Walking has always been one of my favourite ways to understand a place. You can read about a city, look at pictures, watch videos — but nothing compares to tracing its lines with your own footsteps. The small corners, the quiet streets, the unexpected turns… these things don’t appear on any map unless you discover them yourself.
And when you’re in a city like Paris, every walk feels like slipping through layers of history. Some days it feels like the Renaissance, full of raw creativity and rebirth. Other days, I sense the dreamy elegance of the Belle Époque, or the intensity of the French Republic’s many upheavals. Sometimes I imagine the disciplined march of the Napoleonic era; sometimes the quiet sophistication of the French kings and their courts. The city changes era depending on the street you choose.
So I started this personal project: to walk every street, every alley, every hidden passage I can find in Paris and the surrounding cities. No rush, no deadline — just a long exploration, one step at a time. And of course, a quiet coffee on a terrace from one of the countless cafés that make Paris what it is.
Whenever I walk somewhere new, I track it on a Google Map. Over time, that map has become a colourful patchwork of routes and memories — a visual diary of where my curiosity has taken me.
This project doesn’t aim for fitness, productivity, or achievement. It’s simply a way to slow down, notice things, and appreciate the city I call home. As I wander beyond Paris — into places like the 94 and other nearby areas — the map grows with me.
It’s a small project, but one I enjoy deeply. And like all slow and simple things in life, it feels meaningful in its own quiet way.