: : Lugano - The best thing this side of the Italian Border : :
Friday, August 13, 2004
Lugano, it's just beautiful...
June 3 - Ok, so picking up from where I left off...
I spent the last weekend in Lugano; it is in the bottom of Switzerland, just this side of the border from Italy. And I can tell you, it is the most beautiful spot I have seen in Switz so far!
Friday night we had a tortured train ride, where there were no seats so we sat squashed with about 25-30 others in the doorway in front of the loos. We tried to make the most of the time by having a Bacardi party with cheap purchased contraband from Germany….Was all laughs and semi nudity (kidding) until some old hag started yelling at us in French because she thought we were smoking hashish….
(Incidently, they smoke sooo much green here, it is not funny! I don’t think I mentioned it last time, but two floors down from my apartment is a computer/pot shop that blows so much smoke out of the window and into my room its like getting smacked in the face. In Basel, the law is a lot more loose with pot than in other Kantons, however, jump on any train around the country and you are bound to be sitting next to someone having a toke.)
So anyways, we were on the train to Lugano. Received by the local committee at the train station, they took us to drop off our luggage; crashed their van into a wall, damaging the side door (this meant all weekend the person next to the door had to hold it shut and kind of fear for their life at the same time); back to their HUGE office for an apero before heading to a bar and getting suitably liquored up.
Saturday we started with a typical AIESEC breakfast of bargain juice and cookies before heading to an Islamic Centre (this was the learning event part of the weekend). A bit out of context with the rest of the activities, but still interesting nevertheless. We had a tour of the centre, watched some videos, had an explanation of the Pillars of Islam and Ramadan before having tea and chips….
Next we headed off to Ascoa for a 3 hour Italian influenced lunch, which was my best meal in Switz so far! We sat outside in the sun drinking wine, eating salami, cheese and pasta…Such an awesome meal…Next stop was visiting the Castles in Bellinzona. The break down, 3 super cool castles, recently restored and nationally treasured; once fought over for the valuable access to trade routes, these castles were the starting site of the first 3 Kantons of Switz…Ok, Kanton is like state/suburb kinda deal, and they have 26 of them…Each with its own rules/regulations and sometimes people. Basel and Zurich have this on going rivalry; a few weeks ago, Basel kicked their asses in the Football…it’s the equivalent of The Eagles beating the Crows or the Port I guess…
So the castles were beautiful, a history lesson and fun all at the same time. After a busy day of visiting castles and eating, it was time to eat again! So we ended up in a local bar where the girl organising the event normally worked…She had organised a spare rib bbq for us!!! It was the closest thing to being back home!! I ended up eating my plate plus another girls dinner as well….Later after some reasonably priced beers, I was pretty loaded again….They had a blues band, I was bopping away…The Norwegian guy I live with was totally broken, dancing on the tables and nipple–riding.
Ok this is a term related to how a bass player, plays guitar…It was new to me too! But apparently this is what my room-mate was doing before passing out at 11.
We made it back around 1pm (this time I was holding the van door closed and fearing for my life-actually I kept falling asleep and the rest of the van were fearing for their lives-that’s how they explain it anyways…)
Sunday we drove to Tassino Park which is this mountain that overlooks the entir valley and lake – breathtakingly beautiful, but same crappy breakfast….Spent the rest of the day drinking beer in the sun and eating 3 hour meals in the local cafes…Definitely my idea of a vacation!
Monday was the last of my public holidays until August, and I spent it in bed mostly except for a very short shirt-ironing episode….
And that’s about it for this week, been at work and the pub with trainees, but that’s it. This weekend looks like a quick trip to Germany, but hopefully just chilling in the apartment.
