Lugano

Day 4 Switzerland

There is so much going on in these five days on Bank holiday that I can hardly handle it. I told Felipe that I wanted him to take me wherever he thought I needed to go, making for an extremely stress free trip, a nice break from the constant decisions I make in London.

Today he takes the four of us down to Lugano, Switzerland, about a 3 hour drive.

Lugano is in the Italian part of Switzerland (did you know there was an Italian part of Switzerland? I did not. It does make sense however.) It is like an alternate universe. I’m still in Switzerland, home of the Alps and snow and Heidi, yet suddenly I’m surrounded by palm trees, gelato shops, and fashionable Italian speaking people. The colors are bright! (a first for the parts of Europe I’ve seen) and the atmosphere is that of a beach resort area.

But before we explore Lugano, we go to an amusement park of sorts called Swiss Miniatur.
Basically, it is all of Switzerland’s landmarks…in miniature. Everything works and moves and there are sassy little people in all of the models.

I'm a GIANT.

She's so sassy! Look at her!

It is pretty amusing to say the least.

After we finish there we head over to Lugano to feel very Italian and eat at a great restaurant named Tango. Classiest meal I’ve had in months. I ate a real Italian pizza with mozzarella, gorgonzola, and prosciutto. So delicious.

Check out how epic this picture is. I feel like I'm in an action movie with the car and the motorcycle gang...

Switzerland is sort of strange. It definitely has a national identity, but it seems to lack a cultural identity of its own. The culture near the German border is distinctly German, marked not only by language but also customs, architecture, lifestyle, etc. The same goes for the Italian border and the French border. How does a country simply become a spillover of other countries?

This is what happened when I found out Heidi's village was featured in Swiss Miniatur. I loved that book.

Switzerland, WHAT?

Dear Switzerland. You make smoking sound like a dating service. WHAT?