Spring Break in Switzerland: Girls Do Not Go Wild

Since I'm on vacation right now, and can't seem to sleep in past 7:00AM, I have plenty of time for writing and as this is my first time out of the country I have plenty to write about.

Switzerland is an interesting place. Three official national languages, French, German and Itallian. I would presume that kids have to learn all three in school, but someone from, say, the German region of Switzerland will speak to someone in the Itallian region in English rather than Itallian (and vice versa). It works out well for me since I am in the Itallian region and I don't speak a word of Itallian. I don't speak much French or German either but I have a base level of framiliarity with them from school.

I'm staying in Locarno with my dad and step-mom at one of the condos her family owns. My step-mom's parents and sister are also here in town and they are showing me around. I've heard it said that Locarno is like the Miami Beach of Switzerland but aside from the occasional palm tree the scenery here is remarkably similar to Western Washington (mountains and lakes, covered in lots of trees) so I feel right at home. It is somewhat of a resort town, but we are here before "the season" really starts. Another analogy I've heard that's a bit more accurate is that Locarno is a lot like Carmel, California if it were relocated to the Lake Chelan, Washington.

The Carmel analogy brings up another point about Switzerland; everything costs (at least) twice as much in Switzerland as anywhere else in the world. Before I came here my best friend, who's dad is Swiss (German) and therefore she spent every summer here as a kid, told me that the Swiss are big on three things: money, chocolate and guns. Everyone knows the superiority of Swiss chocolate and I haven't noticed much obsession with guns (which could be because I don't understand anything the people are saying, maybe they are all talking about their gun collections), but there is a higher concentration of banks here than I've seen anywhere else in my life. In Lugano, there are about 15 banks within a two block radius of the main square and it's not just that they are all concentrated in that one spot because we saw several more on the way out of town.

Another thing there are in large concentration here is churches. In one little alpine village we went to there were at least 5 that I saw. We went up to the very top of Monte Bre, where there are no houses around for several kilometers, and there was a chuch there. Seriously, it would be a hike to get there from any of the closest homes, and not a super easy hike either. We drove up as far as we could and even from there it was a bit of a hike to get to the top where the church was.



This first picture is of the restaurant (we drove to) that is nearly at the top of Monte Bre, taken from down in Lugano by the lake. The drive up to that restaurant is...I was going to say interesting, but thinking back on it the only word that comes to mind is frightening. It's a single lane, switchback road, carved into the side of one of the steepest hills I've seen. What's interesting though is that near the bottom the houses are built so close they're practically on top of each other. Space is so tight that they park their cars on the roofs of their houses. Of course, everything here is built on or into the side of a mountain, almost the entire country is in the Alps, but I wouldn't want to have to park my car on the roof of my house or to commute up and down that road.



The view from the top though is amazing. This picture doesn't quite do it justice because it's hazy with smog from Milan which is close enough to see from this mountain, except that we couldn't see it, again, because of the smog.



I was a total tourist in Lugano, Monte Bre, and Bellinzona and I took pictures of everything. I took about a million pictures at Bellinzona Castle, but seriously, a castle is a way cooler tourist attraction than, say, guys throwing fish which people take pictures of in Seattle all the time. Okay, I admit I took a bunch of pictures of random stuff in the streets too. I also got post cards so if you want me to send you one, unless you're 100% certain I already have your address, e-mail me.