March 29 & 30, 2015 short hike and grocery shopping!

Along our mountainside....

The last couple of days we worked on getting our legs into Swiss mode - lots of ups and downs! Oh boy, my shins and calves ache! All will be normal feeling in just a few days. We took a hike on my 30 minute route on the mountainside by our house. Lots of goats wanderiNo problem for the goat and the dog passing on the path! 

 I love all the moss, and the fact that the trees don't have all their leaves yet - it lets me see the mountains in the distance! 

 Seriously, this goat walked right up to me and looked into the camera! 

 I love this time of year with all the little wildflowers. This one is called Primula - Primrose. 

So we hiked down the mountainside to the big Carrefour supermarket - the largest in Lugano. They had a section with these packages of sliced deli meats, as I was looking for something to make sandwiches with for our hike tomorrow. This one is Lardo Salate - salted lard - seriously,  it's slices of white fat. Really? That's the stuff I take off and throw away! How foolish of me! Can't imagine making a sandwich with this. Ugh. 

As Easter is coming, Panettone bread is popular again. This one was huge and weighed at least 5 lbs! 

2015!

We arrived in Lugano on March 27, several weeks later this year, in order to be here for more of the end of football season/playoff games. The weather has been beautiful - a big change from Chicago! 

We have a different situation this year. The number of players on the Lugano Lakers team is dwindling, in addition to the head coach taking a very needed break - this means Rick has become the head coach! Not easy when we don't even know if there will be enough consistent players to have a season. Only time will tell. Our first game, which was to be on March 29 here in Lugano, has been cancelled. They will try to reschedule it for later. The team needs more time to prepare! 

So our first couple of days have been spent first on a lot of grocery shopping (plus the Coop grocery store had a sale on all wine until today - we had to stock up!) We also managed a walk down the mountainside to the Lugano lakefront, and another walk along the Vecchio Treno path (a walking path that was once a little train that ran alongside this mountain - you can read more about this in the 2013 entries of the blog). 

Here are a few pictures taken today - a bright and sunny day of 67 degrees!! Woohoo! 

Sun rising over Lugano- about 7am - view from our apartment (bus stop just outside!)

Downtown Lugano - view from LAC - Lugano Arte e Culture Museum, towards Monte Bolla and Monte Bré. This is a brand new, very modern museum that was recently finished. The older looking building on the left is actually a totally new building, but the facade was made to replicate the old Grand Hotel - they did a super job! 

Don't know if you'll be able to see this video, but it is of an organ grinder guy who was in Piazza Dante, in front of the Manor department store today. This guy has been doing this since at least when we lived here 10 years ago! I happen to run into him all over Lugano. I know he is a really nice guy, but the long, red beard just really freaks me out and I have trouble looking at him! Crazy, isn't it?

Then a little later another guy came with his piano to play in the piazza! His name was Julian Layn, and I see on the internet that he is Swiss and not only a pianist, but has a PHD in theoretical physics! I must say, he had a great head of thick, wavy salt and pepper hair - Rick was envious! 

Some views from our walk along the Vecchio Treno (old train) path. I'd really like to have that apartment on the upper right!!!

Trees blossoming along our walk. The town on the ridge in the distance is Comano (where we lived 10 years ago).

Same beautiful blossoms. The little "dot" of a building on top of that mountain is the little chapel of San Bernardo. When we lived on that mountain we hiked up to that church many times. 

Our walk along the Vecchio Treno path leads uphill when going away from Lugano. This was taken on our way back - sloping downhill. The mountain in the distance is San Salvatore. 

The magnolia trees are in full bloom! This view is from the Pregassona post office, looking northwest. (We are now living in Pregassona)

A beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day!