The Blue Lagoon at the Blue Lagoon Resort near Reykjavik, Iceland
Some of you know that I found a cheap student ticket to Paris on Icelandair, and had a few hours to sightsee in Reykjavik. I arrived in Iceland feeling worn and exhausted. After my red-eye flight out of JFK, I was definitely feeling and showing the effects of a week and a half of insufficient sleep and inadequate time alone.
I had to choose between seeing the town of Reykjavik and visiting some hot springs. Needless to say, I soon arrived at some steamy, sulfurous hot springs. There, floating happily in the warm and salty water, I realized that I should start my summer naughtiness in grand, if not French, style.
I thus need to announce to all of you that I decided not to go to Paris, but to stay in the hot springs of Reykjavik, Iceland for as long as I can. Please don’t tell anyone where I am. I have a silica mud mask on my face and am unrecognizable most of the day, so you won’t be able to find me. And for the rest of the day: I noticed that all of the young women working at the resort are just over five feet tall and blond, so I thought I would just borrow one of their blue polo shirts and slip right in to the mix.
Oh, and my research? Don’t be silly--I haven’t given up on academics. It is just that my dissertation is going to be on Icelandic knitting.
I am kidding, of course. I arrived in Paris Friday night, and I am so thrilled to be here. The hot springs were a welcome respite from traveling, and I'd really like to return to Reykjavik some time--but I'll definitely take Paris for the summer.
But before I tell you all about Paris, here are a couple of highlights from my little visit to New York City:
As usual, I enjoyed seeing my friends who live in New York, through whose glamorous lives I vicariously compensate for my own generally drab one in the hinterlands of Ithaca, New York. I had also planned my visit to New York in order to see two museum exhibits, neither of which disappointed me. For those of you near New York, I strongly suggest that you see them (especially Global Feminisms). For those of you far away from New York, I strongly suggest that you look at the websites and catalogs (especially Global Feminisms).
• For the fashion buffs reading this, or even those of you who are just happy that it is no longer compulsory for women to wear corsets, there is Poiret: King of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am interested in Poiret, a Parisian fashion designer from the early 20th century, because of the exoticist nature of his designs. As you might have guessed from the title of the exhibit, he was influential in a number of ways. One of those ways was the abandonment of the corset, for which we should always be thankful--to him and to Coco Chanel. You can see a lot of Poiret's designs at the Met’s website. Check out these beaded shoes:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/poiret/view_1.asp?item=11&view=l
• And for the fashion buffs, those of you who don’t wear corsets, and everyone else, the Brooklyn Museum recently opened the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. There, you’ll find a restaging of Judy Chicago’s landmark installation The Dinner Party , which is a permanent exhibit. Global Feminisms will be up until the end of June, and is well worth a special trip to New York. There are many great works in the show, including:
The Named and the Unnamed, Rebecca Belmore
Encyclopedia of Pleasure, Ghada Amer
Try Dismantling the Little Empire Inside of You, Wangechi Mutu
Looking for a Husband with an E.U. Passport, Tanja Ostojic
Mother Tongue, Zineb Sedira
Thousandandone Day, Parastou Forouhar
But enough about New York and Iceland, I’m in Paris! See the next couple of posts for pictures and more from my first couple of days here!
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