No Big Rivers In The Desert . . .
9.5.08
From day one in Paris Marannie insisted that I invest in an 8E map of Paris. When I say map, I don’t mean a complicated to fold roadmap type map, but a street map, the kind that comes in a handy little book that fits nicely in your purse. I didn’t have a purse and I was adamant that I did not need to spend 8E on a map when I could just as easily navigate using metro maps and the Internet. It drove her a little crazy from time to time because small streets are not marked on metro maps and it’s true that the 8E map would have allowed me to find very specific addresses as opposed to general areas. But I rather enjoyed getting mildly lost and finding my own way around.
When I wasn’t looking for specific addresses and ventured out in Paris simply to explore, I very rarely got disoriented. I could almost always figure out which direction the Seine was from where I stood and that allowed me to figure out how to get home – of course sometimes I ended up getting home taking very, um, interesting, scenic routes that would not have made sense had I been looking at a map. Using the Seine, my intuition and allowing myself to get lost was how I came to really know and appreciate Paris. That is how Paris became my city and that is how I worked my way into the cityscape for a year. One afternoon in the spring Lise came along with me for one of my daily walks and I spent a fair amount of the walking quizzing her, “Ok Lise, where is the Eiffel Tower in reference to where we are standing? And Invalides? And the Seine? So to get home we would have to walk in which direction?”
Katie left for work around noon today and I was alone at the house. I had some cookie dough from last night that needed to be formed and baked as well as a few odds and ends to take care of. By 1PM I had gotten most of what I needed to do done and decided that today would be the day that I actually walk down to the Plaza. Walking down there and back has been on my list of things to do since before moving here, but it never quite works out. Some days I’ll procrastinate so much that by the time I leave for a walk I don’t have enough time to get there and back and do whatever else is waiting for me in the later evening. Other days other activities will pop up – a shoe shopping adventure, a job interview, cleaning, etc. I tried once very early on but it was hot and after about fifty minutes of walking I gave up, turned around and came back. Katie and I almost did that walk last week, but we didn’t go quite as far as the Plaza because by the time we got downtown we were both hot, tired and ready to head back.
And so with no one to distract me and nothing pressing to do, I set my mind to it and headed out at 1:14PM this afternoon. The air was almost vaguely chilly and I came close to turning around to grab a sweatshirt, but once I was out the door I felt the need to press on. It’s a good thing that I did not get a sweatshirt because by the time I was on Cerrillos and no longer protected by shade, it was hot. I knew I could take Cerrillos all the way down to downtown and when I got there I made a few random turns, but eventually stumbled across the Plaza. There was a lot of activity and people everywhere. Suddenly I felt like I was almost in a city again. It was nice. When I decided it was time to head back, I wanted to find Agua Fria. I had a sense of which way to walk but then it hit me, there is no big river cutting through the middle of Santa Fe for me to use as a reference point. I also have not been very active in exploring the city by foot. Luckily I have enough of a sense of how to navigate and found the street without much difficulty.
The walk home was easy enough, although I was rather under-hydrated and the sun was intense. Once I got back I was thoroughly drained of energy and the very intense sunburn that I am currently sporting is a reminder of part of the reason I haven’t been spending my days exploring Santa Fe on foot.
