Maisons Médiévales de Paris – Un Itinéraire

(Article in English here)

Quelques semaines plus tôt, je me demandai où se trouvaient les plus anciennes maisons de Paris. Je décidai de marcher de maison en maison sans convenir d’un parcours clair par avance mais de noter au fur et à mesure les endroits, objets ou atmosphères que je découvrirais en chemin. Pas vraiment une dérive situationniste, mais un petit peu de psychogéographie tout de même…

Je ne listai que 5 maisons car il ne reste plus grand chose du (très) vieux Paris. Cette ville date essentiellement du 19ème siècle, puisque Haussmann changea quasiment complètement son aspect entre 1852 et 1870.

Paris Medieval Houses – A Route

(En français ici)

A few weeks ago, I wondered where were the oldest houses in Paris. I decided to walk from house to house, not to settle on a clear path beforehand but to note what other places, things or atmospheres I would discover on the sidelines – not really a Situationist drift (Dérive), but I had psychogeography in mind.

My list mentioned 5 houses only, since there is not much left of old Paris. Paris is mostly a 19th century city, as Haussmann nearly completely changed its aspect from 1852 to 1870.

Maps and Imagination

Maps in the belfry

Maps are fascinating. I remember spending so much time as a child designing imaginary maps, mazes or floor plans, folding and unfolding maps, scrutinising globes, seeing continents in a crumbling ceiling, memorising fictional maps in books, and trying to create some out of my favorite fictional places when they didn’t exist. I clearly remember trying to map the family house of some children comic books and being very disappointed when I noticed I couldn’t manage it, because the author didn’t have a clear map in his head and there were some discrepancies in the panels – the kitchen was sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right…

I still am interested in maps, mazes and architecture, and I know some of my co-workers in computer science share my interest. It can also be a Special Interest for some people with Aspergers.

How real is a map?

Are maps trying to depict real data “real” too?