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| Rigi rising through the mist |
Saturday
We were up early to finish packing and get the bus to the station in time to catch the 10.05 train to Zug, and then to Locarno in the Swiss Ticino. We booked first class seats in the Panorama wagon which was nice but, even so, someone was already in our seats. The views along the route were wonderful. We arrived at 13.13 in Locarno and walked to our hotel, the Excelsior, about 10 minutes away. We had a nice room on a side street with a bit of a lake view. |
| The little train in Ascona - we didn't try it |
We went out to have lunch at Debarcadero, the cafe by the boat station. They insisted on speaking to us in German. So much for our attempt at Italian.We both had pizza as we were starving. Then we bought a round boat ticket to Ascona, where we spent an hour and a half having coffee and exploring the old town and shops. The return boat was carrying a wedding party, all the guests bringing white flowers. We went back to the hotel for a rest - nothing good on TV.
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| At the restaurant Da Valentino |
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| Sea bass with a light ratatouille |
The lady at the hotel had booked us dinner at Da Valentino for 8pm so we strolled along to Piazza Grande and found the place up a small street. We went for the three course tasting menu. I had risotto with cheese and scallop mousse, followed by sea bass. It was light and delicious. For dessert I had strawberry mousse. There was a very nice intimate atmosphere on the terrace.
Afterwards we strolled back to the hotel and saw Murray beat Berdych in 4 sets in the US Open semi-final. I had some strange dreams during the night.
More to come...
Sunday
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| Paragliders at Cimetta |
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| Madonna del Sasso above Locarno |
At the top we walked the short distance to the summit and saw a display of all the types of rock in the surrounding mountains. We could see the Jungfrau, Monta Rosa, the Maggia River and Lago Maggiore. We saw paragliders taking off into oblivion. Are they mad? We had a cool beer. It was a bit cooler at the top, 16 degrees. Then we got the chairlift back down to Cardada and had lunch in the Ristoranti Colmancchio - mixed mushroom risotto.
Then we descended to Locarno and walked down to the church of Madonna del Sasso, where we looked round. We took the funicular to the bottom of the hill and strolled back to the hotel for a rest.
Later we went out for dinner and found restaurant Panevino, where we shared a cold meat platter and had salmon cubes with salad of rocket, tomatoes and peppers - very tasty. Followed by home-made tiramisu. The lights on the lake looked very pretty. I felt sad. We returned to our room and I forgot to buy more water for the night.
Monday
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| A forest of bamboo |
We had a nice breakfast, then checked out of the hotel, leaving our bag. We bought tickets to Isole di Brissago, two small islands with a botanical garden on one. It was quite a short trip via Ascona. On the island, we explored all the regions of the world and their flora. Some of the European and Chinese plants had suffered from frost or too much sun, but the American, Australian and South African plants thrived. It was very pretty.
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| In the South African zone |
Afterwards we had lunch in the restaurant in the house there. We both had ravioli alla melanzane in a spicy tomato sauce. It was very nice with a cool beer. The weather was very sunny and hot.
Then we caught the boat back to Locarno, Richard went back for the case, and we went up to the station. We caught an early train to Basel, changing at Arth Goldau. Again we sat in the Panoramawagen and enjoyed the view. We got the next train to Zug and then Thalwil. We caught the bus home. A very relaxing trip. It was good to escape to another world for a few days.
Later we saw that Murray won the US Open, beating Djokovic in five sets!
