With Swami Kriyananda at Hotel Dante in Lugano (2012)
One of the things we planned to do in Lugano today was visit the spots where we had spent time with Swamiji — especially Hotel Dante, where the above photo was taken.
Swami loved coming to Lugano on vacation and always stayed at Hotel Dante. We have a number of precious memories with him there; we even got to have breakfast with him on my birthday in 2005.
We had thought it would be nice to take a picture by the chair where Swamiji had sat, as a way of remembering our time with him. You can imagine our dismay when we arrived and discovered the room had been remodeled and is completely different!
It’s still Hotel Dante, but the lobby where Swami would sit and receive visitors is now a very modern looking restaurant. It wasn’t just disappointing, it actually felt like a loss.
But then I remembered that I can feel Swamiji close to me by tuning into him inwardly. An important and reassuring reminder.
The traditional lobby is now “FLAMEL Bistrot & Mixology”
Here are three little videos to give you a sense of the delightful experiences we had yesterday.
First of all, as we were walking up the driveway on the way to our walk in the forest, I just had to stop and listen to the joyful birdsong.
Then, while we were still standing there, we noticed that noise was coming from the funicular track. We waited a few minutes in order to video the funicular passing by — one going up to the top of Monte Brè while the other headed back down to Lugano.
Finally, while walking through the forest we heard a cuckoo call. I had never heard a live cuckoo until I lived in Italy.
I always get a special kick out of hearing them because of playing Mahler’s 1st Symphony back when I was a student at the SF Conservatory of Music. Mahler famously orchestrated the cuckoo’s call, although his cuckoo sings the interval of a perfect fourth, while the actual bird sings a (not-so-perfect) third.
Writing this blog post made me curious why I’d never heard the cuckoo before living in Europe. I learned that there actually are cuckoos in the United States, but the numbers in California have declined drastically in the last 100 years due to destruction of their preferred habitat and to pesticide use. 😕
At any rate, it was lovely to hear not just one, but two cuckoos going at it. And then the church bells started to chime! It was the perfect “aural” nature experience.
(The cuckoos were fairly far away, so you’ll have to listen carefully — maybe with headphones — to hear them.)
A beautiful day for a beautiful view of our San Francisco departure
We drove to Palo Alto; flew from San Francisco; switched planes in Munich; landed in Milan; were picked up by Ramesha’s sister and his Dad; had lunch in Canobbio (the village near Lugano where he grew up); and finally arrived at our little apartment in Aldesago around 4:00pm Switzerland time.
Even through a car window on an overcast day our approach to Lugano is stunningly beautiful.
We slept very little on the plane, so the goal was to stay completely awake until at least 8:30pm so that we would be more likely to sleep through the night.
It’s now 9:30pm, so as soon as I finish this it’s lights out for me.
Yep, we’re finally going to visit family and friends in Switzerland this spring. It will have been almost four years since the last time we were in Lugano.
When I lived in Italy and then Switzerland for four years, I could tell it was time for a visit stateside when I started craving Mexican food.
It was virtually impossible to get good Mexican food in Lugano. Likewise Chinese food; there were a few restaurants but they were ridiculously expensive and not nearly as good as what I was used to from twenty-plus years of living in San Francisco.
Well, I’m realizing a similar thing is happening due to this long stay in Sacramento: I woke up this morning to the realization that I haven’t seen a deer in over six weeks, which is unheard of for someone who lives at Ananda Village.
Here in Sacramento we see lots of squirrels and there are even a few wild turkeys in the neighborhood, but nary a deer or coyote or bear in sight.
Ramesha posted this photo last Sunday, in honor of the day — seventeen years ago! — when he asked me to marry him. I was focused on other things this past weekend, but it was such a sweet post (and so many people shared loving comments!) that I didn’t want to let it pass me by.
So, here goes yet another walk down memory lane…
As of the end of October we were officially “an item,” but spending time together wasn’t so easy, with me either serving at Ananda Assisi or touring with the Italy singers, while he worked in Lugano.
We managed to get together a couple of times in November, me taking the train to Lugano and him driving to where the singers were spending a weekend near Torino. This was also the month when Swami Kriyananda made the decision to move to India, which had us all in a certain amount of shock.
By this time, it was clear that I wouldn’t be joining Ramesha and other dear friends on the pilgrimage to India, so we had to accept the reality of spending our first Christmas and New Year’s apart. I made another train trip to Lugano in mid-December so we could celebrate our Christmas early; we were both pretty sad but did our best to look ahead to when I would travel north again to see him on his return.
He encountered flight delays, so I actually got to Lugano before he did and was able to welcome him home. My vacation time was only supposed to last two weeks, but was extended indefinitely due to the completely unexpected but quite serious legal drama being played out at the community in Assisi.
Though greatly concerned for our spiritual family, we couldn’t help feeling grateful for the opportunity — finally! — to spend a whole month together. In fact, as the weeks went by our relationship just got better in every way.
The singers had performances near Torino planned for Valentine’s weekend, so the plan was that Ramesha would drive me there, then I would go back to Assisi with the group.
I’ll never forget the Sunday before our planned departure. We had finished meditation, then enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. I was still in my comfortable but rather sloppy meditation T-shirt and leggings as we sat at the table talking; speaking of our hopes and dreams; and sharing deeply spiritual thoughts.
There was a sense of profound connection. Then Ramesha made a frustration kind of sound, said he’d be right back, returned with a little red box, and asked me to marry him. Just like that. He said his plan was to propose the following week on Valentine’s Day, but he just couldn’t wait.
