Adventures Mapped Here And There
Paris - Chandigarh - New York - A Transylvanian Village
Welcome to The Flâneurs Project. This post is part of our Longing for Places series. By subscribing, you’re supporting my writing and becoming part of our small community. Paid subscribers are invited once a month to an online gathering, 🌎 Mapping Places, where we share stories and map our next adventures, supporting each other in our quest to discover more of the world.
📍 Paris
As I am writing this, I am in a hotel room in Paris, reflecting on the whirlwind of goodness that has struck me over the past couple of days.
This morning (Sunday, the 26th of May), I hosted a brunch salon with Jenni Dawes from The Paris Chapter, where we explored themes such as identity, desire, love for places, and the concept of home.
My brain still needs to process the various conversations that emerged, and I am grateful I took some notes in the form of scattered words in the small notebook I religiously carry with me.
Our salon’s structure was as follows: we started with short intros from Jenni and myself, followed by a quick yet deep dive into the topics of longing, identity, and home. This was followed by group conversations at two different tables while feasting on brunch.
We talked and talked about love and cities—falling in love with cities, falling in love with people, and falling in love with cities through the people we love. We also discussed falling out of love with cities when the person we love isn’t right for us.
‘Healthy birds need to fly,’ said an attendee seated at my table, an American woman from New York currently based in Paris. We shared stories about our relationships with the people we love and how they influence how we see and live in a city. Whenever we touched upon a significant place, love was always part of the equation: love for someone, love for an idea, love for life itself.
I am in awe of all the people who joined our salon. I was telling a friend today that I was 'surprised by kindness' while strolling through Paris this weekend. At our 'A Sense of Place' salon, I was surprised and delighted by how connected we all are in our desire to truly connect with a place, with ourselves, and with others.
In the coming weeks, I will interview friends and strangers about their relationship with the city they live in to kickstart this long essay that I am writing. If you want to share your stories, you can always book a call with me here.
📍 New York
I’ll be traveling to the US for the first time ever, from the end of September until mid-October. The day I booked my tickets to New York, I also received news that I had been awarded a fellowship and a grant that I had been dreaming about for years. This fellowship will enable me to travel more often to the US and work on a creative project.
To say that I am excited is a big understatement. I’m thrilled. I am also aware that desire is a strange thing. What proportion of reality is just a figment of our imagination?
📍 Walking in Chandigarh, India
Some months ago, I connected with Vinish online through Twitter DMs. We both share a passion for urban design and urban narratives, so I'm delighted to share an interview with him about walking in Chandigarh, a city planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier.
What is your favorite street / area in Chandigarh and why?
Chandigarh has many beautiful streets, and I love walking along many of them. My most immersive walking experience is on Jan Marg, from Sector 16, across from Sector 17, and then in Sector 10, across from Sector 9.
This road has an exclusive and beautiful walking zone parallel to the main road. When I am in Sector 16, I have the Rose Garden on one side and Sector 17 on the other. The greenery makes it an even more charming experience—the vastness of the space, the colors, and the views all around make me forget about paying bills, buying my son's shoes, or renewing a subscription.
I feel connected to nature's network, like an ecologist.
It's as if I am a train slowly moving on the rails, with multiple eyes watching the outside world through its many windows.
It feels like there are no boundaries, no constraints, and no points of stopping.
You can read the entire interview with Vinish on The Flâneurs Project.
📍 A Remote Village in Transylvania, Romania
Vizi Andrei is organizing a Sipping Wine in Transylvania workshop and retreat in July. I am so happy that a fellow Romanian is creating such a beautiful experience. I hope to join next year!
Thank you for reading.
Don’t forget that I am hosting this walk and talk weekend getaway in The Hague at the end of July.
Onwards,
Patricia
Happy to hear the Paris salon was a success! Wish I could have joined in.
congrats on both the Paris salon and the fellowship. look forwarding to discovering more 🥂