Tuesday 15 November 2011
Charles and Dian's day:
Another day to kill in dear old Lugano. We tried to make the best of it, and these intrepid travelers will always find the gold underneath the plastic.
Charles survived the frigid night with the help of a blanket from Lisa and advice on layering everything we had from Dian. It worked. He concluded the problem the night before was that he worked on the computer in the van late, without blankets, and by the time he put his frozen toes in bed it was too late and he could never get warm. Lesson learned.
After a breakfast of coffee and (not birthday) cake, Dian and Charles set off for town, walking down the hill from Franklin College where their van stalled, with a mission. Well, one had a mission. The one who reallllly loves second-hand stores and has found so few of them in Europe. Unfortunately this one was not notable so they moved on to downtown and across the main street to a tiny deserted pier sticking out into beautiful Lake Lugano and had their picnic lunch, accompanied by swans, who swam right up to their sunny little oasis. After stretching out in the sun, Dian was off on mission #2, to see if the Eisenhower silver dollar her dad recently sent her would fetch a fortune in the local coin and stamp store. Charles, a boyhood coin collector, warned her not to get her hopes up, not to buy that Bulgari necklace yet, and sure enough the Swiss numismatist's first words at seeing it were: "Spend it." (Try saying that sentence five times fast.) Can't argue that the Swiss don't know money.
Two disappointments in, they knew the day could be salvaged with a nice cappuccino at the bakery that produced Nicole's superdelicious birthday cake, and there they scored, even nabbing extra sugars with cool Swiss scenes on them. To go with the sugar packages from Venice that had titans of modern history pictured (they might dispute the inclusion of Maggie Thatcher with Ghandi and MLK, but the new Meryl Streep movie might change their minds... if they ever saw a movie over here, save the absolutely required Harry Potter in Amsterdam). They also picked up two dark bread loaves that they knew were exceptional because they got one the day before. One for Nicole and Lisa. And people watched, and Dian did a great sketch based on one of the sugar packages. Someone will get it for a birthday card.
Fortified, they window shopped some more then checked out the two "supermarket" possibilities for needed groceries, the recommended Coopertiva, and the supposedly more upscale Manor. Coopertiva was no Santa Monica co-op; pretty fancy. Loved their selection of beers: a slew of off-brand UKs, Tsingtao from China, Budvar (as good as Pilsner Urquell, also from Czech Republic), Beelzelbub, Sam Adams, Corona and.... Duff Beer! D'oh! Turns out Manor, five stories tall with the Gelson's-style food store in the basement, was not that different for prices so they shopped there, even treating themselves to escargot from the deli section. Two. Escargot. One snail each. Hey, just for fun.
Walking back they stopped at Lisa's to give them the yummy bread and some apples, then continued to their home in the parking lot, later feasting on risotto and lentils, brown bread, and.... an escargot. What good fortune to be having these adventures. The simplest things can be an adventure, if you hold them that way.
Nicole's day:
This was Lisa's busiest school day, with the most classes, so I finished reading Heart Of Darkness and began Arabian Nights. Much to our surprise, however, Charles came through our door mid-afternoon! He dropped off some bread and apples, and I whistled to Dian to say hello.
That night Lisa, Sonja and I had dinner in the dining hall and shared riddles with each other, so I now have a few more good ones in my arsenal.
Charles and Dian's day:
Another day to kill in dear old Lugano. We tried to make the best of it, and these intrepid travelers will always find the gold underneath the plastic.
Charles survived the frigid night with the help of a blanket from Lisa and advice on layering everything we had from Dian. It worked. He concluded the problem the night before was that he worked on the computer in the van late, without blankets, and by the time he put his frozen toes in bed it was too late and he could never get warm. Lesson learned.
After a breakfast of coffee and (not birthday) cake, Dian and Charles set off for town, walking down the hill from Franklin College where their van stalled, with a mission. Well, one had a mission. The one who reallllly loves second-hand stores and has found so few of them in Europe. Unfortunately this one was not notable so they moved on to downtown and across the main street to a tiny deserted pier sticking out into beautiful Lake Lugano and had their picnic lunch, accompanied by swans, who swam right up to their sunny little oasis. After stretching out in the sun, Dian was off on mission #2, to see if the Eisenhower silver dollar her dad recently sent her would fetch a fortune in the local coin and stamp store. Charles, a boyhood coin collector, warned her not to get her hopes up, not to buy that Bulgari necklace yet, and sure enough the Swiss numismatist's first words at seeing it were: "Spend it." (Try saying that sentence five times fast.) Can't argue that the Swiss don't know money.
Two disappointments in, they knew the day could be salvaged with a nice cappuccino at the bakery that produced Nicole's superdelicious birthday cake, and there they scored, even nabbing extra sugars with cool Swiss scenes on them. To go with the sugar packages from Venice that had titans of modern history pictured (they might dispute the inclusion of Maggie Thatcher with Ghandi and MLK, but the new Meryl Streep movie might change their minds... if they ever saw a movie over here, save the absolutely required Harry Potter in Amsterdam). They also picked up two dark bread loaves that they knew were exceptional because they got one the day before. One for Nicole and Lisa. And people watched, and Dian did a great sketch based on one of the sugar packages. Someone will get it for a birthday card.
Walking back they stopped at Lisa's to give them the yummy bread and some apples, then continued to their home in the parking lot, later feasting on risotto and lentils, brown bread, and.... an escargot. What good fortune to be having these adventures. The simplest things can be an adventure, if you hold them that way.
This was Lisa's busiest school day, with the most classes, so I finished reading Heart Of Darkness and began Arabian Nights. Much to our surprise, however, Charles came through our door mid-afternoon! He dropped off some bread and apples, and I whistled to Dian to say hello.
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| The donuts served at the college |
Holy Toledo! Check your various emails for a message from me. Keep warm...er! Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteTim