Carnet de Voyages - Alain Connes: "Idleness is essential".

Interview by Serge Barret

Sitting in a bar, reading a book and letting the atmosphere of the place sink in; listening to people, trying to understand local life and experiencing these moments as if I were in the theatre... I clearly have a very strange attitude to traditional tourism. When I travel, I need public places much more than tourist must-sees. Even so, there are a few sites that have really made an impression on me. For example, I remember sitting for hours with a book on the Acropolisbecause the place penetrated me.

There are places like this that have something extraordinary about them, that take you in as long as you stay. You read and read, and after a while your mind starts to free up. You come to absorb the entire landscapeWe're focused. It's very special. I had a similar experience in Israelat Lake Tiberias where I happened to be standing next to Pierre's church. An impression of communiona state of peace of mind incredible. I wondered whether these places were dedicated to the sacred because of the harmony that emanates from the very place where they are located. Perhaps one day we'll be able to explain it objectively.

There are places that have something extraordinary about them, that take you in as long as you stay.

My first trip, the one that made the biggest impression on me, was to Cambodiain 1967 and I was 19. Two friends and I had escaped from a tour organised by the Ecole Normale. As a result of - let's say - an error in assessing distances, we ended up near the site of Phnom KulenI had to spend a monsoon night alone in the middle of the jungle. It was horrible, with noises, monkeys, buffalo toads and so much more... I was really scared then, with unbearable physical pain in my stomach.

In the process, I also discovered how much we were selfish in such cases, that is to say, what could be the idea of saving his skin. The next day, we set off again and, after an hour, we came to a clearing where some children were bathing in a waterfall. It was a real rebirth, a unique moment, so powerful that it has remained engraved in my memory.

Now, I travel on business three or four times a year and I hardly have time to get away from the hotel and the conference rooms. A dinner in town sometimes... Except, for example, during this cruise organised by the Norway on board a ferry, the coastal express I think it was, which ran up the coast tobeyond the North Cape. There were the conferences, but there were also all these panoramic views of the setting sun. It was fabulous. In the same way, I used to go to Vienna by train. It was great, I used to take the night train, there was a restaurant car, you had your own compartment... It's a long way back!

Today, it's the aeroplane, admittedly very comfortable but full ofdisadvantages : l'airportthe securitya waste of time that has nothing to do with this the delicious feeling of doing nothinglike in a pub, for example. It's not true that we do nothing! The unfortunate thing is that these days, riveted to our smartphonesWe have to be careful not to forget to be idle altogether. We have to be careful not to forget to be idle altogether. It's essential to be boredIt is essential to human activity.