Hi! I’m Megan.
We’ve spent the week getting settled in Paris, surviving the first, but probably not the last, heatwave of our time here. I have spent a combined 110 euros on fans and I have no regrets.
I do not leave my house for this long, ever. My routine has been disrupted and I am very much out of my element. That being said, I think this is good for me. Seeing new things and discovering new ways to live are things that I need. When I signed up for this trip almost a year ago, my life looked very different. When I go home in August, it won’t be to the same life I left, and sometimes I find myself struggling to accept that. I do not like change.
But I can at least look at some great art while I find my way through!
Highlights for this week include:
-A reliquary at the Musee de Cluny that contains the alleged umbilical cord of Jesus Christ
-One of my favorite sculptures, Sleeping Hermaphrodite, at the Louvre
-A very tasty lemon tart from a place I do not remember
I love reliquaries. I think they are the funniest things, but also, I get it. Sacred things get a special ornate box, that just makes sense. Sometimes that sacred thing is somebody’s foot and it gets a special foot shaped vessel. This is natural. As someone who keeps sentimental boxes of sentimental things, I am now considering starting my own churches with the relics I keep from people in my life, past and present. It could be a fun concept for some sculptures, at least.
I have always found Sleeping Hermaphrodite to be very moving. Obviously, the historical context is completely different from how I am reading it now in 2025, but I’ve always appreciated it as a very tender and loving depiction of a trans body, and that’s not something I’ve gotten to see a lot of in that kind of classical/ancient art. Yes, I know that isn’t really how the piece was probably intended originally. I’ve seen plenty of discussion of how sculptures in that vein were more a trick to the viewer in the original context. The way Bernini carved that cushion, though, reads as an act of love to me. It really adds a new dimension to the original piece. I just appreciate getting to see art that reflects the people I love and the reality I live in.
Lemon tarts. Nothing more to say on this, I just really love lemon and I am excited for all the lemon pastries I’m going to eat. I am enjoying it while it lasts, since I know I will never be capable of fully replicating them at home.
I guess the overarching theme here has turned out to be things that bring me comfort when I am unsettled: something that makes me laugh, something familiar and a little bittersweet, and something that tastes good.