Maps

OK I confess, I guess I am a map geek. I discovered this place during spring when I started biking to work. It is a map store. I just love maps. It is something about them that draws me to them. There is always something new to discover when you look at a map. I never seem to get tired of looking at them. Places you want to go, places you been at, distances between places, regions, climate, vegetation. A map just has so many details you just can´t get tired of them.

So I have been wanting to go to the map store for quite some time. They close early (well early by my standards after having been living in the US where most stores are open after 6 pm) and they are not open on Sundays. So the other day, however, I finally got the opportunity to go there. It did not disappoint me. Oh what a great store!

They also had these globes that are illuminated. I love these. I had one when I was a child. I wish I could find it but if I don't I love to get another one of these. If maps are wonderful then globes are even better because on a globe you can get the true distance and connection between places. By studying a globe you can understand why you always fly over over Greenland when you fly across the Atlantic ocean. I love the way these globes are illuminated also. I love their soft blueish light. I guess it brings back comforting childhood memories to me.

When we lived in Alabama I bought this map over the United States and we hung it on the wall in our office. We used small red sticker dots to mark the places we had visited. I missed my map a lot and I know it is somewhere among all our stuff that we have at my friends place. However, I did not want to go out there and go through the boxes so I bought a new one at the map store and we repeated the exercise of placing the stickers to mark where we have been so far. We actually added three different colors. Red ones to mark where we have both been, green ones for the places I have at and blue ones for the places that C has visited.

I would say that we have covered the South pretty well and that is natural since we lived there for four years and had the time and opportunity to explore. Then we have both been at the east and west coast to some extent but the is a big gap in the middle states.

I am thrilled about my map. Now I can study it. Stand in front of it and figure out new places I want to go to. The map store is a place I sure will visit again and again. They also had a great selection of travel books and guides which is something else that I love. I would never dream of going somewhere without a travel book or guide. Planning trips and reading about places is a must for me before I go. I think the planning is just as much fun as going. Hi hi I guess I am a map geek ;-)