High recommend for The Flaneur - A Stroll Through The Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White.
Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
11–20 of 130 posts
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#12Sounds similar to a Lindy Walk as defined here ([it] isn’t just a beeline from Point A to Point B; there should be no set destination, with turns made at random to stimulate the mind): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/style/lindy.html
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#13This is probably one of my favorite activities in foreign cities - walk or take public transportation aimlessly for a few hours. Buy a snack that catches my eye, or find a cafe or pub to linger at long enough to see the ebb and flow of foot traffic. Directed tourism is fine, but seeing a few randomly sampled slices of a culture and place gives the experience 'roots' for me in some intangible way.
Great idea... in a safe city
I remember such a stroll Eddy St. in the Tenderloin one fine midnight.
No muggings, but a number of fellow citizens were very curious about whether I would like to buy stuff from them.
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#14There’s a lot to be said for serendipity. I occasionally do walks where at every intersection, I randomly select a direction to go (left/right/straight—I use a dice app on my phone to keep things random). It takes me places that I might not otherwise go.
Another thing I did along these lines was I had a project when I lived in Santa Monica where I walked streets end-to-end in alphabetical order. I got up to the D’s as I recall. I started this in Oak Park, IL where I live now, but it fell by the wayside when I went to grad school and then had kids. The next walk on the schedule would be end up being about 7 miles, assuming I walked to and from the start/end points as well, and I’ve been procrastinating taking that time for a walk, but maybe I should just do it as the shoe commercials say.
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#15[deleted]
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#16This nearly induces a panic attack for me - I need routes, a plan, a map, a goal/end location, and a task. Aimless walking stresses me out big time!
For me it's the plain old mind daemon screaming "Why aren't you busy?! You are certainly missing some super important obligations!". Curiously, it doesn't activate when I'm actually wasting time. It's the aimless walking that activates it.
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#17I can't recommend this action enough. There is nothing quite like it. Opening myself up to this sort of chaotic energy is a surefire way to make me feel better.
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#18Aimless strolling + a certain kind of meditation (concentration) = a pretty good wishing machine.
Yeah something to be said for this and stuff like Randonauts.
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#19I think(at least in America, or less walkable cities) this is becoming a lost art. So many of my friends simply can't imagine what an hour or two might look like without being preoccupied by something. Walking to them is a boring activity, a pointless one. But when I do it, its almost like my mind just explodes with creativity, I notice the smallest details that would otherwise pass me by. And its a great form of low intensity exercise to boot!
Re: Flânerie: The Art of Aimless Strolling
#20This is probably one of my favorite activities in foreign cities - walk or take public transportation aimlessly for a few hours. Buy a snack that catches my eye, or find a cafe or pub to linger at long enough to see the ebb and flow of foot traffic. Directed tourism is fine, but seeing a few randomly sampled slices of a culture and place gives the experience 'roots' for me in some intangible way.
Great idea... in a safe city
I really miss Virtual Tourist. The site had "Off the beaten path" and "places to avoid". I was so comfortable and prepared in an unknown city on day one that other visitors would come up to me and ask for directions.
TripAvisor is the next closest thing, but it's not exactly the same.