Lugano

Venturing into Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland...

The journey to Lugano put on a show of some of the most spectacular scenery and engineering marvels we have ever seen. Bridges straddling large gulfs and then diving into deep tunnels, then suddenly you're on the other side of the mountain. The mountains again are magnificent and even though these engineering marvels seem to have tamed them by making passage easier: through, over and around them; we are fooling ourselves if we think that these peaks can be conquered. They even defied photography, as G leapt around the carriage trying to get a shot that came close to doing the scene justice. Finally, defeated, we just sat in incredulous silence and marveled at the picturesque views - bugger the blog ;-)

Unloading ourselves off the train we scuttled up to the hotel where Herman Hesse once stayed, even making a cameo appearance in one of his novels.

Rooms were given the Mack seal of approval and once luggage was stashed we went exploring Lugano. After a winding steep descent, we made it to the beautiful lake and strolled beside it in the glorious afternoon sunshine.

We observed with some amusement and a suitable measure of grumpy disapproval, what must serve as Lugano's local hoods - part gangster rappers, part Italian hipster (think immaculate vest and shirt, teamed with low-slung pants). Irritatingly, they were strumming toy guitars, which they progressively smashed and pieces of which they discarded behind them.

As we meandered through the park, we frequently noticed a distinct 'herbal' aroma in the air. As people were none too discreet about lighting up, we made a note to check the finer points of legality...

Dash was very excited about a trip on the funicular, a small train on a steep track that takes you back to Lugano station. Everyone surges forward to catch it, creating quite a crush and making you think that the walk must surely be longer than ten minutes.

On our return to the hotel, a highlight for G & D was watching Cam beside himself with laughter whilst watching a crazy Japanese game show where contestants dressed in outlandish and cumbersome costumes and completed physical challenges, which was dubbed and narrated in Italian. Such is the variety of International travel...