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PARIS TOUR 2022
Tour Introduction
More than any other city in the world, Paris has a rich history of seductive women who rose to the top.
From royal mistresses like Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, to courtesans like the (real!) Lady of the Camellias, the Shady Ladies of Paris reigned over the so-called demi-monde, a glittering section of high society that—even if it had to glitter in the shade—was often the true center of power.
Let Shady Ladies Tours introduce you to this intriguing side of Paris, from Catherine de Médicis (and her husband’s mistress, Duchess Diane de Poitiers) to racy, modern women such as Camille Claudel, Colette, and Coco Chanel.
You will be guided by Professor Andrew Lear, world-renowned scholar of sexuality and art (and founder of our company) and his colleague Edith de Belleville, Paris guide extraordinaire, and author of Belles et Rebelles (Beautiful Rebels), a popular French book on the history of fabulous French women.
We’ll see famous sights from a whole new angle; we’ll discover hidden gems that reveal the lives of some of history’s most fascinating women; and we’ll dine in restaurants fit for a queen. Topped with a visit to a perfume museum and a chocolate tour, this tour gives you Paris the way Madame de Pompadour herself would want you to see it.
Discover the City of Light for the first time—or see it again from an entirely new perspective. Shady Ladies Tour’s densely packed, fascinating, and delightful break in Paris will create memories to last a lifetime.
Paris Tour Highlights
- Stay in a Belle Époque mansion that is one of Paris’ most popular hotels.
- Eat in one of Paris’s most beautiful art nouveau dining rooms.
- Learn about the racy side of the Belle Epoque at the Orsay museum (and lunch in its lovely dining room!)
- Enjoy a wine tasting in Loire Valley, and visit the Fragonard Perfume Museum.
- Tour Chenonceau, the “castle of the women”—and probably France’s most beautiful castle—and visit Colette’s home in the beautiful countryside of Burgundy.
- Revel in the best of provincial French cooking at one of the Loire Valley’s top restaurants.
- Follow the theme of love through the Louvre Museum.
- See lesser-known sights of Paris, such as the Decorative Arts Museum, with its splendid courtesan room, the tomb of the Lady of the Camellias, and Empress Josephine’s beloved palace, Malmaison.
- Explore the magnificent shopping, fashion and people-watching of one of the world’s greatest cities.
Paris Tour Itinerary
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 1. Wednesday July 13.
Our tour begins at our Paris hotel. Meet Professor Lear and Edith de Belleville, our Paris guide and author of Belles et Rebelles (Beautiful Rebels). We start our tour in Montmartre with a visit to the historic studio of Suzanne Valadon, mistress of Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Satie—and later on an important early 20th century artist—followed by a walking tour around the cemetery of Montmartre. We visit the graves of many French luminaries, including Degas, Dumas, the original Lady of the Camellias, and the inventor of the French Can-Can. Our walking tour ends with a drink at the harem-themed bar of a chic new hotel—located in a renovated 1905 bordello! This evening, we have our welcome dinner at a charming 19th century restaurant, where the beau monde of the new Boulevards wined and dined.
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 2. Thursday July 14.
This morning we visit the Orsay Museum for the first of our Shady Ladies museum tours. We see how close the world of art was to the demi-monde, from Clésinger’s so-called Woman Bitten by a Serpent (probably molded from the body of the courtesan who also inspired many of Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil) to Courbet’s still-shocking Origin of the World.
After our tour, we relax over lunch at the Museum’s beautiful Beaux Arts dining room. We have some free time after lunch to explore the Orsay museum, and then we set off for an afternoon stroll, focusing on Josephine Baker. We end our afternoon with a glass of wine at a café frequented by Baker, Hemingway, and the whole Lost Generation—and that still retains its 1920s decor. Evening free.
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 3. Friday July 15.
This morning we take you on our special tour of Love at the Louvre, with paintings of royal mistresses, racy art of the Ancien Régime, and much more. After the Louvre, we have lunch at a charming bistrot nearby. Our afternoon starts with a visit to the Decorative Arts Museum, where we will see their special courtesan collection. We end our afternoon with a visit to Paris’ premiere perfume museum, where you learn about both the technique of making perfume and the history of beautiful perfume containers (and where you can have your own fragrance blended!) Evening free.
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 4. Saturday July 16.
We spend this morning at Malmaison, the palace of one of history’s great Shady Ladies—Joséphine, wife of Napoleon, Empress of France, and a woman whose life took her from a failing sugar plantation in Martinique to the prisons of the Terror, then through a series of scandalous relationships to her triumphant coronation in Notre Dame cathedral. This beautiful (and beautifully preserved) palace was her refuge through her turbulent marriage to Napoleon—and also the last place in which Napoleon himself lived before his final exile in the mid-Atlantic. After our tour of Malmaison, we return to Paris, where we have left you Saturday afternoon and evening free to explore the city’s great shopping or to visit sites and museums that we have not included in our itinerary. The restaurants of the world’s greatest culinary city are also waiting for your selection, and we’re ready with advice or help with reservations!
