Up Monte San Salvatore

Another slow afternoon on the lecture front, but yet again the latter talks were interesting. Thereforenwe had a gap of a couple of hours to spare. And what did we do? We ventured up a hill.

Enough about taking boats, we took the train this time. And it was a funicular train up Monte San Salvatore.

The terminal was a bus ride away - although if you get your bearings sorted, walking would have been mote fun - at a place called Paradiso. A regular schedule - with a dicoubt given when I showed my congress badge - it took 15 minutes to get from the bottom to the tip of San Salvatore, with a quick change of train midway up.

The funicular station at the bottom of the hillThis will first take you to a middle station when you'd have to change coach. The second one was more steep.Time for a changeIt became more interesting from then onOnce you teach the top, there was a small museum and restaurant. You could stop there and then catch the ride back to the bottom, but that would be no fun.

A further ten minute walk along an asphalt path would take you further up the hill onto a small chapel. You then take three flights of stairs onto the roof of the chapel for the main show. And what a show it was.

You can stop here for a meal or coffeeOr you could go further upOn the way to the chapel, you could see these cute little posters from the 40sShame that it was cloudy that afternoonYou would be presented with the vista of the whole Lugano, lake and all. On a good day, you could even see as far as Milan - bit unfortunately not on the day that we went to visit. It started to drizzle as soon as we arrived and we rushed across to get our photographs taken. Luckily we were soaked.

Back to the bottom of the hill, we decided to take the lakeside walk towards the Congress Center. Around 30 minutes to get back, but the weather started to clear up and it was not too warm. Well worth the trip as well.

Photos from the outing can be seen here.

The ICML Lugano

This was the first time I attended the International Conference in Malignant Lymphoma, ICML for short. It all started in 1981, and over the years, this meeting had evolved into an important event in the Haematology calendar. This meeting was held once every couple of years - it was every three years at the beginning.

The event had definitely blossomed since its inception, and now the Congress Center was struggling to accommodate the crowd which descended to the place from all parts of the world. Being held a week after EHA also meant that most of the speakers and delegates could double up for both meetings. A two-in-one kind of trip. I remembered when I was at EHA in London a couple of years back when some of the the data were embargoed until the Lugano meeting the week after.

The topics were more specific and I was impressed with the discussion they had during case presentation. You couldn't get this kind of exposure at any other meeting. I also found that the interaction was more intimate.

Since the Congress Center was too small to accommodate everybody, marquees were erected around the gardens next to the building where the lectures were beamed live and the pharmaceutical companies erected their booths. That was also where we had our meals and coffee.

Some of the sessions had to be held away from the main congress venue. One such place was actually a movie theatre. It certainly projected the slides well ......

All in all, I learned a lot from the 4 day meeting. A lot of nee information and study were discussed, although the emphasis this year seemed to be on the integration of radiotherapy in thenmanagement of lymphoma. I would like to return here again, but maybe not on the next meet. Maybe every other gathering. And Puan Anita had stated her intentions of tagging along ......

Photos from the conference can be seen here.

Kurhaus Cademario Resort

I didn't realise that the sponsor put is up at a spa hotel on top of the hill for our Lugano trip. According to them, all the other hotels were fully booked and those who still had rooms couldn't accomodate the ten of us. But the problem with this arrangement was the travelling to and from the hotel to the town centre. It took us 40 minutes on the bus and the bus only left hourly. For other tines, we had to arrange alternative transport.

Being a spa hotel, the Kurhaus Cademario offer great food and comfortable room. No room service though. But due to our packed schedule we were not able to enjoy any of the spa services on offer. But from what I could see, the place was only recently renovated, and the outdoor pool were still being built.

Breakfast viewThe room was cosy and practicalThe bed was really nice ....Let's start with the room. They were fully airconditioned, and equipped with blazing fast internet. There were flat screen TV with limited number of English channels. The toilet and showers were very comfortable. There were no bath tubs. But the best thing about the room must be the lake view verandah which was accessable from room, occupying the length of the room. There were deck chairs outside, but unfortunately it was nearly dark by the time we reached our room every night. I wished that I had a full Fay just to enjoy all that.

There was a sofa chair, and a separate writing table. Coupled with the fast internet, one could really get some work done here if they really wanted to.

The lobby was warm and cosy, laid out with books and sofa. There were at least three separate eating area, not counting the function rooms. Our favourite restaurant was the main one where we had our breakfast every morning. It had a cosy verandah overlooking the valley and lake. We could hear the birds singing there, as well as the church bell every 15 minutes. Shame that one could also hear the occasional rumble of aircrafts taking off from a small airstrip down in the valley. Not too often though and was certainly not a problem in the rooms.

As for the food, they were not too bad. The specialty here was the minestrone, a kind of vegetable broth. With some croutons parmesan, it tasted amazing. I had some fish on the couple of occasions I was there, and I enjoyed it.

I could imagine sitting in the lobby having a sip of cocoa in front if the fireplace during winter, with the snow outside.

From my balconyA bit of afternoon drinksCosy lobby areaFrom the brochure, it looked like there were a range of services that the spa offered. Rather on the expensive side, but I was sure that should you be able to afford the rooms here, the spa fees wouldn't be an issue.

All together, we spent four nights at the hotel, but mainly for sleep. I was sure that the hotel offered plenty more, but due to our schedule, we didn't really explore what was on offer.

The main drawback for the place was the access from my perspective. But if you were there to be isolated and rejuvenated, you might thought differently. More information about the hotel could be found here. I don't think that I was in a position to give any recommendation for the place.

The slideshow of the hotel can be seen here.

A Long Day

I was really exhausted by the time I wrote this entry. I did a quick walk in the village near ny hotel after breakfast, hopped onto the bus to the Congress Hall. Managed to walk across town on the way to the Congress Centre and really had a feel of what Lugano was all about.

I then listened to a few lectures and then followed my colleagues to Fox Town retail outlet which I blogged about earlier.

I then turned back to the Congress Hall for anothed session before taking a late afternoon stroll into town. Did some more shopping before taking the tram up the hill to get to my bus stop before finally heading home.

Luckily we had planned for a quiet dinner back at the hotel. All of us as a group. We could then chill out, do the packing before heading to Milan tomorrow morning after breakfast.

Feeling sticky now after I was sure almost 10 km of walking. My legs were aching and I could do with a long hot shower. Shame that my room didn't come with a bath tub .. ..

Photos from the day walk can be seen here.

Late Start

Managed to get half an hour of photiwalk done but unfortunately the battery on my X100 died soon after. I brought the charger but not the cable off the mains to the charger. Silly me. I had gondola with ny HTC One in the end. But it was an enjoyable salon none the less. And the city center was not at all crowded and the sunlight was really nice.

But I arrived at my lecture hall 10 minutes late and ended up sitting on the floor since the hall was packed. Well worth the hassle though. Great photos and great lecture. And I didn't have to wait for long.

Lets get it on. Let's see what my colleague had planned for lunch .....