Your comment about spending time on the Champs-Elysee reading sounds about perfect to me, Gaudete. It is the quiet moments that stand out to me.

A few years back I went to the Grand Canyon wth my best friend and his family. The walk between viewpoints is a bit much so they have a bus system along the rim. After a few rides on that people-packed bus I was going slightly mad, so I told my friend I’d walk between the next couple of viewpoints. The crowd loaded onto the bus, and I was left almost alone to take in the grandeur. Then the quiet walk to the next viewpoint: it was almost magical. For me, that was the real way to see something like the Canyon.

But of course I can’t do that walk too many times before the bus and its air-conditioning, despite the crowds, starts to look mightily attractive again. I guess there is something to be said for balance…