Travel

A Walk Across Town

51 Comments

Whenever I want to break out of the rather familiar and predictable world I’ve constructed for myself, I visit Paul Salopek’s Out Of Eden Walk blog.

With the assistance of National Geographic, Salopek is on a mammoth journey – an ambitious 7 year walk from the Horn of Africa to Tierra del Fuego – tracing the path of our ancestors as they set out to explore the world on foot.

The most recent post uses digital mapping technology and video to chronicle a portion of the walk – traversing Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ruined_Shoes

I used to fancy myself a world traveler. I imagined that I would see the world and feel at home everywhere, meeting and befriending remarkable people in exotic places. That was before I actually went anywhere and found out how uncomfortable travel can be for an introvert who is picky about food. Facing reality and acknowledging personal some limitations had the effect of shrinking my options.

Instead, I decided to ruin my footwear by puttering around the yard. My favorite shoes used to be gleaming white and spiffy, but pulling weeds, digging holes, picking up after the dog and mowing the lawn have given them a greenish-black tinge that could have been earned more quickly in some other, much more adventurous and tale-worthy way.

Alas, I will probably never make it to Jeddah. But following Salopek has given me something approximately like a real experience of being in a place. Of course it would be better to actually GO. But absent that, this will do.

What city would you like to walk across?

51 thoughts on “A Walk Across Town”

  1. katmadu is the first one on the bucket that comes to mind but i am not sure if i had to pick one that would be it. jeruseluem sidney rome, mumbai oslo are all paces i want to go and havent, san fransisco, london milan florence shanghai, new orleans new york city vancouver and chicago are places i have been i would go back to in a heart beat. taos aspen mendacino livingston hilton head kenai and banff all have such wonderful vibes. i have never really walked any of these places . in europe you are encouraged to walk to a location 20 or 30 minutes away in your everyday life. in the world i live in not so much.
    i get frustrated and sad when the second flight of stairs starts to take the wind out of my sails and i start slowing down and feeling like i used to at the end of the mile run in phy ed class. maybe i need to figure out a way to walk my home town before going exotic.
    lets see out of the list above… i will start with katmandu today and get to jeruselum and rome the first of next week. can i have san fransisco for the weekend and livingston to heal up in?
    thanks dale. i needed a trip and this as a good substitution for the morning.

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  2. Morning all! The very first city to pop into my mind is Paris. I’ve had one short trip (4 days) to Paris and it wasn’t enough. And Paris is a great walking city. Unfortunately as soon as Paris popped into my brain, it was followed by Beijing and Sydney and Vancouver and St. Petersburg and…..Rome… you get the drift.

    I never feel like I get enough of any the places that I travel to.

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    1. I know what you mean, vs, I have that problem too. I’m torn between going someplace I have never been, and seeing some of the places I have already visited (or lived in).

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    2. oh yeah paris…… i did walk paris in the rain two years ago on my way to see my daughter in italy. i wa sbooking the tickety and i saw that the flight offered me a choice of a one hour layover and 2 hour layover a 6 hour layover or a 9 hour layover. i laughed and said geeze who would want a 9 houtr layover if you can have a 1 hour instead? i decided to look up the 3 initail code an see what the airport was cdg turns out to be charles de gaulle and all of a sudden i was trying oto figure out if there was a way i could do an overnight instead of only 9 hours but no, 9 hours was the choice. i got in a 8am got on the train and had coffee and a fresh baked marvelous peice of something delicious acrtoss the street form notre dam, walked over to the lourve, the champs elysees and on toward the eiffel tower. a great day. give me more

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  3. cousin mike form fargo who i mentioned last week had a run in with cancer found it to be a quick run in. zip zap and he is gone. he is walking the fields of the afterlife with one of his hunting dogs and feeling no pain today. i talke with his brother jeff yesterday and jeff commented that mike did such a good job of getting out and doing trips and activites because he knew his health was in question. he packed a lifetime into the last fistfull of years and made the most of his time. i encourage us all to try to take a little time to enjoy today and tomorrow. it all passes so quickly.

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  4. The first place that popped into my head was Jerusalem. So much history and so many sites where major events in history played out. However, I don’t like crowds, and I’m pretty certain that Jerusalem is a crowded place. Perhaps I had better choose a smaller, less crowded place like Trier in Germany. Trier is the oldest town in Germany, located in a valley by the Moselle River near Luxembourg, a quaint old town in beautiful surroundings.

