Red Light District

Paris' Red Light District is nothing special during the day. Mid-June sunlight shines on an ordinary street, with some risqué stores but nothing too out of the ordinary in that city. It is only when darkness falls that it comes alive, and takes on the personality and reputation it is so famous for.

The Moulin Rouge is the most well-known little business on the whole street, but it is not by any means the most scandalous. There are various kinds of sex supermarkets, video stores, peep shows, strip clubs, cabarets, and all things X-rated that you would be embarrassed to encounter with your mother. Although I did not venture into the très populaire Moulin Rouge, I did follow the rest of the friends I had met into a filthy supermarket. There were things I had never seen before and never care to see again lining the shelves. Of course this reflects the attitude of Parisians, and in fact of European culture in the broader sense: liberal and without shame. All in all it was a rare and slightly disturbing experience in the shady part of the Montmartre area.