Now I become myself. It's taken time, many years and places...

 - May Sarton

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Monday
Nov072011

this is what i have in mind...

 
The flaneur is an observer who wanders the streets of a great city on a mission to notice with childlike enjoyment the smallest events and the obscurest sights he encounters. Baudelaire, a resident nine-teenth-century flaneur, observed,

"For the flaneur it's an immense pleasure to take up residence in multiplicity, in whatever is seething, moving, evanescent and infinite. You're not at home but you feel at home everywhere; you see everyone, you're at the center of everything, yet you remain hidden from everybody."

This is one astute definition of the writer: an observer who ventures everywhere while remaining invisible...It is in Paris that the delicious, dreamy strolling of the flaneur can be perfected. Indeed, you may never become the poet of your dreams until you become a poet of flaneurie. It is the exercise regimen of the artist.

- Eric Maisel

* My bags are nearly packed and I'm off to Paris tomorrow!

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Reader Comments (3)

Oh! How exciting! I hope you have a wonderful magical strolling + chocolate croissant + cappuccino filled time! It makes me smile to think of you wandering the streets of Paris very very soon.

November 8, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterElizabeth

Have a lovely time in my favorite city on Earth!! Enjoy every minute!!

November 8, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterTracie

Wishing you much magic and delight during your time in the city of light...xoxo

November 9, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterStephanie

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