A Slow Jaunt through the City of Light
LA FLÂNEUSE For Parisians, wandering through the city is considered an art form that links body, mind, and soul.
Meet La Flâneuse!
But… what exactly is a ‘flâneuse’?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a flâneuse (or flâneur if a man) is someone who “walks around not doing anything in particular but watching people and society.” Famous flâneurs such as the American writer Edmund White (The Flâneur) and French poet and essayist Léon-Paul Fargue (Le Piéton de Paris) sauntered, strolled, and ambled through Paris in this time-honored tradition.
Being a flâneuse is a good way to meet people in Paris and to engage in casual conversation. And how to get around the city – with its continual roadworks and frequent demonstrations – is a favored topic.
So, one of my favorite conversational gambits is asking Parisians which mode of transport they prefer.
The Bus or the Metro?
“Of course, I only take the bus,” sniffed Marie, one of my interlocutors. “I like to go the pretty way.”
Then she waxed eloquent.
“In a Parisian bus, you’re floating through a land of marvels.” (I swear she said that.)
Still, that remark about “a land of marvels” got me thinking. Why not be a flâneuse across a wider swath of Paris?
I decided to give it a try.
La Flâneuse Takes the Bus
I chose the 80, a veritable rolling compendium that is a part of Paris history, sociology, and architecture: the picturesque streets below Montmartre; the Montmartre cemetery (final resting place of famous artistes such as Dalida, Degas, Nijinsky, Offenbach, and Stendhal); and the bustling Place de Clichy with the brasserie Wepler that Henry Miller immortalized in his scandalous Quiet Days in Clichy.
Get Ready to Gawk
The scenery changes as the busy and buzzing Gare Saint-Lazare, the first railway station in Paris (opened in 1837), gives way to the elegant Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées and “la plus belle avenue du monde” (as the French call the Champs-Élysées).
I get a glimpse of the haute couture shops on the exclusive Avenue Montaigne before the bus heads over the river to the Left Bank into les beaux quartiers with Haussmannian buildings, embassies, ministries, museums, and affluent residents. I was so busy staring to my left at the imposing École Militaire, founded under the reign of King Louis XV, that I almost missed the Eiffel Tower on my right!
At the end of the line, the Porte de Versailles throbs with life in the diverse and sprawling 15th arrondissement. Its skyscraper, La Tour Triangle, vies with the Tour Montparnasse for number one controversial eyesore.
On Board the Bus
Looking out a bus window offers a panoramic yet up-close view of the city. But it’s what goes on inside that offers a glimpse into real French life: everything from exquisitely polite passengers to loud telephone talkers to perfect strangers comparing heart conditions and hospitals. Oh, and troublemakers. I once saw a young woman dress down a bus driver who had politely asked her to keep her toddler from running up and down the aisle.
Sometimes, there is a curious solidarity, such as when the driver forgets to open the door at a stop. Suddenly, everyone is yelling, “La porte ! La porte !” – or, to translate that into English, “The door! The door!” To their credit, they are collectively coming to the defense of the little old lady or the person on crutches who desperately wants out.
The bus is a hotbed of conversations, too, some of which begin before even getting on. The other day, I was waiting at a stop when I observed an older woman with a cane turning down the offer of a place on the bench. She said she had a bone malady that had led to 61 operations, and preferred standing to sitting.
By that time, the young woman who had offered her the seat and I were totally intrigued. 61? What do you have? Do you have someone to help you? We were still talking inside the bus and waved goodbye to each other when I got off.
And how did I get back home after my little bus tour? On the metro – bien sûr!
Want to be a fellow flâneuse? Get on and off your bus with a Navigo Day Pass (around 12 euros) or hop-on hop-off city tour buses (prices vary according to the type of ticket).
