Land of holey cheese and chocolate...

Or its supposed to be, but I have yet to find any!!

CIAO!

I can still say that because in the south of Switzerland they speak Italian. And French. And German. And everything but English.They dont actually have a language in Switzerland, so its been a little bit of a struggle! But i've learned that eventually, after lots of arm waving and map pointing, somebody will eventually understand.

So last week, as you can see from the photos, I decided to head to Verona for a day. I met my CS host Michele in the evening and we toured a town outside the city. The next day I took a self tour through Verona while I waited for my 5 pm train. Its a pretty city, very quiet and peacefull and not crowded at all which was a relief. I made my lunch for the train ride on the steps of a hidden church in some alley. It only took 8 weeks, but I learned that grocery stores are a backpackers best friend!! Food here is just mad expensive.

The train left Verona and headed to Milan where I then had 15 mins to get myself and luggage off the train, find the departure map list thing, validate my ticket, find the platform and get on the train to Lugano. Turns out that 15 mins is a long time though and it wasnt as horrid as I was imagining. But Ive seen some close calls and some poor people stranded because they didnt make the connecting train fast enough. And who wants to get stuck in Milan?

The scenery was incredible! As soon as you hit the Swiss boarder, its as if mountains just pop out of the ground. It was beautiful. And Lugano is perfectly situated right beside a lake and surrounded in big mountains.

I met my host Elettra at the train station at 8pm. We headed to her flat for some dinner and drinks with another friend of hers and then a group of us went out to the main square for some live reggee music!! It was a great night.
Yesterday was a late start to my day but I was up and out by lunch time and headed to the park. There are quiet a few of them. And not much else! Aside from one 2 churches and an outdoor shopping centre, there isnt much to do. Lugano is beautiful but tourists dont really flock here.

The city park is stunning - you get a great wide view of the mountains and lake.

Parco Civico

Down the street theres Parco Tassino. And look, theres lots and lots of stairs.

It was worth the walk

I decided to have a lil fun...

I eventually found the tourist office and they advised me to go to a one of the mountains in the next town over. It was a 20 min walk to Paradiso (fitting name!) and then a 10 min ride up Mounte San Salvatore by cable car. It was very steep and very scary! But the views from the top were breathtaking. I actually have no words to describe it! 

Fiew from one of the lookouts

The Swiss and Savoy Alps.

912 m high! 

I headed back to Lugano after that and stopped in at a little church. It isnt very impressive on the outside, but the inside is wonderdful. Theres a great big fresco on the front wall from the 16th century, completed by one of Leonardo da Vincis disciples.

Church of Saint Maria degli Angioli

Afterwards I walked trought the shopping center and bought some groceries for dinner. Everything is very expensive in Switzerland - I paid over a dollar for an apple. ONE apple. And I was told that a burger from McDonalds was around 16 CHF. Thats about 18 CAD. RIDICULOUS!!!

Anyways, that evening my host was at the library studdying so I crashed on the couch and watched Anastasia. Wfter walking up mountains all day, I needed the rest! She was home around 12 and we stayed up chatting till some ridiculous hour.
Its now almost 11 am and im not even dressed! I gotta get a move on though because today im supposed to go to ZURICH! Cant wait.

K