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.

Woke Up Starving

I left the lecture hall for the hotel at 8 pm last night - it wasn't exactly night because sunset was just after 9 pm. The last meal I had was lunch, and dinner was just a cocktail affair just before the evening lecture. Reached hotel just before 9, shower, email, television and I was fast asleep by 10

Woken up at 5 in the morning by the grumbling in my stomach. I was starving. And all I had in the room was some fruits. After those were devoured, I had to wait for breakfast which were served from 6. Luckily the wait wasn't very long.

This morning, I plan to do a bit of walking in town if weather permitting in between the scheduled talk. I wanted to experience the charm of Lugano. As well as take some photographs of course.

So, off to the showers, and would be in front of the queue for breakfast.

The Second Morning

I decided to leave a bit later for the second morning as the transfer was too early for my liking. I therefore had a nice breakfast, and did a bit of surfing before taking the ride down.

The weather seemed a bit colder this morning. Possibly it would be raining as well. So, planning to stay indoors as much as we could although the town centre was just too picturesque for somebody like me. Maybe I would do an impromptu photowalk during lunch. Even the McDonald's here looked photogenic.

As for this morning, it was time to walk downhill to the bus stop. Lets see how the public transport work here ..... in Switzerland.