As you can tell from my absence, there is no dull moment in my life. But thank God, these days it is also because of our trips to beautiful places in the neighboring country, Switzerland. Last Tuesday we went to the city of Locarno at the beautiful Lago Maggiore. Locarno is a city in the canton of Ticino that is touching the Italian border. In that Swiss canton, people are speaking Italian. In Switzerland four languages are spoken: The biggest part of Switzerland speaks German, the western cantons speak French, the big southern canton Ticino speaks Italian, and there is a little minority in one a big eastern canton that speaks Rhaeto-Romanic. But let’s start the tour with some photos of the ride to Locarno.

First we visited Castello Visconteo.

Next was the Chiesa di San Francesco. I thought it was interesting to see the wall paintings inside the church. They have not been completely restored, but instead, those parts which are still in good condition are well maintained. It must have been a very colorful church.

Of course, we could not go to Locarno without walking through the little streets, the Grande Piazza, and then along the lakeside.

It was a hot day, and the weather was simply gorgeous. Temperatures between 90 and 100 are not unusual anymore in our area and even less in the southern parts of Switzerland. You can guess what comes next: A stop at a gelateria at the Piazza Grande and enjoyed some ice cream creation instead of lunch.

We walked back to the car to reach our next stop further up on the hill to visit the beautiful Chesa Madonna Del Sasso.

From that gorgeous church, we went to the ropeway that brought us up to Cardada at 1340 m/4396 ft. After looking down from over 4000 m last week, this was only a little “jump”, but the view from up there down to the lake was absolutely breathtaking again.

It was a wonderful day and the weather was totally on our side. Because right after the ride back with the ropeway dark clouds gathered everywhere around us. However, once we are in an Italian area we wanted to have a real Italian pizza for dinner and so we stopped at a pizzeria. It was soooooo good!!

Yes, the thunderstorm caught us later on the way back home. But it was not as bad as we heard some other areas in Switzerland were hitten. So, we had the perfect day!!

It is so cool, living next to a country which is so versatile in its landscapes but also in the variety of its languages. You drive 2 1/2 hours and you truly feel like being on vacation.

In Love and Light