Gandria

Piacere!

The weather here has been absolutely wonderful since I have been here! And by wonderful I mean it has been upper 40s and sunny, and with my sweating disorder, that is wonderful weather!! Not to mention the workout I get every day walking to and from class…

Yesterday, many of us decided to walk to a nearby town, Gandria (right near italy!).  Brinberg (my professor/director) gave us very vague directions on how to get there -- and me being as directionally savvy as I am (can you hear the sarcasm?), it took us a little longer than expected.  He told us the walk there would be about 45-1 hr long walk, which was completely okay because I needed to get my workout in for the day anyway. So, after class at 12:45pm, me and a group of 7 started off on our journey to Gandria.

The walk was absolutely gorgeous – I know I have pictures posted, but the pictures do not actual capture the beauty of this country.  We stared off walking in the right direction, but surprisingly we got a little lost on the way. Luckily our detour was not too bad, we just walked a little too far on one road that we should have. Thank God everyone here speaks English or else it would have been so hard to get back on the right track (sarcasm.. again). There are some pictures on my facebook, but basically the way we took was walking around the side the mountain that is shown in the picture of “the view from my room”. The weather was perfect 50 degrees.. the river was gorgeous.. perfect.

Because I knew we were most likely going to be taking pictures of Gandria, I decided I should look a little Kim Kardashian (aka look good) just in case someone snapped a photo of me.  This was the worst decision ever because they the TRAIL we took alongside the mountain was, of course, a dirt and rocky trail. My boots were definitely not made for walkin’.

After a good hour of walking, we finally reached this beautiful SMALL town, Gandria. We went to the nearest restaurant and it was by far the most beautiful restaurant I have ever eaten in.  The restaurant is literally built on the Cliffside of the mountain that overlooks the entire river and mountains. We were seated at the back of the restaurant on the full glass-windowed balcony that hangs off the side of the mountain.  Some of the girls got gilato, I got pasta, and we all had the most delicious sangria. The pasta was the first time I have had pasta here and it was outstanding! Definitely exceeded my expectations of pasta.  I could literally taste all the freshness of it and I could tell they hand made the pasta and pesto sauce. Perfecto!! Not to mention the old Italian man who owned the restaurant absolutely loved us!! But who wouldn’t, no?

On the way back from Gandria, one of the girl’s back and neck went out. She has always had problems with her muscles and she has a weak neck and basically she was stiff from head to toe and in so much pain. She didn’t have any muscle relaxers on her, so we stayed with her and walked allll the way back to lugano with her. So sad L

So that was my mini trip to Gandria!! Very cool to be able to walk on the side of the Alps and overlooking a beautiful river! Tomorrow (Jan 13) we are off to Interlaken for the weekend!!!  And I think I may be going PARAGLIDING (about 130 francs)!! When in Rome?! Or… INTERLAKEN hehehe.

Ciao for now!!!

FUN FACTS:

1.       No tipping at restaurants

2.       No tax!!

3.       Everyone here drives a hatchback