A Long Walk
This afternoon I took a five hour walk around Amsterdam. I don’t know exactly where I went, and I like it that way. I find it hard to enjoy a city if I am constantly looking at a map. If I have to reach a specific destination at a specific time I will look at a map, but otherwise I just like to walk. As I walk I create a map of the city in my mind. The map I create is multi-dimensional. It includes the three spatial dimensions (the shapes and sizes of things), time (how long I spent at a given place and what time of day it was when I was there), and my sentiments (how I felt while I was there).
It is important to note that my mind’s map of Amsterdam exists only in my memory and thus is subject to change over short periods of time, while a paper map will stay the same from one day to the next. But, nonetheless, the map in my mind is more accurate than any two-dimensional map could ever be. I’d rather trust my instincts and my memory than trust a piece of paper with ink on it.