Lugano: Phenomenal weather

October 8, 2017

We made the decision to spend two nights in Lugano. We didn't particularly need a rest day, this is just such an amazing city we needed to see a little more of it. So after a full ten jammer breakfast we headed down the funicular to the lakeside.

Leaving the hotel. Seriously, if you have all this in the back, where do you put the golf clubs?? An Audi R8.

The hotel pool. There are an amazing number of palm trees at this property. We really like it...the Continental Parkhotel Lugano. The 50% off happy hour is okay with us too.

The hotel is a very short walk from the funicular down to the lakeside.

Once at lakeside we walked and walked and explored. Then we arrived at the Monte San Salvatore funicular. Up we went from the lake to the top. It took two funiculars and the second one ascended at a dramatic angle. The views from the top were incredible and we had the perfect day for it.

Then we went back down via funicular. The CN was foiled in his desire to either walk up or down...it is so steep you are not allowed too. We had lunch at one of those atmospheric outdoor patios you can enjoy when a city is smart enough to have a pedestrian zone, and chatted and people watched. We thought the man next to us was Canadian. His baseball cap said Canada on the front and Terrace BC on the back, but no, he was Swiss Italian and an avid fisher. He is off to Terrace again next summer to catch some salmon. It was a fun encounter. We were entertained at lunch by a young man singing opera. When he came table to table hoping for donations he spoke perfect English. Turns out he is from Ottawa, currently in Switzerland doing a Masters degree in music. That was fun too.

Then we just walked, listened to another great musician and spent a happy half hour watching children sailing. The people who live in Lugano are very fortunate we think.

What a great thing for children to be doing.

Endlessly entertaining for us. It brings back so many good memories.

Then, on a whim we decided to do a circle boat tour of the lake. Living on an island we have many opportunities to be on boats, especially if we want to leave the island, but off we went regardless. It turned out to be a bit underwhelming, but we had some great views and enjoyed it. My seat mate was a woman from Milan in the fashion industry, working with Stella McCartney. Her husband is with Gucci, also in Milan. Her seven year old son speaks fluent English, Italian and Croatian, but has forgotten most of the French he learned when they lived in Paris he explained to me. No worries though, he is learning Spanish now and will work on his French later. He was so interested and interesting, listening to his Mom and Keith and I. He was so engaging I can't begin to describe it and his Mom was just lovely and way better dressed than me hehe.

Beautiful views of the communities along the lake.

After the boat cruise we headed for happy hour. We couldn't be bothered to wait five minutes for the funicular and instead walked up the hill to the hotel. Keith and I motored by a puffing young man and decided all that hill climbing has been good for us. We went out for another great dinner and are planning our next move. Suddenly time seems to be closing in on us and we still have so much more we want to see. Tomorrow we will be in Italy, and probably Como. It will be a very short day, but we want to see it. The great weather is forecast to continue to be clear and warm. We are so lucky.

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