Switzerland

Hello fellows! It is finally my turn to take over this blog and give it a little bit of my magic touch. As you know, we left Spain and headed to the Southern part of Switzerland. the Spanish experience was not only an enriching experience for Amy, but I learned a very important lesson myself as well: never give a gringo pig blood (morcilla) for lunch unless you are really eager to challenge your nose with an entire variety of aromas. (De nada Spaniards, some day you will thank me for this)

Leaving Spain aside, Amy and I got started with our Swiss adventures. After a nice and much needed night of sleep, we headed to the beautiful alps with monica (Amy's second cousin) and Ezio, her 74 year old father (Amy's great uncle) who has the spirit and humor of a teenager. they both guided us through the small, but amazing little town of Bellinzona. We walked into some 800 year old castles that took our breath away. Pictures don't do them justice, but we will include pictures below once we get some normal wifi! As we kept taking pictures and looking at the landscape, Amy and I tried to practice our Italian skills... which basically means that Amy was speaking some sort of Spanish, and I was speaking Spanish and changing the end of the word to 'oche' or 'ello'. for example, veloz becomes belloche. Its quite a risky technique and certainly not scientifically proven, but it works about fifty percent of the time. I wouldn't recommend you using it, its quite a risk, but I guess its the only thing I have at this point.

As we arrived in the centre of Bellinzona, we saw a Swiss- Italian version of a farmers market which contained a lot of food, mostly cheese and other products like bracelets, necklaces, earrings etc. However, what really touched us was hearing the Bellinzona philharmonica play Beatles songs in a small square. It was 'Molto Bello'!! I kind of had the temptation to take over the square and show off my amazing and well known singing abilities but I figured it was too soon to embarrass myself in front of Amy's family. We were not there just yet. 

We then went to Monica's home for lunch. We had a whole variety of cheeses, prosciutto, salami, pasta..etc. Everything was delicious. We are really trying to stay fit and not eat more than we should, but we are starting to lose hope...

After eating, we did not take a siesta. Instead, we kept on going on to our Ticino tour as we walked for a couple of hours around Locarno and Ascano. We went up a mountain to see the Madonna de Sacco church as well as the Locarno lake. We also went to Ascaco old town. (Here is where we got our hopes back for staying in shape!) all of this was very beautiful and charming, and AMi Fell in love with all of it. Amy mentioned that she would strongly consider marrying a Swiss man in order to move here... any takers??

Jokes aside, although we were tired at that point, our day was far from being over. We went back to visit another member of Amy's familyç Marvin. As we sat for dinner I could barely eat because ll I was doing was laugh. Same goes with Amy, except she blushed when she made on of her typical 'enlightening' comments. (no need to quote her, we have all heard more than one of her 'blonde statements') I guess our little rule of being as normal as possible when we first meet people had just been thrown our the window... whoops!

Just like that, 11pm hit the clock and we decided to go to bed. All I have to say is that it was an amazing day with amazing people.  Goodnight Ticino.

Laura

Castle climbing

candid shot shopping in the swiss farmers market