Lovely Lugano

21 June 2012

Our time in Switzerland is running rapidly by. We need to be out of the apartment by the end of August and so Greg and I are trying to squeeze in as much last-minute travel as we can.
We made a spontaneous choice to go to Lugano, in Ticino, Switzerland's Italian canton, over Mother's Day. We left here on Friday, May 11, taking the train through the usual gorgeous Swiss countryside. At the Lugano train station, I suggested we grab a cab since we didn't know where we were going. For those of you who have been reading this blog, you know that Greg is taxi expense phobic and can only be persuaded to take one when the situation is desperate (like in Lisbon).  So we walked for a while one way. Then he decided that was the wrong way so we headed back to the train station. Fortunately for him, that was the right choice because a funicular took us from the train station down to the center of town. And our hotel, the Hotel Dante Central, was smack dab at the foot of the funicular.

From the moment we checked into the hotel, we were treated to world class service. Everyone made a point of remembering our name, they had chocolate and other goodies set all around the lobby and they even had a corner filled with toys for kids to borrow.
 Hotel stuff taken care of,  we wandered around the lovely town which is set right on a lake - Lake Lugano, of course! 
It quickly became apparent that the town was hosting a car show. New cars were littered throughout the streets and squares and we saw a few young ladies who were dressed like hookers but it turns out they were advertising cars and not themselves. Greg found a Ferrari ($300,000) that he could live with while I decided on a bronze Bentley ($450,000) - but only if it came with a chauffeur so I could enjoy the spacious back seat with enough buttons and gadgets to make NASA envious. 

Greg's Michelin app recommended a restaurant, Bottegone del Vino, and we sat outside enjoying a delicious meal. The wine was good, too, but not the $15 a glass good that we discovered on our bill at the end of the meal. While we were eating, there was an elderly man and woman dressed in outdated sartorial splendor waiting on the side of the street. She was teetering on stilettos and looked as if she'd had a facelift or two too many. Just then, a chauffeur driven Rolls convertible pulled up to the curb and the elderly gent gallantly helped his companion into the front seat and he climbed into the back and off they went. There were also a Ferrari and Lamborgini or two that went by. I've noticed that the more expensive the sport car, the louder Rrrrrrmmm-rrrrmmmm-rrrrmmmmm noises the drivers seem compelled to make. Boys and their toys.

I was trying to be unobtrusive here. I should have jumped up to take this picture because how often do you actually see two old fossils being driven off in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce convertible? Gees, I didn't even know they made RR convertibles. (You can tell from this pic that other diners were also curious.)

The next morning, we partook of the free buffet breakfast. I wanted to take copious pictures because this was the biggest buffet I have ever seen but I felt that would be too touristy. Damn! I should have taken the photos.

This is the hot chocolate station. White chocolate on the left, dark chocolate on the right. I don't know what idiot put the ketchup bottle there.

The dark chocolate was so thick, it was like drinking chocolate pudding with no sugar. I think maybe you're supposed to dilute it with hot milk and sugar. Hmmm ... might have to go back and try that.

Greg and I haven't done anywhere near the mountain trekking we'd have liked to have done while we've been here. I suggested we take the funicular up Mount Bre and walk down. So we did.

On the way to the funicular, we were treated to a wonderful aerial display by - I think - the Swiss precision air team.

The view from the top of Moutn Bre is lovely. If we'd had any sense, we would have taken lots of pictures and then taken the funicular back done. We didn't have any sense. Now, when I picture mountain treks, they involve undulating paths through alpine meadows filled with wildflowers and bell toting cows - just the sort of thing we discovered a few weeks later when we walked the Toggenberg Trail with Dottie and Laurie (yeah, yeah, yeah - I know I'm a post or two behind!)

Unfortunately, this walk was a switchback trail cutting sharply down through woods. Most of the trail was formed with loose rocks which made the going tricky and very, very, very hard on the knees!

Going down - don't let that nicely cemented stairway fool you!

The names on the signposts kept changing which made the navigation a little wonky. We figured that, like Zurich, as long as we were going DOWN we were okay.

By the time we got to the bottom, Greg's right knee was so sore, he couldn't bend it, which made walking quite a feat. And here - are you ready for this? - Greg actually acquised when I suggested we grab a cab! But the gods were laughing because the only cabs we saw were all full.

Finally! A real sidewalk. Greg limps along.

Now THAT's the house I want to own.

A well-earned lunch.

That evening, Greg's cohort Sameule, who owns Susos where Greg is currently working, picked us up and took us to his parents' place just across the border in Italy. Greg had met Rosanna and Adelmo when I was in Florida and had told me how wonderful they are and I quickly discovered his assessment was bang on.  Samuele's lovely wife Erika was there, as well, and we piled into two cars for the ride to Samuele's cousins' agro tourism business. We had a wonderful time with great food - all from their farm. I, who refuse to eat horse (to the mystification of Samuele and his parents) did eat donkey and have to tell you it's good. (I figured what the heck, the donkey was already dead. Greg stuck to his guns and wouldn't try it.)  We ate goat jerky, broad noodles with wild pig, and pork and veal. There was also an amazing eggplant preserved in oil. I ended up with some of it to take home. Mmmmm! We ate at one long table and there was another table at the other end. The people there started talking to Samuele and his parents and so I figured they must be more relations. Samuele's parents laughed when I asked this. Nope, it was just Italian bonhomie.

This lovely building was originally a hunting lodge. Now it's Samuele's cousins' home.

Counterclockwise starting with Rosanna bottom left, me, Greg, Samuele, Erika, Adelmo.

Nope, we don't actually know him.

We ended the evening with an ice cream by the river that divides Italy and Switzerland.

The next day we stuffed ourselves at the bountiful buffet, checked out and wandered along the lake. There was a stiff breeze blowing and we soon headed back to the hotel.

Salamis, anyone?

We would have bought these briefs for Heath but darn! Being Sunday, all the stores were closed.

Too rough even for the ducks.

Greg suddenly realized he had left his keys - ALL of his keys - in the hotel room. We rushed back and checked everywhere in the room but they were nowhere to be found. The people at the front desk were very sympathetic and helpful. Everyone in Switzerland knows that if you lose your keys, you have to sacrifice your first born or pay some other steep penance. Fortunately, they called us when we were in the train on the way home. The maid had found them in the safe in our room and of course they would send them right away.

We breathed a huge sigh of relief and leaned back to enjoy the scenery.