Leaving Cademario

Saturday morning. Had to say goodbye to our hotel. We would be driving down to Milan to catch our connection to Amsterdam for home. All had of had a decent rest overnight after the long dinner. I did my packing this morning and had already checked out by breakfast.

We would be going to stop at another retail outlet before heading home. That was the reason for leaving early as not to be caught by the Saturday traffic.

The weather had also dulled down somewhat. The sun had still to pier e the heavy cloud and it was threatening to rain. That way, I didn't feel left out too much. I have been away since Monday and starting to miss home already.

The minibus just left the hotel and everybody was in good spirit. It would be just under a couple of hours before we reach Milan. Let's enjoy the ride ......

Lugano as a Town

Lugano was actually a quaint little town which happened to be at the strategic southern tip of Switzerland, right by the Italian border. The language they spoke there was Italian, and so were the signage. This'd driving into Switzerland proper from Italy would have to go through this town and clearly, during the summer months, with the lake and plenty of hot sunshine meant that the town was more like in Spain rather than Switzerland.

On the day I arrived, I could see people sun bathing in the sun. It was that hot.

Another aspect of the town was the fact that it was hilly. Very hilly. With the town centre - where the congress was held - located in the valley by the lake. My hotel, on the other hand was right on top of a hill - it felt more like a mountain. It took a 40 minutes bus ride to get to and from the hotel, which only ran hourly. And the last bus being at 7 pm!

Although the town centre was in the valley, the hill came right near the edge of the lake, creating a steep incline. Walking around the town then became a challenge. Most of the residential area were zoned at the hill edges, connected by winding series of road snaking up the mountains.

The hills also became the attractions of the town. There were many fonecular train taking us up the hills, and we took one yesterday. As the main train terminal were also up the hill, there was a small train leading up to it right from from within the shopping centre. Quite fun actually.

Walking around would take some stamina. And as the commercial area were on the flatter part of town, space was at a premium. This meant that the streets were narrow and walking around would bring surprise as you'd never guess what would be behind the corner for visitors with a camera like me.

I was there during the beginning if summer and the start of the Lakeside Festival. There were concerts and other activities being planned for the months and the city looked lively when I was there. I got some extra information when I spoke to an English student doing some waitressing job there during the summer. She told me about the festivals and places to go to. Unfortunately, today was the last day I would be in town and I already had the day planned out for me.

To be honest, there was plenty to discover in this interesting and picturesque little town. I wished that I stayed near the city centre as I SaaS sure there was plenty more to explore there given the time. I would blog about the Congress separately as I felt that I learned a lot at the meetings. Something that I should vesit maybe once every four or six years - the meeting was held every couple of years. Puan Anita had told me that she would be tagging along the next time I were to come here. She had been here before - with me back in 1996, but we only just passed through the town then en route to Lucerne.

Finally, Dinner

Finally I felt like I was having a holiday. We had dinner at the hotel before packing up for the trip home tomorrow. Full meal, complete with loud discussion in the end. Quite nice actually since we were out on the verandah. The discussion went for quite a bit towards the end.

I don't feel like going back into the room. I hate packing ......

.... it was much nicer just chilling out downstairs.

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.

A Country Walk

After breakfast, I had about half an hour before the bus taking me down to the city centre arrived. Not to miss the opportunity, I took a stroll - luckily downhill - towards one of the village down there. It was a nice walk in the cool crisp but sunny morning.

It was a small country lane going up the hotel which I took. That lead me to a small village centre. A couple of hotels, many cute houses, some really nice restaurants and finally settled a couple bus stops down the hill to wait for my ride.

While walking, I cane across many of the town folks and they were ever so charming and nice. All of them, old, young and of course most of them pretty said bongiorno to me, clearly a foreigner. If they thought I wasn't, the camera I was carrying would surely give that away.

Very approachable. One of the English speaking lady - I think she was a kindergarten teacher even striked a conversation with me, asking if I was staying at the hotel up the hill. I said yes, and told her that I was here for the conference and congratulated me for being adventurous.

A welcomed change compared to some of the European who were clearly stuck up the moment they saw a foreigner. Definitely not here in Cademario and Lugano.

A few more snaps. Time was too tight for me to try some coffee, and soon enough the bus arrived. I was met on the bus by a couple of my colleagues. Time to head down to the conference I guess. But I should have at least half an hour to do a bit of a photowalk before the lecture starts. The weather looked gorgeous this morning.

Photos from the walk can be seen here.