Now I’m Part of the Map

If you ever travel with me, one of the things that will happen is that we will wander through a neighborhood where real people live and tourists seldom travel. Some of my favorite travel memories don’t come from iconic landmarks—but from ordinary neighborhoods, seen on foot, with no fixed plan.

One afternoon while living in Reykjavik, I decided to take a walk to the lighthouse at the end of the point (Grotta). Rather than taking the traditional and direct walk home along the bay, I decided to walk through the neighborhoods of Seltjarnarnes.

Like most of these walks, I paid attention to the house types, the type and style of the sidewalk, how parking works, neighborhood parks, and local businesses. It was a good day to be a geographer. I noted houses that were modern in design with large windows that faced south to leverage the low Icelandic sun. Parking was a mix of driveway and street parking with businesses clustered at the east end of the peninsula.

I stopped in a small park along the shore and I noticed that a Google Earth vehicle was passing by. There were a couple of thoughts that ran through my head. The first was that I hoped they drove by my apartment because the images were so old and that things had changed so much that when I sent the old location to friends there was more confusion than clarity. The second was that I was going to have to check later to see if I’m on the map.

I was on the map and it caught me as I was sizing up these shots of Skuggar.

Later I went walking up the hill and into the neighborhood. None of this was in a straight line because I wanted to see things–like the park at the top of the hill with the disc golf course. This is where the Google Maps vehicle came up behind me and took some more shots of me. I finally caught a photo of the truck itself as it zig-zagged through the streets. Afterwards I chatted with the boys on the bicycles and answered their questions about what it was.