Today's word: Flâner (verb; pronounced "flah-nay"); noun--flânneur (flah-nuhr), one who flânes.
To flâne is one of our favorite things to do in Paris. It involves walking shoes, a general destination, and a sense of casual indifference about ever actually reaching that destination.
The word means "stroll," but that pedestrian word with its evocation of things that live under bridges doesn't begin to capture the pleasure. It's all about the freedom of wandering, of changing course to check out something interesting or beautiful, of not needing to know what the goal is, because the goal is the pleasure of walking, looking, breathing, seeing.
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