Walking

Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, London, Istanbul, Paris.

I don't care what city I'm in, when I'm going somewhere I prefer to walk. Forget taxis, give me a sidewalk and I'm a happy guy. 

I have memorable walks in all of these cities. Sure, I'll take the metro/tube/subway or whatever else it may be called, but still, please let me walk there.

Walking allows me to get a feel for a city. It let's me see things up close. Stores, faces, dirt, grime, trees, buildings, I want to see all of it. In cars, everything just zips by. On bikes, I'm too worried about potholes, car doors, and just surviving in general.

When you walk a city, you see everything not in the guide books. You can feel when the pavement changes. You can tell when the sidewalks narrow. You can navigate your way around cafe tables, book stands, trash cans, lamp posts, blood, urine, snow, everything that makes a city its own. 

Walking through neighborhoods, through parks, through alleys, these are the things that make me fall in love. I want to earn my knowledge of a city by being a part of its structure. I don't want to just drive through it. Let me be a part of its core. Let me see the people that run through its veins. 

 

Andy RiddleComment