Ascona

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Geo: 46.1445, 8.72654

We decided that an easy day was on the agenda for today – and it was the perfect weather for it, slightly overcast and a little cooler, with rain threatening. We stayed around the house at Il Monte in the morning, with the kids doing some school work and playing in the garden, and then we went with Nonno and Nonna to Ascona.

We'd been caught the day before, when even the supermarkets close for the lunchtime break – from midday until 2.30! So today we quickly grabbed some groceries for dinner etc. before going for a lovely walk around Ascona. It is a pretty town, though clearly set up for the tourists – and Steven's cousins tell us that it is very popular with the wealthy German tourists, and priced accordingly. I admired a necklace made of granite river stones, which I thought would be $30 or $40 – I couldn't believe that it was $150!!! I'm coming home to buy little rocks at Gardenway and glue them together on a bit of fishing line!

A little drama when first Tom, followed closely by Matthew, dashed across the semi-pedestrianised main esplanade. They were metres away from the car driving on the esplanade, but they got a fright – OK, Tom got a fright, Matt couldn't see what the issue was! That child!

We then had pizza at a restaurant on the esplanade – very expensive, and even more when they announced that there was a surcharge to share pizzas, rather than order one pizza per person (ridiculous when 3 pizzas fed 7 people). But the meal was very nice, and I discovered that I like the Swiss softdrink Ravella – not sure what flavor it is (something herbal, I believe, but it tastes a bit like a Lemon, Lime & bitters). We went home for a lovely sleep, and some quiet time, before heading to dinner at Zia Gabriella and Zio Marcello's home for delicious soup.

On the way home, the full moon came up over the mountains, reflecting on the lake and the twinkling lights of Ascona were just incredible –Georgia and I couldn't resist getting the tripod out to photograph it.

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