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  5. Walking just isn’t in my future. Although my RA is much better, I have the old fashioned osteoarthritis in my right knee, and that assures that I’ll not walk much again. So once again I have to make a withdrawal from the memory bank.

    Edinburgh is a wonderful walking city. It features a lovely and large park, and that park is the center of activity during the famous Edinburgh Festival. I was lucky enough to visit Edinburgh right during the Festival and during a run of incredibly pleasant weather. I treasure those memories.

    As good as that was, the walking in London was even better. The rich variety of quaint little shops and distinctive pubs and charming markets and fascinating little stores make London a perfect place to walk and walk. The museums are fascinating and easy to enjoy.

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    1. I agree about London. We had a great time last February walking all over the place. Daughter commented that there were hardly any provisions for handicapped people with public transport or building accessibility. No ADA across the pond.

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  6. Hmmm. Specifically for walking?…While I would love to get to Beijing, Moscow and Venice – and would gladly walk through any of them – and getting back to Oslo and London would be cool, today my choice is Grand Marais. Maybe it’s just the hankering I have for a chocolate covered cake donut from World’s Best Donuts, but mostly it’s the stroll along the lake and out onto Artist’s Point that is the draw today. This time of year is about perfect there. Sun, a cool breeze off the lake, quiet.

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    1. That was my first thought, too, Anna. If I see you as I walk around, I will give you a wave!

      I’m thinking a picnic by the lake with smoked fish and other goodies would be mighty fine today.

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  7. Good morning. Rio de Janeiro. I pick Rio because it big place with much of interest that is in a part of the world I would like to see. Actually I have been to one country in S. America as a volunteer worker in Bolivia. The trip to Bolivia was extremely interesting and think a trip to Rio would also be exceedingly interesting. I have never been to any place in Asia or Africa and would also like to see those parts of the world. In Rio I would hook up with someone who could be my translator and I think I would also do some exploring on my own because there would probably be many people there who speak English. On this trip I would look for places to hear some of the great music from that part of the world and check out other aspects of the culture including the cuisine.

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  8. It’s difficult to narrow down the choices, since there are so many cities with storied pasts and beautiful landscapes. I’ll pick Nagasaki, because it’s a sister city to St. Paul. There is a sculpture in the Peace Park there commemorating the relationship. That’s a good reason to visit, isn’t it?

    There used to be a Nagasaki Road in St. Paul, near Harriet Island, but it no longer appears on the map. I can’t recall for sure, but I think it was located where the levee is now.

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      1. I will be there, but not in the boat. Our teams race Saturday. We have two teams this year. There will be practices on the lake in the morning, and the races start around 1:00. Races are not usually called off for rain, but they could be canceled if we get thunder, lightning, or high winds.

        I’ll be watching from shore or hanging out at our booth. Fingers crossed for nice weather.

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  9. RISE AND SHINE BABOONS!

    OOOH. Finding walkable cities is my favorite way to travel, especially in combination with public transportation. Florence, Italy is a walkable vast maze which is fascinating and mysterious. I SWEAR that in the days we were there, I glimpsed Renaissance-style capes swirling around corners. It was wise to watch for speeding Vespas, though. Venice was even “mazier” with fewer Vespas. There I would get lost. Really lost. Lou brought a hand compass along which helped to keep us oriented. Other favorites have been mentioned–Paris, Rome, London. Paris and Rome have accessible subways that helped us along.

    In the US my favorite walking spot is Historic Savannah or the beaches near the City. The newer parts of Savannah look like every other place in the US–strip malls and gas stations. Other spots that are fun to walk in the US are (all old city parts) Sante Fe, NM, Charleston, SC (excellent!), Uptown Minneapolis, including the Lakes areas where I was once flashed. That adds interest! Downtown St. Paul can be almost as mazey as Florence and has lovely parks where resting is pleaseant. Grand Ave. St. Paul and the surrounding neighborhoods are superb, as well.

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    1. Worked the Sante Fe Opera for 4 months one spring/summer, no car and trying to finish off the student loans. Walked all the time when I was off (which was not that often, however….).

      Bring good shoes and a good water bottle!

