While you sip your coffee and nibble your pastry, take a moment to stare at this beautiful old map on the cafe wall. Reprinted onto metallic laminate this early sixteenth-century engraving depicts the exploration of the North and South American continents from the dawn of modern cartography, with tall ships and sea monsters and ornate flourishes. It might be a version based on an Ortelius’ map, the mother map of the New World. If you lift your head up from your smart phone occasionally, you might see something new.

07.24.18