Rolf Potts: A Flaneur in Fes

Rolf Potts is traveling around the world with no luggage. Great idea! And he's taking all of us along despite his spartan load. Clean underwear, a toothbrush and all of us! I'm drawn to his blog post last Friday because he reflects on the sort of travel exploration most favored by yours truly. He calls it "walking until the day becomes interesting" but he offers a deserved footnote to Baudelaire who's concept of the flâneur guides my every step.

It's a great post, spanning the mysteries of the ancient medina, Fes el Bali, the promises of a deodorant crystal and the philosophical evaluation of what sights are worth seeing when you travel. Potts shares his affinity for sociologist Dean MacCannell's take on the topic: "anything that is remarked, even little flowers or leaves picked up off the ground and shown to a child, even a shoeshine or gravel pit is potentially an attraction. …How else do we know another person except as an ensemble of suggestions hollowed out from the universe of possible suggestions? How else do we begin to know the world?”