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  10. I’d like to mention two other cities I enjoyed on foot: Montreal and Toronto. I am convinced the Canadians have a genius for creating superb cities. I think I enjoyed Vancouver, too, but I have nothing but lovely memories of walking Montreal and Tornoto.

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  11. OT: today Malala Yousafzai gave a speech saying she has more courage than she did before the Taliban shot her in the head. What a courageous kid!

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  13. Wow. Reading of all the exotic foreign city wishes has me wondering if I’m truly agoraphobic! Maybe once a year, I have occasion to drive through or past downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul. In all the years I’ve lived within 20 minutes of the big cities, I have yet to ever stop, park, and explore them. I don’t view travel even out of state as deserved when I haven’t adventured through the riches of right in my own backyard. Another “show-stopper” for me is that, although I can dance vigorously for four hours without sitting down, just walking to my mailbox can trigger lower back pain. While on the two cruises this past year, our island excursions were physically painful because of this, so the thought of trapsing through whole landscapes is out of the question for me. Thankfully, I’m quite contented right where I am and find many other ways to experience adventure through relationships.

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  14. Another great walking city not yet mentioned: New Orleans! Probably the most exotic city in the US. History galore. Many little shops and open markets and restaurants, to say nothing of the music.

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  15. Ach, so many wonderful cities have already been named! London and Edinburgh were near the top of my list, simply because I would like to see them.

    Then there is Dublin, on Bloomsday or not, that is the question. PJ could most likely advise me on Copenhagen, tim, I look to you for the best choice of a Chinese city.

    I do think though, if I had to choose just one, it would be Berlin. Simply for the joy and wonder of being able to walk anywhere in it. Something that would not have been remotely possible in my student days.

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    1. Copenhagen is a wonderful city to ramble around in, mig. One of my favorite places, but I know I’m biased. I’ve been lucky enough to be in Copenhagen on two separate occasions when friends from the US were visiting. I gave them the grand walking tour of Copenhagen, and made several excursions to other parts of the country to get them a little off the beaten path. Great fun.

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      1. I grew up knowing wonderful Danish farm wives, one of whom put Hans Christian Andersen into my hands at a young age. I should very much like to see Denmark in general someday.

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  16. Thanks for posting about Paul Salopek’s walk, Dale – I had meant to keep with him and fell off their email list at some point.

    I am torn, but as noted above, we don’t necessarily have to stick to just one place. For starters, San Francisco and Paris come to the top, SF because I lived there and loved walking there, and Paris because I haven’t, but it sounds so luscious. But I like PJ’s idea of a smaller city, so – some small European city, very old, Probably in France because I could still recall some of the language. And then Bergen and Stockholm, since my two grandmothers came from near there.

    I’m assuming we’re going to be able to stop each night at lovely B & Bs or charming little hotels, and that there are wonderful restaurants for lunches, plenty of shady parks to rest in while en route, and all the supplies one could imagine. Right?

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    1. A friend of mine is planning to walk the Way of St. James pilgrimage in September. Her route includes some small French cities – I think Vézelay, Le Puy, and Arles. Those would probably fit the profile of small and very old, and they are likely very walkable because of their connection with the pilgrimage.

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      1. My sister hiked the last 200 Km of it last year, and two other friends are hiking it at the end of September, and they are planning on walking 500 miles, not sure where they’re starting. Trails starts in Paris in each of the three cities you mention, Linda, and converge into one trail in Spain, so it wouldn’t make sense that your friend would walk through all three. Perhaps she hasn’t yet decided where she’ll start? If she plans on starting in any of those three cities, that’s a very major trek.

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        1. You know much more about it than I do, PJ. I believe she is starting in Paris, but I’m not sure which route – I looked up the names of some small French cities that Wikipedia says are part at least some of the routes.

          She has six weeks set aside for the trip. Her last big trip was two years ago, when she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. She likes a challenge.

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        2. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro has been a dream of mine since I was 12 years old, a dream I might ad, that I’ll never realize. Too old.

          I was wondering which trail your friend would be taking since I surmised that she would be flying in to Paris. One of the trails starts in Paris. That quite the challenge she has set for herself. I wish her happy trails.

          I looked into the details when my sister did the pilgrimage last year, and when my friend, Anne, announced that she was doing it in late September, I found some additional information.

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