FLANERIE

           

      Flaner is the French word for 'wander'.  It has been used in a special sense when describing what one does in Paris.  For those Americans who came to Paris in the early 19th century, and for that next wave of writers, artists and Bohemians of the 20th century, the word came to mean a particular way of life.  It was the startling contrast to their New England work ethic, in which Sunday was the quiet Sabbath and the rest of the week was for plowing the field.  Paris made available time to walk the streets and observe, to stop in a cafe' for a coffee or a sip of wine-- even on a Sunday! Today we might use other terms like, taking a walk, or window-shopping, or people watching,  to describe a meandering in a relaxed way, yet observing our surroundings in a specific attitude.  The Paris stroller has much to observe and many places to relax in that activity.  Cafes spill onto the curb as if the doors had been opened and the tables of patrons had overflowed, oozing onto the sidewalk.  Chairs at these cafes all face the street, so that couples sit side-by-side, not across from one another.   Guests are likely to sip one drink for their entire visit of half an hour or more.  An occasional cafe' will include a small bowl of olives or perhaps a few potato chips, but in general partaking of a coffee or a beer or a small glass of wine is the main feature of this ritual.  Carol and I understood better why only one drink, when we participated in this cafe experience by ordering one Coke each.  The cost was 6 euro ($8) for one small Coke.  Naturally, one would want it to be the only item and to have even a short conversation it would have to last a long time!  

           But flanerie is not just about cafe hopping.  It is wandering the sidewalks, the hidden parks, the back alleys, the winding narrow streets of cobblestones.  It is even meandering through a cemetery paying respects to long ago soul-mates who ventured out into the Paris streets and then went on to sing about it, write about it, or paint it. I found just such a fellow in  Honore de Balzac, who is buried in Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise.  Balzac observed  the idea of  flanerie:  "What an adorable and delectable existence is that!  Flanerie is a form of science, it is the gastronomy of the eye".

            And so it has been for us.  Feasting, as it were, on the gastronomy of sights, tastes, and observations.  Our cameras have extended this experience by helping us capture the details.  As any art does, watching for the camera shot, keeps me alert to my surroundings.  It is a documentation to be sure, but more than that it is an aid to the art of flanerie because we stroll together, the camera and I, and we communicate about our surroundings.
              It seems that Carol and I indulged in flanerie quite successfully.   The two of us walked miles each day, covering most of the pages in The Paris Mapguide.  The subtitle of this handy little booklet is: The One to Carry With You, and it definitely lived up to its subtitle.  We collected dozens of used metro tickets and became adept at rushing like a veteran from one level of the metro to another.  We also came to use the bus lines, which gave us a better view of each neighborhood and a more realistic sense of distance traveled.  When we avons flanons we certainly got around!  We commonly did not return to our apartment until late evening; 21:00 or 22:00.  This was a bit surprising to us because it seemed to us to be much earlier.   Paris sits on a latitude common to Newfoundland--something we Americans do not picture in our map heads.  So in May sundown is well after 9:00 in the evening.  All the better for us!

          Both Carol and I feel we accomplished the fulfillment of our plans for this Paris adventure.  The camera can show our readers a bit of our flanerie successes...