Switzerland and Verona

Shannon O'Leary
Feb 7, 2017
2 min read

The rain did not let up anywhere over the weekend, but that didn't stop anyone from checking locations off the list.

This weekend, on Saturday, I took a day trip to Lugano, Switzerland. Just an hour away by bus (and only 16 euro round trip) I embarked on a dreary morning to another country.

Lugano is a quieter city that sits on the edge of a beautiful lake. While we could only imagine what the views would have been like on a sunny day, there was a lot of beauty in the mysterious ambiance given off by the rain and fog. After walking around in the rain for a bit we stopped at the Ristorante Grand Cafe Al Porto and had some very expensive hot chocolate (worth it). Being so close to the border meant that most signs, menus, etc. were actually in Italian which was more useful to us then things being in German or French.

After we warmed up we found the docks and the view of the lake from shore. The mountains hug close to the lake, reminding me a bit of a fjord and the city scaled the cliff sides like vines towards the sun.

In spite of the rain we walked a few miles on the boardwalk and encountered the parks that line the shore. We did go into a beautiful building but it ended up being a high school (with class going on) so we quickly exited that situation.

About half a mile down the boardwalk from the historic center is the Museum of Modern Art. We hopped inside to dry off and experience a free exhibit (contemporary art) that included a beautiful series of water color paintings by Marco Scorti.

After that we tried and failed to find the Museum of Cultures, but, we did walk around the town and found a few beautiful views after a few rounds of infinite steps (Fun fact: final step count that day was over 31,000 steps to put how much we walked into perspective).

The historical center was beautiful though very blurred with Italian architecture it wasn't unfamiliar to us.

To get us through to dinner we had some amazing pretzels (picture included) and after a leisurely dinner we got back on the bus to Milan.

Sunday was an equally rainy day trip to Verona with some of the girls in my Community Group (just groups were put in that include a community assistant to help us figure out the ways of life in Milan). While a tight schedule kept us from exploring thoroughly, the rain also did it's part to suspend high spirits. We saw Juliet's House and the Balcony, the Arena, and the historic city. I would gladly go back to Verona again when the rain isn't coming down in buckets.

In other news, class officially started on Monday and my first concert with the Community Orchestra I'm playing with is this Saturday. Related to that: I sightread a piece in C during the last rehearal, so I really appreciated Ithaca College in that moment.