My two legs can and will take me anywhere anytime and anyhow. No matter how tired they might be, how uncomfortable in their shoes or how out of shape, they will not protest and will not go on strike... they will stoically get me from A to B.
Looking back I realize that over the years I have always seemed to prefer to walk rather than take the bus/train/subway/etc... I preferred walking home from the secundaria in Valladolid rather than take my bike to school... I preferred walking home from el Cultural rather than take the pesero .... I preferred walking to Pizza Hut in San Antonio rather than take my grandparent's car.... and I still prefer to walk home from work rather than take the subway.... Come to think of it, the only time I preferred to ride a car was in college, when having a car was much cooler than having a pair of reliable legs.....
The same happens when I travel.... Florence, Athens, Stockholm, Madrid.... only a few of the cities in which the subway was only a last-minute or a don't-have-enough-time option....
I know everyone says this but it really is true.... you can get the feeling of a city by walking and getting lost (and found) within its streets... I love to look at the people I come across, see what they are wearing, hear them talk on their cells, sometimes switching from english to spanish to french depending on the people I come across... I love looking at lovely buildings and imagining how life must be inside them, how they are decorated, who lives there. I love window-shopping, imagining the objects that are sold being given as gifts to precisely the right person or adding the perfect touch to a certain place....I love listening to music in my iPod, shuffling through different music genres and thus different moods and projecting those moods towards the city as I walk...
.... I guess what I like the most of walking is knowing that I and I alone am master of my path... I walk at my speed, I stop at my desire, I turn at my whim.... it's a bit egotistical I guess... but in a world ruled by subway schedules, velib' parking lots, stop lights and traffic signs... the sense of liberty that your own two lower limbs provide is very much appreciated !
Sunday morning André and I set off to the south of Paris to hunt down a particular furniture shop as he is thinking of getting a nice old leathery fauteuil club. We Velib'ed our way downtown and ended up on the rue Convention in the 15th district. After failing to find the shop (probably due to the fact that we did not actually have the shop's address with us) we decided to call it a day.
André was in a hurry to get back home to watch the Rugby match (yep, the WC is still going on) but I decided I would stay back and Velib' my way home.
Only, I didn't Velib'......I walked....
..... and walked....
...... and walked some more .......
I walked for almost 3 hours from the 15th district in the south western part of Paris all the way home in the 19th district in the upper eastern part of town.
I hadn't really planned on walking actually but as I set out trying to find a Velib' station I realized how much I was enjoying the walk itself... enjoying the nice warm and yet autumn-y fresh weather... enjoying the funny feeling I always get when walking in an unknown part of town, especially in Paris, enjoying the soft pace that allowed me to just observe the people, the buildings, the shops.... and after a while when I finally did come across a Velib' station I decided I preferred to continue my promenade by foot...
It was great... I passed by so many parks I stopped counting and watched as people enjoyed the last hours of the weekend. I passed the Children's Parisian hospital which I had never seen, the Montparnasse tower which I have seen many times and the Seine river which I will never get tired of seeing. I walked in the St Germain neighbourhood past the Odéon square and through the Les Halles gardens, I walked up the Sebastopol avenue and past the Gare de l'Est train station all the way to the St Martin canal and in front of our old place..... it was a wonderfully, long and colorful walk and I am grateful to my legs for getting me through it....
As Johnny Walker says : Keep walking!
5 comments:
close to the earth... that's how I think of walking, being close to the earth. Three hours was a marathon though... your legs are wonderful! And your perceptions are so clearly described that I can feel myself there. Keep on writing!
Thanks mom... it's true that it's easy to walk in a city like Paris.... :D
per pedes apostolorum disaient les romains(pas les roumains) et apparement tu l'a verifié!le comble c'est que je travaille rue violet parallele à la convention! adrien
I'm learning to walk now myself - I hope one day I can walk as far as you do!
wonderful legs !!
next time ,another marathon is desirable...from your home to our home, at Sceaux ! There are , magnificent parks and cottage , in the south of Paris !
are you a good shoemaker ??
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