Day Fifteen - Phoenix in 24 hours
// August 11th - Phoenix, Arizona //
I sat at the
summit of the South Mountain (with 770 m or so it feels like a small hill) and
watched the first sunset of my road trip.
I passed
the typical cacti and sang out Chvrches
“Clearest Blue” loud in my car, since there was no one to hear me. I’m so
happy.
The scenery
would have been even more peaceful if I wasn’t surrounded by people who discuss
topics in public that rather belong behind closed doors.
The ones on
the right were talking on FaceTime with their relatives about them being
undocumented, joking about the Greencard and how everything works out pretty
well without for them. To the left, a girl that just got out of prison is
convinced that her brother will be free of all charges (he was sentenced to 3 x
28 years, what did he possibly do…?) if he’d “die” in prison and they reanimate him. So she’s kind of debating with her
boyfriend if there’s anything she can do. He’s trying to talk her out of it
though, since she’s got a daughter apparently, at least one person seems sane.
Well,
despite witnessing these conversations my day in Phoenix was pretty good.
I arrived
late from the airport yesterday, my couchsurfing host still welcomed me sweetly
though and gave me some recommendations for the next day.
Art in
Phoenix
I was
surprised about the large amount of theatres, operas and museums in a city of
this size. I wish I could’ve seen more.
First I
went to the Phoenix Art Museum, which is definitely worth a visit.
I loved the
gallery of pictures by Edward Burtynsky, all so different, but still overall
about the topic “Water”. Amazing shots.
Also the
exhibition of contemporary art was surprisingly good. I especially liked an
installation by Yayoi Kusama, named “You Who are Getting Obliterated in the
Dancing Swarm of Fireflies”. It was a mirrored room full of LED lights that
gently changed color.
Afterwards
I wandered through the streets, especially Roosevelt Row, discovering Street
Art and cute little cafés at every corner.
Because I
wanted to see the sunset (and needed to buy all the camping equipment) I didn’t
have time to see if there was any theatre play that night, but since I met up
with another couchsurfer in a bar and got a city tour through Downtown Phoenix,
it still was a pretty cool night. Creepy: In one restaurant there was a fence
when you got down the staircase to the basement. There was nothing down there
but a large table with 13 porcelain dolls, recreating “The Last Supper”. The
table was covered in pennies and small coins that people were throwing through
the fence.
If you only
have one day in Phoenix, definitely check out the art scene!
I don’t
know how frequently I’ll have Internet in the National Parks, but I’ll upload
new posts whenever I can find a diner with good Wi-Fi on the road. So check
back soon!
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