Well . . .

We were going to fly to an organ conference in Germany, arriving Easter morning, attending mass at Cologne Cathedral.  A week later, after a day or so with our German friend Marika, we would fly to the south of France, visit friends and drive around Aveyron and the Tarn Gorges.  Then we would fly to Switzerland and visit Mary Joy's relatives there.

Needless to say, this is not going to happen.  I had made reservations for all the plane flights, hotels (four of them) and car rental.  We were able to cancel all the hotels and car easily, losing only a 15 euro deposit.  Air Canada gave us a voucher for the full amount we paid, which we can use to buy new tickets within a year.  Lufthansa may or may not give us a refund: they should, since they changed our flight to two flights, without telling us, before we cancelled.  EasyJet will allow us to change to any flight anywhere before next February 28th, with no change fee.

A Canal, a Garden, a Jumpstart and Home

On Thursday, February 13^th, our breakfast bad luck continued.  Tired of big, sweet, breakfasts, we decided to go to Starbucks and just have cappuccinos and scones.  But it turned out that the Starbucks we walked to was a drive-through, with no indoor seating.  Not being able to come up with an alternate idea, we stood by the window and ate and drank there.

Then we left our Airbnb and drove to downtown Scottsdale, parking in the ramp near Olive and Ivy restaurant, where we had lunch reservations.  But it wasn’t time for lunch, so we walked along the canal.

Crossing the canal at an angle was a footbridge designed by Paolo Soleri, an architect, designer and visionary founder of the ecologically advanced town of Arcosanti, north of Phoenix.  It is like a burnished metal cylinder laid across the water, attached by cables to two tall cylinders at the south end.  Beyond these cylinders is a small plaza surrounded by upright slabs with paintings on them.  In the center of the plaza is the Goldwater Bell (which was originally created for the Goldwater Department Store—where Senator Barry Goldwater’s family made their money), hanging from two partial cylinders, which were metallic on the outside, red on the inside.  The bridge and cylinders are a sort of astronomical calendar.  Interesting.

We had a very nice lunch at Olive and Ivy, by the canal.  It was a little cool, so the waiter turned on a heater for us.

Then we drove to the Desert Botanical Garden.  We have been there a number of times, but it is always very interesting.  Today, there was a special exhibition of large, colored, whimsical, recyclable plastic animals, spread throughout the Garden, created by Cracking Art, a Milan art collective:

As always, the Garden was a delight to wander through, with its wide array of plants native to both the Sonoran Desert, in which Phoenix is situated, and dry areas in many other parts of the world.

Then we drove to the airport.  We needed, under our rental contract to fill Maude’s tank before we returned her to Budget, but we could not find any gas stations on the way, and we were on a tight schedule to catch our flight.  Budget therefore socked us with a big penalty charge, though Mary Joy, once home, managed to talk it down somewhat.  I should have found a gas station on the internet before we started out that day.

We got back to MSP around 9:30 at night. The temperature was minus 13 Fahrenheit (minus 25 Celsius), with a strong wind and windchill.  We got to the off-site parking lot and tried to start my car, but it wouldn’t start, so one of the lot employees had to jumpstart it for us.  Welcome back to the frozen tundra!