It gets it's very own note. It was just that special!
We whizzed through Lugano on our way south from Switzerland to Milan, where we rented a car and drove all the way to Rome, more on that later. What we noticed was how incredibly beautiful it was, how much the architecture resembled Italy's and yet they had the infamous lake and alps view of Switzerland. We said we would go back, then almost didn't. What a mistake that might have been although I know other very special memories would have occured, I'm grateful we did go back!
It starts at the train station, at night. There's a funicular to get you down below to the city, which lies on very steep hillsides surrounding the lake. Or you can do what we did, ask the funicular attendant for a hotel recommendation, then take his advice and roll your bag down three switch back ramps to get to the lovely Hotel Federale. Lights on the hillside abound and they have landscape lights highlighting a beautiful garden area leading up to the hotel. Beautiful hotel and a lovely BIG tub and shower for us! Wake in the morning to your terrace view of the lake and hillside below! Eat breakfast in the lovely room with your own personal coffee service in metal pots. Coffee in one, steamed milk in the other, pour to your liking.
We then checked out but left our bags to tour the city. Rick Steve's walking tour of Lugano was extraordinary, we followed it to the letter (first and only time) and enjoyed ALL of it, the city park, the view from the glass elevator, the lovely park with modern art and exotic trees, and the lakeside stroll back to town. In the midst of that we had reached the town square and stopped for a fine meal and a cappuccino. We wondered why there were ropes to keep people out of the piazza and why there was security. And what was that "drain plug" looking thing sitting in the center and the hole in the middle about two feet in diameter? Oh well, we enjoyed our cappuccino, when all at once there came the rotary beat of a very large helicopter. Closer it came, breezy it was and people began to snatch at their hats and scarves as the wind picked up.
All of a sudden the finger pointing begins and we lift our eyes from our safe glass enclosed patio to see what the buzz is about! It's a Christmas Tree! A whopping big, lovely large, extraordinarily PERFECT Christmas tree in the sky! Unbelievable. We chanced on Lugano for this once a year celebration and caught the big event on film! After many extraordinary passes, with orange suited construction workers swaying this way and that all across the piazza with the tree, they finally land the great tree trunk down into the two foot diameter hole in the center of the piazza! We couldn't stop giggling!
After we finish our walk, we land smack into the downtown old town and take Rick Steve's advice again to buy meats, cheeses, produce and wine from the Gabbini family owned shops. First it's the butcher with a wonderful selection of meats. Then on to the produce stall, and we select some lovely tangerines after sampling them on the street. We are heading on to the cheese store when all of a sudden this mischievous elderly gentleman approaches Richard's stomach and points to it and says something in Italian that we don't understand. But we understand his sparkle. So Richard explains "English"? And he repeats his comment: "It's not summer! Where is your coat?" Richard had just begun to long for his fleece jacket in the shade but had been comfortable in his shirt sleeves for the rest of the day. So this nice man then points to his own clothes, each layer pulled out at his neckline in order; undershirt, polo shirt, sweater, cravat, and jacket, and then he asked us what we had stopped to taste and invites us to join him for a glass of wine. We immediately say yes. Set just down the street from the butcher, the produce, cheese and wine shops are all lined up next to each other with a lovely outdoor seating area. On each chair is a wooly sheepskin on the metal frame chair to keep you warm as you sit outside. No fancy propane heaters, but we were plenty toasty.
He invites us to try a Beaujalais. It's a "new wine", two months earlier he explains that this was grapes on the vine. 2012 from France. "Every year the wine comes in, November 17th. You must make a wish when you drink the first wine of the season. My wish is to be here next year to drink this wine!" In the meantime, young, handsome men have brought us a tray of Parmesan Reggiano cheese, some breadsticks and later a small pot of extraordinary Gorgonzola. Our new friend explains that he is "Gabbini" of the shop names. Later I hear a local call him Carmine, with a short i and the e pronounced in the Italian way. He's worked there since 1950, when he was still in short pants he says. His father kept him "on a 20 meter chain", so he didn't get a chance to marry until he was 50, producing two sons who now run the shops. But he worries they are too young at 24 and 26 to handle 20 employees, so he stays around to help. "My job now is to make sure that I am not the best customer" of the wine shop! Then he excuses himself to go walk the dogs, "good for me, good for the dogs". He is delightful and open, we spent a wonderful half hour with him and then bought our cheeses. It felt magical and that bubble stayed with us. We loved Lugano. Now you can recognize him in the photos with Richard, know why we took a picture of that wine bottle and know where those lovely gardens were. I'll see if I can get the video onto Youtube.
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