I brought home an interesting find from my grandmother’s house (Bubby said I could). It’s a world atlas from 1981. The Soviet Union still existed. On the map, it’s a menacing monochrome swath. There is no Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania. No Ukraine or Georgia. Most of the -stans are gone. St. Petersburg is Leningrad. Also, Yugoslavia has swallowed Croatia and Montenegro. Taiwan is part of China. And (this really weirded me out) Germany is divided into West and East. In slightly less troublesome terms, Iran is parenthetically referred to as Persia, and Thailand as Siam.
For whatever reason, this atlas mesmerized me. It’s a fascinating time capsule, for sure, but it also captivated me by illustrating how time and place are woven together. This is something I discovered through travel. I realized that when you visit a place, you often visit a time — Vienna under Emperor Franz Josef, Florence of the Renaissance, La Belle Époque Paris. I do not know what to do with this insight except enjoy it, and share it with you.
Have a beautiful day, wherever and whenever you find yourself!
