just wanted to say hello and let you know i'm alive. i'll try to update you on the adventures before my first visitors arrive next week!
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| me at the recent Epesses wine festival with a "gummy kabob" |
May 20, 2011
wiped out...
the past few weeks have been busy and left me exhausted! some highlights included a trip to Paris for the MBA olympics and a trip to Madrid to meet up with Shahrzad and her mom while they were travelling in spain. somehow i caught a cold and have been spending the day resting, trying to get healthy for a little day trip tomorrow.
just wanted to say hello and let you know i'm alive. i'll try to update you on the adventures before my first visitors arrive next week!
just wanted to say hello and let you know i'm alive. i'll try to update you on the adventures before my first visitors arrive next week!
May 8, 2011
May 7, 2011
M.O.M.
Happy mother's day, Mom! Wishing you a relaxing day- wish I was there to give you a big hug, cook you some dinner and treat you to some strawberries and whipped cream. :) Hopefully Dad will take you somewhere other than Bascali's. I'm excited for you guys to be here soon! We will celebrate 30 years of motherhood together. Love you!
I also want to send Mother's Day wishes to my amazing Grandma Millie (who is so sweet to always read my blog!), mom-in-law Lisa, Aunt Ruth, godmother Wendy, and new-mom friends Shweta, Beth & Shelley . Big hugs and love you all!
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| Aunt Ruth, Grandma Millie, Alison, Dorothy [Dot's 60th, 2010] |
May 6, 2011
a taste of italy...
but still swiss!
we couldn't wait until july to see a bit of italy, so for our 4 day easter break we took a train ride to lugano, just near the swiss-italian border. lugano is located in ticino is the italian speaking part of switzerland, located in the south eastern part of the country. on a map it doesn't look so far from lausanne, but in reality there are some huge alps between here and there. even though it is quite a long journey to get around those mountains, it is well worth it. let me tell you about our 4 day journey to the city (and lake) of lugano and maybe you'll understand why everyone who inquired where we were going always responded with "ahhh, nice!"
*italian eats, gelato and coffee were all amazing. i'd recommend the -9° for amazing gelato (apparently an italian chain?). we also loved Bottegone del Vino for great italian style dishes and good local wine, Mary's for pizza, and Cucina di Alice for some more italian dishes. mmmm...
*the town of lugano has a great atmosphere. lots of small piazza (plazas) with cafes galore. there was also an outdoor market the entire weekend with stands set up along all of these public spaces, adding plenty of action and charm. the geography is quite nice, with the surrounding hills diving right into the lake, it definitely felt more mediterranean. the walkway along the lake is also spectacular with parks, places to sit and enjoy the water and the views.
*we spent a day hiking- we took the funicular (howie's most favorite word!) up to the top of San Salvatore, one of the two closest peaks to lugano. it was rainy and misty so we didn't see so much from the top, but decided to take a 3.5 hour hike to morcote, a small town on the lake. the hike was mostly very easy to follow with these yellow signs everywhere (these are all over switzerland). we were hiking along a ridge for quite a while until we found steps that just kept going down... while descending into morcote you first find the beautiful old bell tower of a church built high on the hill. at this point we were also very glad that we didn't have to walk up all of the steps, which then took us down to the lakeside town. morcote is such a well preserved place- a very old style town with surprisingly new looking buildings! i loved how the buildings were all different shapes to accomodate the spaghetti-like arrangement of streets.
*we took one day (Easter sunday, actually) to hop across the border to como, italy. we found a fantastic market (did not buy any turtles, though) and after about 12pm the streets and lakeside started to fill with people, despite many of the restaurants and most shops being closed for the holiday. we enjoyed an extremely leisurely lunch alongside the lake at L'Antica Riva. many sea and lake foods were enjoyed- octopus, lake perch, clams, along with some risotto, a local fave. highly recommended although lunch took long because it was sooo busy!
our weekend was great- while there wasn't soo much going on because of the holiday, lugano is definitely a great town for relaxing, hiking, enjoying the lake and great eats! good thing we had a 5.5 hour train ride home for howie to catch up on some schoolwork and for me to work on planning our summer trip to italy.
hope you all had a wonderful easter!
*italian eats, gelato and coffee were all amazing. i'd recommend the -9° for amazing gelato (apparently an italian chain?). we also loved Bottegone del Vino for great italian style dishes and good local wine, Mary's for pizza, and Cucina di Alice for some more italian dishes. mmmm...
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| gummy bear truck. i could not be stopped. |
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| octopus pressed together, then thinly sliced. |
*the town of lugano has a great atmosphere. lots of small piazza (plazas) with cafes galore. there was also an outdoor market the entire weekend with stands set up along all of these public spaces, adding plenty of action and charm. the geography is quite nice, with the surrounding hills diving right into the lake, it definitely felt more mediterranean. the walkway along the lake is also spectacular with parks, places to sit and enjoy the water and the views.
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| Lugano rooftops |
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| Lago di Lugano |
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| Mario Botta is all over this town. |
*we spent a day hiking- we took the funicular (howie's most favorite word!) up to the top of San Salvatore, one of the two closest peaks to lugano. it was rainy and misty so we didn't see so much from the top, but decided to take a 3.5 hour hike to morcote, a small town on the lake. the hike was mostly very easy to follow with these yellow signs everywhere (these are all over switzerland). we were hiking along a ridge for quite a while until we found steps that just kept going down... while descending into morcote you first find the beautiful old bell tower of a church built high on the hill. at this point we were also very glad that we didn't have to walk up all of the steps, which then took us down to the lakeside town. morcote is such a well preserved place- a very old style town with surprisingly new looking buildings! i loved how the buildings were all different shapes to accomodate the spaghetti-like arrangement of streets.
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| couldn't see very far that day... |
*we took one day (Easter sunday, actually) to hop across the border to como, italy. we found a fantastic market (did not buy any turtles, though) and after about 12pm the streets and lakeside started to fill with people, despite many of the restaurants and most shops being closed for the holiday. we enjoyed an extremely leisurely lunch alongside the lake at L'Antica Riva. many sea and lake foods were enjoyed- octopus, lake perch, clams, along with some risotto, a local fave. highly recommended although lunch took long because it was sooo busy!
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| Como's Duomo |
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| Lago di Como |
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| took 2 guys to turn the wheel. |
our weekend was great- while there wasn't soo much going on because of the holiday, lugano is definitely a great town for relaxing, hiking, enjoying the lake and great eats! good thing we had a 5.5 hour train ride home for howie to catch up on some schoolwork and for me to work on planning our summer trip to italy.
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