Cardada & Cimetta

After 5-6 years of American attitude it seemed almost unreal for Tue to be able to have several weeks of vacation in the summer. But on August 1st when we were sitting on the train going to Domodossola in Northern Italy, it started to dawn on him that it was in fact happening. The first day of the vacation offered spectacular valleys - first going through the canton of Valais, later on the panoramic train (a mere 1.50 Euro surcharge) through Centovalli back into Switzerland to the city of Locarno in the canton of Ticino.


The second day of the vacation was spent on going up the Cardada and Cimetta mountaintops in three stages: At first a step railway ('Funicolare' in Italian) from Locarno city centre the first 200 meters up, then an aerial tramway ('Funivia') med cars and both stops designed by Ticinese architect Mario Botta up to Cardada, and at last a ski lift ('Seggiovia') the bit up to Cimetta. After enjoying the view and the lunch we had with us we spent the rest of the day walking all the way down to Locarno.

View of Lago Maggiore from Cimetta

Summer visitors

Before we left for vacation in august ourselves, we profited a little from others being on vacation. Mille and Claus were driving through Switzerland and stopped in Geneva. Accordingly we served Portuguese beer and seafood dinner in our humble home. Since Mille is a loyal reader of our blog she knows the drill and will have been expecting this post.

They arrived in beautiful weather but during the evening a several hours long thunder storm started. There was some anxiety regarding their fragile tent waiting on the camp grounds outside of the city. Later that night we received a text message that the tent had survived, but the clothes that had been hung out to dry were not dry.