Why? Well, he is Australian for starters. That is always good for fun and adventure. Also, he speaks several languages, knows a great deal about European history, goes to completely obscure places of stunning beauty and can talk himself into almost any secure location. Sounds like an exceptional traveling companion, I think. Of course, there is that slight obsession with ancient erotica to deal with...
The back of this book reads, "Sex and travel have always been intertwined..." but if I am honest, I didn't pay too much attention to the description of this book before I requested a copy. Instead I knew I liked a previous book by the author (Route 66 AD) and the title sounded fabulous: The Sinner's Grand Tour. What it turned out to be was a tale of a family tour through Europe to look at all manner of historical erotica and visit significant sites in the history of licentious behavior. (Well, he looked at it, anyway. For the most part the kids were happily engaged elsewhere.) There was a notorious "self abuse" club in Scotland, former brothels in Paris, the home of the Marquis de Sade, Casanova's prison in Venice, the site of a notorious clerical sex scandal in the remote Pyrenees, the Swiss summer residence of Lord Byron, the isle of Capri and the Blue Grotto and a bathroom painted by Raphael with a collection of erotic imagery that is located inside the Vatican.
It is all very tastefully done (though there are a few pictures some may wish to avoid) and it conveys a wonderful sense of historical significance to the simplest of places. The lost brothels of Paris, for example, hosted many a historical figure, inspiring more than a few artists, scandalizing more than a few citizens. They were notorious throughout the continent and now they are ordinary buildings on hidden streets having been shut down after the second world war. While little of the history that happened there was pretty their story, among others, is all a fantastic reminder of the fact that history is more than just boring facts and political events. History is filled with passion, with people, with cruelty and poverty, with dirt and ugliness, greed and pettiness and, it would seem, a great deal of debauchery. Many thanks to Tony Perrottet for the journey behind closed doors to experience it.
