Watch Out Italy here we come!

"Lovely" Lake Maggiore and the "Ritzy" Locarno, Switzerland!!

View of Macaggno, Lake Maggiore

Hi all, hope everyone is well.

For the last 6 days we have been staying in a small village called Macaggno, on the shores of Lake Maggiore. Lake Maggiore is a large, beautiful lake in northern Italy that also crosses over into Switzerland. We are in a resort called Golfo Gabello, a new resort with nice apartments (it is a great place to stay for families with children). The lake is surrounded by rugged mountains that are filled with deciduous trees, not pine trees, making them very lush and green. There are many ancient towns built right into the mountainside scattered around the shores of this lake.

A Slower Pace

The pace here has been much slower as there really are only a few sites to see. For the first day we wandered the shores of the lake and then hung around at the poolside. On the second day, it looks like rain, so Paul decides to play travel agent and fill our day with "fun" activities on the other side of the border in Switzerland.

First off a chocolate factory to make chocolate bars. I suggest Paul calls in advance to make sure Luke's peanut allergy is not going to be a problem for them - I cannot call as I do not speak Italian. But he does not. Second activity mini golf and finally a trip to an outlet mall so the kids can go to a toy store. Sounds like a great day....but here is how it really goes.

The Chocolate Factory:

First stop chocolate factory...oops we cannot make chocolate bars because we are not a group of 8 or more. Second we cannot have Luke sample any chocolate because there are peanuts all around the facility and in the chocolate. Luke cries, Serena cries and then we leave.

Mini Golf:

Ok so off to mini golf... We do a quick drive by to find an incredibly small, run down, very shoddy mini golf facility that even Luke and Serena exclaim "we are not playing here" plus it is baking in the 35 degree heat.

Ok so we will just have a small lunch at this lakeside, outdoor, very casual cafe. We order our lunch (Luke gets pooped on again by another pigeon), and we have an Ok lunch which costs 100 swiss francs. We can't remember the exchange so we are thinking it is worth half of the Euro (so making lunch around $50) which is expensive considering most dinners in Italy,with wine, are costing only 40 Euros.

The Mall:

So now off to the mall. Luke is saying Paul is fired from the travel agent business as he is 0 for 2. But he is hoping to make up for it by buying the Luke and Serena some toys. We find the mall but it doesn't appear there are any toy stores just some game stores which Paul is really hoping has some Barbies and some Lego...what are the chances. It is in the mall when Paul decides to finally look up the exchange rate on Swiss Francs. OOOOOPPPS...the exchange is $.95 Cdn for every Swiss Franc, hmmm, that makes lunch over $100 cdn and we didn't even have any wine! The day just keeps getting better. After trekking the mall there are no toy stores. 0 for 3. Out of desperation Paul finds another mall and buys Luke and Serena soccer jerseys which makes them happy. Whew!

Day 3 we tour another small town across the lake
called Cannabio. Very picturesque and quaint.

The next few days we travel back and forth to Locarno, Switzerland to see Paul's friend, Romano and his family. Romano and his family live in Lichtenstein but they have travelled down to Locarno to meet us for a few days.
Locarno is a small city of about 20,000 situated on the waterfront of Lake Maggiore. It is clean and very picturesque. The city center of Locarno still looks very Italian with its ancient cobblestone streets and buildings that are hundreds of years old
It is interesting to travel from Italy to Switzerland. First of all the border crossings are very different than travelling from Canada to the Us. Here sometimes there are border patrol guards at the border and sometimes they are just closed and you drive through. Sometimes when they are there, they just smile and wave you through without talking to you or looking at your passport. If they do stop you they are friendly and talkative.

As soon as you cross the border the driving is still fast but it is somehow more polite. The roads have shoulders (which you do not see in Italy even on the major highways). However as soon as you hit Switzerland everything is more expensive. Food is easily double the price, even the gelatos! Clothes, hotels, gas, homes are all more expensive. Everything is also more controlled and even so to speak. Many Italians work in Switzerland but live in Italy. They also speak German and Italian and a little english here. But mostly German and Italian.

They are also more energy effecient here with timed lights in the bathrooms. You have to do your business fast as the lights go out. I have been caught twice doing my business in the pitch black of the bathroom. Only once was I panicked as I could not remember where the light switch was to turn it back on...embarrassing!!!

Fun Filled Days

Our days on Locarno are filled with parks, water slides (the cleanest, most high tech facility we have ever seen...leave it to the Swiss...this ain't Tuscany anymore Toto), trampolines and a tour of a 700 year old castle. We also got a nice surprise one night as we were walking the lakeside in Locarno. There was a music festival in Locarno this week and we got to hear Elton John playing live in the main piazza to an audience of about 8,000. We could not see him as the piazza was open only to ticket holders but it was surreal to be walking down the backstreets of this ancient city being serenaded by Elton John. A highlight for sure. We missed Lenny Kravitz playing the night before...too bad.

Oh I also got pooped on by a pigeon during dinner that night...nice!

We are now off to Bassano del Grappa for some more family time and some eating. My food baby is rather large these days. And then off to Venice for four days and finally 4 more days in Paris.