Mapping it out

 

I have a map fetish.  For this reason (and my superb navigational skills---thanks for that gene, Dad), I will never ever ever own a G.P.S.  I am categorically opposed to those little Garmin goodies which tell you to turn here and exit there.  

I love getting my hands on a map, awkwardly unfolding its pages and figuring out where to go.  Plotting a route, veering off course, and seeing the grand design of a city is supremely pleasurable for me.  

Maps also provide an inherent visual delight.  Have you ever noticed the color palette of a map or the way streets interlace into patterns?  As an art historian, I treat maps like tidbits of visual culture, like artworks worthy of formal analysis. 

As you might guess, my favorites maps are of my beloved Paris.  I adore the way the Seine slices the city in half. I love charting imaginary walking trips from arrondissement to arrondissment.  I admire the linear quality of the streets as they radiate (thanks to Baron Haussmann in the 1850s) from the city's major monuments.

Do you like wandering through a map too?


Images borrowed from Famille, Bozaround, ThePaintedHive, ParisBoutiqueHotel, XoxoLesley.