Südschweiz

Lugano and the Festa d'Autunno

This weekend I journeyed south with two other assistants, to the Italian-speaking canton, Ticino. The train was direct from Basel and wound through the mountains down to Lugano, where it seems an autumnal wine festival was taking place. We spent our time sautering around the town, gazing across the lake, eating ice cream and sipping beer. The atmosphere was so nice and everyone was really friendly and out-going. It made me want to learn Italian.

Lago Maggiore, Locarno

After a night of sleep in a rather cosy hostel room, we headed on to Locarno, where my fellow assistants took part in an 8km power walk. I couldn't go along because of the continuing problems involving the Maestro, so I took myself and Anna Karenina off to various cafés, where I occupied myseld until their return. We went for a walk along the lake and around the town before eating more pizza. However, we decided that we would rather kill the remaining four hours until train travel was free in another town.

Castelgrande, Bellinzona

We headed a bit further north to Bellinzona, which was on the train line back to home, but also has three castles looming above it. We went up to the one closest to the town, and explored the towers, walkways and crags. This is the view looking from a walkway back up to the main building, with the very atmospheric, mist-wreathed hills looming in the background.