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 5. Sunday July 17.
Today we head south to the beautiful Loire Valley, where in the Renaissance France’s kings built many of the world’s most spectacular castles. Our first stop is in the town of Amboise—where we have lunch at a Michelin-listed restaurant, nestled at the foot of Amboise castle right along the Loire. After lunch, we make our way to Chenonceau, the best-preserved and most interesting of the valley’s castles. Known as “the castle of the women,” Chenonceau boasts a history that includes Henri II’s mistress (and unofficial co-regent) Diane de Poitiers, his jealous wife Catherine de Médicis, her scandalous daughter Queen Margot—and her daughter-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. After a relaxed visit that also takes us through the castle’s famous and exquisite gardens, we end our afternoon with a tasting of the castle’s estate wines, before driving to our hotel in the lovely medieval city of Bourges.
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 6. Monday July 18.
Today we take off for the nearby region of Burgundy, where we visit the Colette Museum—the well-preserved childhood home of a free-spirited and scandalous woman who portrayed the lives of courtesans and lesbians as important themes in her writings. After our tour of her house, we return to the Loire for a final fabulous provincial French lunch in the town of Sancerre—justly famous for its wines—and then return to Bourges for a walking tour around this charming city, where we will learn the story of France’s royal mistress and visit the palace of Jacques Coeur, her minister of fashion. Free evening.
Shady Ladies Paris: Day 7. Tuesday July 19.
Our tour ends with breakfast this morning. We are a short taxi ride from the TGV station, where you can get a fast train back to Paris. Please let us know if you need help with travel arrangements, or if you want to prolong your stay in the Loire Valley, Paris, or elsewhere in Europe!
Hotel Accommodation
The Hotel Bradford Elysées (10 rue St Philippe du Roule) is a charming hotel in a mansion from the Belle Epoque, on a quiet street just off the Champs Elysées—and rated Number 5 of Paris’ 1878 hotels on TripAdvisor!
The Hotel de Bourbon—Mercure Bourges (60-62 Avenue Jean Jaurès, 18000 Bourges) is a chic modern hotel in a renovated 17th century Abbey, set among gardens—but in walking distance of everything in the center of this beautiful medieval city. Wait till you see the hotel restaurant with its soaring ceiling: it will take your breath away!
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[ucaddon_uc_movie_widget image=”6334″ btn_bg=”#ef577a” link=”https://www.peek.com/s/f8a1c6c2-a77a-473f-9edf-7cf396f39bc0/oJrJ” btn_text=”BOOK NOW” title=”Saint Justina of Padua, 1490s.” content_bg=”#eeeeee”]Like many saints in Renaissance painting, Saint Justina is the ultimate fashion plate. The jewels on her clothing, her embroidered stomacher, and her green sleeves (as in the song!), separate from her bodice and set off by the sections of blouse pulled through the gaps, are the height of stylishness. The Renaissance favored a high forehead, which ladies achieved by plucking their hairline back, and she is an extreme example; a relatively unisex upper body shape was also in fashion, and to this end, her corset has flattened her breasts (by pushing them to the sides). This painting may actually be a portrait of Isabella D’Este, one of Renaissance Italy’s great power figures—ruler, diplomat, and art collector.[/ucaddon_uc_movie_widget]
[ucaddon_uc_movie_widget image=”6333″ btn_bg=”#ef577a” link=”https://www.peek.com/s/f8a1c6c2-a77a-473f-9edf-7cf396f39bc0/oJrJ” btn_text=”BOOK NOW” title=”Head of an Oba, Edo People” content_bg=”#f8f7f7″]Long necks are considered desirable in many cultures, and the length of the neck is simulated or emphasized in many different ways, including for instance, from our own culture, ropes of pearls. In several cultures in Asia and Africa, neck rings create the illusion of a lengthened neck by forcing the clavicle and shoulders down. They are generally worn from puberty on, and removing them can lead to death. Here they mark the status of an oba (royal chief) among the Edo people, the founders of the precolonial Benin empire, now in Southern Nigeria[/ucaddon_uc_movie_widget]
[ucaddon_uc_movie_widget image=”6332″ btn_bg=”#ef577a” link=”https://www.peek.com/s/f8a1c6c2-a77a-473f-9edf-7cf396f39bc0/oJrJ” btn_text=”BOOK NOW” title=”Young Man with a Greyhound, 1570s” content_bg=”#eeeeee”]This young man has every fashionable accoutrement of his day—each one intended to show off (or create the illusion of) his assets, physical or financial. The hose that show off his legs, his huge stuffed breeches and his prominent codpiece all speak of his virility, as of course do his sword and his greyhound. The gold cloth used in different ways on his breeches and doublet, the gold ornaments of his sword, and his elegant lace cuffs and ruff all speak instead of the wealth of his family. The shape of his corset, with the little belly in front, was very fashionable at the time and may have been meant to resemble armor.[/ucaddon_uc_movie_widget]