Winter, listlessness, and a very sticky illness have kept me from being up and about all day during my school vacation. Not to mention that when you haven’t got much money and you’re trying to shed some winter pounds, your activity options get cut down a bit.
But the weather is warming; the days are lengthening. In response, I have become, once again, a flâneur.
When I didn’t yet have a Navigo pass, which allows one unlimited Métro access, I walked nearly everywhere. Even though I bought my tickets in carnets of 10, it still cost 1,20 euros per trip—which makes you think before descending down those steps. And in walking everywhere, I found weird and wonderful stuff: taxidermy and antique shops, chocolatiers and confiseries, surprising boutiques and cafés and churches and public buildings of all kinds. I got lost a lot in those days, without the iPhone with its maps and search and compass that can now get me un-lost in a matter of seconds (and even give me a tip for a good nearby café). But even now that I can orient myself easily—especially now, since I know how to get somewhere else quickly if I need to—it’s good fun to wander into places I have no reason to be.
For the past couple of days, I have not once ridden the Métro. I have walked through and around seven or eight arrondissements, right and left bank. Today I walked up the route of ligne 8, meandered through the 1e and 2e, then threaded from the Opéra Garnier down to Les Deux Magots and walked home roughly along the route of ligne 12. I took pictures and detours and paused in front of pretty windows, looking for all the world like a tourist.
Mes loups, I am having a marvelous time of it.
Therefore, I want to try something new. This week, while I still have a bit of time to do nothing in particular, I would like a new idea: a generative constraint, if you will.
So here's my call to arms. In the comments section, pitch a route for me to flâner. It can be a quartier, an arrondissement, or even a specific street or monument as a starting point.
I will pick one of your suggestions, flâner, and post in greater-than-usual detail.
I can never resist a challenge!
ReplyDeleteSo I googled Paris neighborhoods, and Frommer's provided me with brief descriptions of the various sections of Paris. I came across this sentence in a blurb about the 6th arrondissement:
"To be really authentic, stroll with an unwrapped loaf of sourdough bread from the wood-fired ovens of Poilâne at 8 rue du Cherche-Midi."
I thought, hmmm... coming just from the epicenter of American sourdough in the bay area, I'd say this is a fitting experience for our fierce traveler!
Also, Frommer's informs me that, "The 6th takes in the Jardin du Luxembourg, a 24-hectare (59-acre) playground where Isadora Duncan went dancing in the predawn hours and a destitute Ernest Hemingway went looking for pigeons for lunch, carrying them in a baby carriage back to his humble flat for cooking." So really, it sounds like you could make a whole meal of it!
I don't know what else to suggest beyond what I read in the blurb, so maybe it can be a good launching point for you?
Love you!
I vote for the 17th Brochant market and Batignolles Square.
ReplyDeleteThis was my MO in '09 when I was unemployed. I have a stack of Paris-by-foot walking cards on my bookshelf you can borrow :)
Thanks, mes ducklings! I will do both.
ReplyDeleteKatie, that's right near school; I've posted on the northern half of the 6e (where I used to live) but have never really taken pictures in the Jardin du Luxembourg and don't spend nearly enough time there... you've got yourself a flâneur. :-)
Em, I have only dipped a foot in the 17e and am now very excited to have somewhere to go. And yes, I am going to need to borrow those walking cards!!!!
Bisous.
I, too, vote for the Jardin du Luxembourg. If you haven't wandered through enough to know where it is, find me the Fontaine de Médicis.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest the merry-go-round at Luxembourg gardens! I guess that might already be covered, though.
ReplyDeleteSecond choice, the Cafe du Centre on Rue Montorgueil. Just because I read about it here:
http://jordanferney.blogspot.com/2011/02/secret-of-paris-by-little-brown-pen.html
It's not QUITE in Paris, but I figured you'd be game for it anyway:
ReplyDeleteBois de Boulogne.
It's the huge park just off the 16th, and designed by the famous Haussmann and supposedly modelled on London's Hyde Park - with a French twist they tell me.
"As its location would suggest, the Bois was once the playground of the wealthy, although it also established a reputation as the site of illicit sex romps; it was popularly said that "Les mariages du bois de Boulogne ne se font pas devant Monsieur le Curé""
Apparently it's still a bit sexy so don't go at night!!!
Apparently there are plenty of things to do there, a Jardin Shakespeare and a musee de contrefacon...
I've included my research link below, if you're keen. :)
http://france-for-visitors.com/paris/bois-de-boulogne.html
xxx