How Long I Expect Walking Every Street in Paris Will Take

The nature of this journey, walking every street in Paris is significant enough it will take some time. I have not thought seriously about how much time I would like to take, other than, right now as I am, I would like it to take at least a year. I have chosen this time because it is easy to define, a year and year and no more, no less. I say a year now, but I think it will take longer. 

If I was not a mother with two little boys, I expect I would be in a hurry to walk every street, but I am struggling already to find balance in my life between motherhood and writing and creating a life here in Paris. 

I know I will change this year in Paris and I like the idea of being on this journey throughout the change, not only because it would be interesting to see my thoughts along the way, but also because it would become a constant in my life, like a friend I would always have, here in Paris.

I am still walking eight or nine miles a day, but many days I do not set out to discover new streets. Lately, I have walked mostly where I like, drifting here and there onto a street I know I have not walked on. I like this way of flaneuring, following the places you love, but also exploring a little here and there. 

There are many streets in Paris I love already and many times a week I am disappointed by not having walked on them in some time. I went out last night and walked home, from L’Odeon along the Seine, past the Hotel de Ville and through Le Marais, past Bastille into where we are staying in the 11th. This is one of the most beautiful walks in the world, and one I have taken many times, though stopping in the past in Le Marais, where we used to live.

I told my husband, we have to live where I can walk and where I love to walk and I know this now, I cannot live anywhere else. This knowledge has both opened and closed places to me. It has closed much, if not all, of my home country. I have always know this, but now this knowing is more acute and I will never live somewhere like Chicago or Seattle again. 

It is not a preference, but an essential part of my existence, this ability to flaneur in a place I love and I am trying to understand why it is essential to me.