting day. I apologize now for the length of my post but so much is racing through my head, so please bear with me. The “Sex” part of our “Sex, History, and the Cities” trip has definitely been represented this afternoon. Today’s itinerary scheduled for the Musee D’Orsay and the Musee de l’Erotisme. I did venture further than that today and found incredible experiences. The Musee D’Orsay holds magnificent pieces which date from 1848 to 1914.
This museum first opened in 1986 and consists of works from three institutions: the Louvre, the Jeu de Paume museum, and the National Museum of Modern Art. The art varied from extravagant paintings to brilliant sculptures. On most of our past museum visits, we’ve had a tour guide to lead us and help us break down pieces with the histories and hidden meanings. Today, we did not have a guide, however, we have learned so much that we did just fine without one. As a person who usually just looks at art and doesn’t think much more than “That’s a pretty tree,” I feel I now know what to look for and how to find it. Not taking for granted our previous tour guides of course, (because they have all been spectacular and I am so grateful for the experiences.)
On our trip we have learned that our history, queer history, has always been there but it has either been hidden or never brought to attention. Many times we have found queer art that has no mention of its queerness.
With this trip, our minds have been given new lenses to look through to find our queer histories. My new lenses helped me find the relationships between people that were not familial, but rather sexual and/or romantic.
After Musee D’Orsay, we traveled to an area called Montmartre which was filled with sex shops, strip clubs, lingerie stores, porn shops, the Moulin Rouge (which is a cabaret theater), and the Le Chat Noir (a restaurant which has catered to this area’s community.)
The Moulin Rouge had very risque performances by prostitutes, sex workers, etc. One famous woman in particular was La Goulue. La Goulue was a dancer, sex worker, larger queer woman who danced provocatively and has even ripped her panties during performances. We actually saw a painting of her earlier that day in the Musee D’Orsay.
We were released in the Montmartre for lunch and I would just like to mention how incredibly difficult this language barrier has been for me, I’ve faced language difficulties before but never like this. I know some Spanish but absolutely no French and I feel so ignorant and frustrated for coming to a country thinking everything will be just dandy without knowing their language. Luckily, most people I have interacted with knew at least a tiny bit of English, today however, was difficult. Randy, Avery, and I stopped at one of the first places we saw for lunch, Le Bistrot, and found the waiter barely knew any English and the menu was 100 % French. Thankfully with Avery knowing some French and with many hand gestures, we ordered. Our food turned out to be pretty incredible, too. I just wanted to share how this has been a challenge for me.
After lunch, we moved on to the Musee de l’Erotisme (Museum of Eroticism.) The Musee de l’Erotisme was established in 1997 and was made to present the missing histories of sex and sexuality.
The arts of this museum have been hidden and silenced because of their content. The Erotic Museum brings sex and sexuality to light and instead of shaming the material, these pieces are embraced and brought to life. This museum is very sex and body positive and represents all types of sexuality. I personally saw representation for all types of communities ranging from lesbian couples to the disabled. This museum was a wonderful finish to our art stops. Very queer, real, and historical.
After the Musee de l’Erotisme, a few of us went up this hill at Montmartre and found the most beautiful view. Our friend, Sister Rose, who we met earlier in the week, mentioned to us to go here and see the view in front of the big, ugly church. Religion can be a beautiful thing, however, Rose described to us that this church is so fat because of money and faith is not a value with it. So, we followed her advice, went to the big, ugly church, and saw the view that laid before it.
We returned from this incredible view back to the hotel just to go out again to an art market outside of our place. I ventured alone mostly and found the most incredible art. There were people who had hand made paintings, jewelry, ceramics, cloths, and much more. I bought a scarf and a tiny painting and am so happy with my purchases. It was great to see work from actual French people.
Finally, to end our day, a few of us decided to visit the biggest must see, tourist thing to do. We went to the Eiffel Tower! Never in my life would I have thought that the world would bring me here. The metro rides were long but the view is well worth all of the distance.
We were all dumbfounded and elated. We waited until the area closed and then all of a sudden the tower started to sparkle and it was wonderful!! Because we are dumb Americans, we also ran across a crosswalk multiple times to get pictures in front of the tower. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity of not only seeing the Eiffel Tower, not only my splendid adventures today, but for this entire trip. Dr. Pitts and Lowell put a lot of effort into making this an experience of a lifetime and although I am sad it is ending, I am gracious that it even started.
