The Art of Being a Flâneur
When dans une nouvelle ville*, do you race around with a jam-packed schedule of galleries, monuments and restaurants to get to? Or are you more of a “let’s see where this street takes me” wanderer?
New York Times writer Victoria Tentler-Krylov is a firm proponent of the second approach. In The Art of Being a Flâneur, she writes: “To walk a city led by your senses rather than a destination is to awaken to the city and, possibly, to yourself. It’s an opportunity to expand your capacity for wonder, to discover and delight in things you might have missed had you been aiming to get somewhere.”
If you have five minutes or so, this article is a lovely exploration Baudelaire’s “passionate spectator” and the French art of flânerie, or idle strolling. Enjoy!
*in a new city