Blogs from Lugano, South-East, Switzerland, Europe

Lugano, 24. – 29. März 2013 (256 km) Es war eine entspannte Fahrt an dem Sonntag, bis 4 km vor dem Gotthard Nordportal. Dort gerieten wir leider, obwohl wenig Verkehr herrschte, in einen Stau. Über eine Stunde ging nichts mehr. Anscheinend blockierte ein Pannenfahrzeug den Tunnel in Südrichtung. Nach über einer Stunde Stillstand ging es dann endlich durch den Tunnel. Auf der Nordseite schien noch etwas die Sonne, doch als wir den Tunnel auf der Südseite verliessen, begrüsste uns der Regen. Der TCS - Campingplatz in Agno ist noch nicht stark besucht um nicht zu sagen so gut wie leer. Hoffentlich ändert sich das Wetter bald zu unseren Gunsten. An Ostern werden auf dem Platz viele Gäste erwartet. Zum Glück hörte es in der Nacht vom Sonntag auf Montag auf zu regnen. Leider sind die Temperaturen ... read more

Lugano, with 54,000 residents, is the largest city in the canton of Ticino. It is located on the beautiful Lake Lugano, 30 minutes north of the Italian border and one hour north of Milan. The city feels completely different than German-speaking Switzerland, but the prices, cleanliness, well-dressed people, and Ferraris remind you that you are still in Switzerland.... read more

So....I really wish I were at home with all of my Harry Potter friends watching the midnight opening. I thought I would post a bunch of pictures to show myself that I'm somewhere more beautiful than the Ellensburg theater/church. ... read more

Hello Friends and Family! Christopher is leaving for Paris today! He was originally scheduled to chaperone on a trip to Rome later in the summer, but due to some scheduling conflicts (I think) he was moved to this trip to Paris! He doesn't get back until Monday morning, so perhaps I will have more blogging time. The wine here is SO disappointing. If anyone feels likes spending $30 to ship me a bottle of Washington wine, I'll pay you back! Not really, but the wine is bad. However, I feel like I have traveled from the coffee capitol of the world just to find what truly great coffee tastes like. The coffee at our bathroom stops along the highway is some of the best I've ever had, let alone the adorable streetside cafes! I don't know ... read more

We had a really hilarious hike to Morcote with a group of students on Tuesday. It was originally called the Morcote hike (understandably so) but I have renamed it the Birds and the Bees hike. Halfway through the walk, all the boys gathered around a bush and started snickering. One of them grabs at the bush, turns around and reveals two butterflies....um....commingling. For the next mile this Italian boy is exclaiming ridiculous things at the top of his lungs about these butterflies. Picture it in an Italian accent...."They-uh are having sex-uh on my hand-uh!" and "Do you think-uh they are-uh doing it-uh because they like-uh it?!" Then, as we finally got him to put the two butterflies down, we round the next corner to be walking right next to one horse mounting another. We totally lost ... read more

So the students arrived yesterday and it was a crazy day. I'm almost intimidated by these 12 year old girls because their parents are very wealthy and you should see how fast they switch between two, three, sometimes four languages. It makes me feel like an incompetent fool in comparison. Just on my floor I have girls from Italy, Spain, Croatia, the US, Taiwan, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Turkey. It's truly inspiring to watch them enjoy each other and connect through culture and language barriers and it just goes to show that we are really all the same on this planet. Last night we had two girls sitting with us experiencing homesickness, one being from the US and the other from Croatia. It just goes to show how to human experience knows no cultural ... read more

Well, lets see...what's new? Barcelona was great! My first big city in Spain and it did not disappoint. Definitely crowded and busy, but after 4 days of lounging on a beach, I didn't mind the change of pace. I went on my first '"free walking tour," which most big cities offer. You basically pay what you want to the tour guide at the end, based on how good you thought it was. It's definitely informative and a good way to get your bearings of the city. I did a few big walks of the city myself, checking out every major corner for the most part. Got some great views through decent climbs, giving me a good idea of the craziness Barcelona can be. I got a little ahead of myself on the last blog in that ... read more