Phoenix is an odd city. It’s like there’s no gravity, no center. The streets are wide and the houses are bare. And they just go on and on and on, there’s no limit, no mountains or trees to limit the growth. It’s a city made for cars and air conditioning. It did rain when we were there, but mostly it was sunny and hot. Temperatures above 110°F were nothing out of the ordinary. 43°C for us Europeans.
The view from Vladimiro’s balcony. That’s downtown Phoenix.
They did have public transportation, the Light Rail and busses – but they were a joke. Everyone that has the choice, drives a car. The busses and the Light Rail just pick up what’s left. It’s sad, really. Both for Phoenix, and our environment.
In Phoenix, if you want to go shopping, you go to one of all the malls. There, the huge stores are air conditioned and outside the air is sprayed with water. I don’t really get the point with this artificial mist, seeing as humidity tends to make high temperatures feel even warmer. But what do I know. There are many things with Phoenix that I don’t understand.
The wide wide streets are lined with palm trees.
There’s just too much space for me to feel like I’m in a city. This is just a perpetual suburb.
But the sun going down behind the thick rain clouds is beautiful, even in Phoenix.
It’s not that I didn’t like Phoenix. I just – it puzzles me. It lacks style and density. I must admit that I very much prefer the cities of the Pacific Northwest. And San Francisco. Always San Francisco.
Katja Malmborg 