Lugano: There and Back Again

One of our planned visits was to the small Swiss town Lugano situated in the southernmost part of Switzerland on the Italian border. Because of its location, it has a huge Italian influence and was really like being in Italy itself. We were both excited to visit this beautiful location and to enjoy the two hour drive through the mountains. The drive itself turned out to be quite the adventure as we had decided to try the St. Gotthard’s Pass.
There are two alternatives to getting through the pass. One being a never ending tunnel (literally it takes 20 minutes to drive through). The other being a scenic pass that takes you up into the mountains and provides a really great view of Switzerland and the surrounding area. Since we were on time schedule we decided to try out both. One on the way there, and the other on the way back. We started off with the tunnel because Chris thought it would be fun and I wanted to get it over with.
I had joked previously saying I was going to hold my breath to see how long I could last. Really there was no point as I mentioned before how long it runs.
The weather was by the far the best we had in Switzerland. The sun was shining, the haze that had covered the horizon was gone, and it was the perfect temperature to walk around and explore. Italy, because that’s where we pretty much were, is exactly as you pictured it. Everyone we saw was strolling around in the warm sunshine, eating gelatos, and saying “ciao.” Okay, maybe that last part wasn’t true. However, we did see your typical Italian driving a moped with an opened buttoned down shirt, white pants, and aviators.
Eddie Izzard's comedy sketch depicts the scene perfectly:




We likewise followed suit to everyone around us and made our way to the downtown party of the town and eventually reached the lake. For a moment, I forgot that yesterday I had been nearly frozen by the cold. The water in the lake was bright blue with the Alps framed around it. There were gardens that we walked through alongside the lake. People seemed to be taking advantage of the warm weather as we encountered many sunbathers along the lake as well as in the "beach" area at the end of the park. As we finished our stroll we decided to get some authentic Italian gelato. We went for the chocolate chip and coffee flavors which were excellent. Now I just have to get Chris over to Funari's which I'm pretty sure is the only thing comparable to actual gelato in the United States.
On our drive back we took the St. Gothard's Pass that took us up and through the mountainside. Chris and I were fairly surprised to see people biking up this way. The road were very narrow and incredibly steep and we both agreed it did not seem like a fun or safe thing to do. As usual, the drive was very scenic and worth the trip to make.