Life etc.: In the land of neutrality

This weekend, Meghann, Matt, Jillian and myself decided to take a day trip to Lugano, Switzerland. It was beautiful! I had never been to Switzerland before so that made the trip even more special. The lake was the main purpose of our trip and Jillian found a boat ride around the lake with lunch included.

So once we took our short 1 hour train from Milan, descended by sideways tram (no idea what's it's called..) we found our way to the lake pier and purchased tickets. Once on board, we enjoyed the weather (78 degrees and slightly cloudy = perfect), took pictures, and then ate a delicious lunch with some wine (of course). Two hours flew by and before we knew it, our boat time was over.

Lake of Lugano

Beautiful buildings on the hillsides

Our train back to Milan was later that night so we had alot of time to explore and do a little shopping. Soon enough, we found out that the area we were in was quite small and we managed to make differing loops but finding the same shops. We saw commotion in a square and what was it? In an explanation that included a mixture of English, German, French, and Italian we found out that it was, of course, a concert of alphorn-ists as would be typical in an Alpine Swiss city. Not sure why I was surprised..

Alphorns

- side note on the shops. When people say that Switzerland is expensive, they mean it. A McDonald's chicken sandwhich was about $15! Hmmm. I found a few less expensive trinkets for presents and called it a day from shopping.

We found a lovely little park on the side of the lake and enjoyed the various flowers and sculptures. There was a small beach which included many a man sporting speedos (I won't mention the one man without..) There were wooden piers that people had built stone towers on so of course we added to them also. Just having fun is fun! We also found a gelato stand which, of course, we partook of.