Arts & Culture

"A flâneur is anyone who wanders, and watches, the city. The 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire called the flâneur a “perfect idler” and a “passionate observer.” Baudelaire was a flâneur himself and, when he wasn’t writing poems and spending his trust fund on dandy outfits and opium, he drifted through the streets of Paris.

Montreal, Canada (Photo credit: Michel Filion)

Kristin Kizer posted a tidy sumary of Montreal's most noteworthy landmarks. (Did you know there's also a Montreal, Missouri and a Montreal, Wisconsin? We'll check them out another day. Kizer's landmarks are in Montreal, Canada, the largest city in Quebec province.) Just over an hour north of my home in Essex, New York, Montreal is an alluring and convenient destination for my wife and me. When we want a change from the Adirondacks' Champlain Valley, we head north for world class dining, concerts, art exhibitions, accommodations and cultural outings. We feel fortunate to live close enough to Montreal that we can meet friends for dinner or a concert and still drive home to sleep. But even if you live farther afield, check out these top Montreal landmarks to discover what you've been missing.

Kiyoshi Yamashita on Ebisubashi Bridge, 1955 (Photo from Wikipedia)

An earnest folk-singer, in cavernous Martin Place, competes with a “burger with-the-lot”, for the attention of lunch time strollers. Better were she a plate juggling sword swallower, than guitar player.

Flaneur (n). A person who strolls the city in order to appreciate it.
Are YOU a flaneur - a la Baudelaire or Sontag?