Discovering the secret Paris that is hiding in plain sight.

 A flaneur ( which, I think of myself as, for as long as I can remember) is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles without apparent purpose, but is secretly attuned to the history of the streets he walks. 

I walk the city ( cities) in order to really experience it.

My greatest pleasure in traveling in a foreign city lies in the unplanned journey. Ditch your map and itinerary, I say!

Someone wise once said ( Maybe it was me?) 
The only way to known a city well, is to waste time in it.

Being a Flaneur is about taste, and discernment, recognizing that the smaller overlooked sights are often the best. It's all about knowing you can't see it all and not wanting too.

People say get 'off the beaten track', but I say no, within that well worn beaten track lurks hidden treasures, if you know where to look.

The next series of  blog articles are about where to find those hidden treasures, not only in Paris, but in France's wonderful countryside and other charming towns and villages. 

I'm embarking this May, on a new railway adventure that will take me across the heart of Europe - to explore the Belle Epoch of pre World War 1 Europe.

 

I'll be using my 1913 Bradshaw's continental railway guide which opened an exotic world of foreign travel for the British and American tourist.

It told travelers where to go, what to see and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossing the continent.

Now a century and a half later, I'm using my copy to relive an era of great optimism and energy, where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe ( that period, of my Edwardian grandparents who traveled during that time) that in 1913, couldn't have known, that it's way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.  

PS: I have already done, Pre WW1 - France and Switzerland

I'm back and ready to travel again

 After 2 plus years of being confined to home, because of Covid19, I'm back and ready to travel, eat and drink my way through  France and Continental Europe.