LUGANO SWITZERLAND

We left St Moritz for Lugano Switzerland. Lugano is in the southern part of the country and here they speak Italian. For this leg of the trip, we have a new twist. We are taking a fast train, the Bernini Express, from St Moritz to Tirano Italy, then we boarded a bus from Tirano,Italy to Lugano, Switzerland.

The arrival in Tirano was a snap back to reality. Throughout Switzerland, everything was clean, punctual, and well organized. We had become accustomed to that being the norm, now we realized that Switzerland is an outlier. Where else are the streets and sidewalks pressure washed each morning, where else are published schedules adhered to by the minute? Not in Italy, not in Sequim.

The bus ride would make a good prototype for a Disney ride-a long,long bus on a narrow, winding road , lots of mixed traffic-cars and bikes and go-fast motorcycles and tractors and large trucks, and much road construction. Throw them all together and dream up your own exciting scenario, and it either happened or almost happened at one hairpin curve or another. As we neared the end of the ride, we passed Lake Como in Italy

Lugano is in Southern Switzerland, situated on a large lake, the climate being more Mediterranean. Palm trees are intermixed with Spruce trees. The language, architecture, and cuisine is mostly Italian. The city itself is a major financial center as well as a gigantic high end shopping experience. Here you can own your choice of lakefront or mountain top property in town. There are three different ventricular , all with impressive views of Lugano and the surrounding area. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here