Member-only story
The Art of Wandering: Notes from the Sidewalk
A Curious Stroll Through the Heart of the City
After several months living in Seville, Spain, I remember waking one morning. My partner snoozing next to me, warm air flowing through an open window, and a room with white walls.
I had no idea where I was.
The walls were void of pictures, prints or photos, not an ornament in sight. The door closed and as nondescript as a sheet of paper.
I had no references to tell me where I had woken up.
According to Michael Bond, who wrote the fascinating book; “Wayfinding”, we have an inbuilt mechanism that helps us to map out our environment.
I had the wrong map in mind after waking up that morning.
My brain visualised a Berlin map. I asked myself, did we go to a Berlin party and end up crashing at a friends house?
All of my attempts at figuring out where I was revolved around the city of Berlin. I asked myself if I was in Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg, Steglitz, I didn’t know.
Nothing came up. My mind as blank as the room. All my friends have rooms with paintings and photos, carpets, knick-knacks dotted around the place. Then I sat up and looked out the window.
