(not necessarily in that order)
We leave for Lugano in ten days. I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that our departure date is almost here.
But I really must get my mind in gear so I can start addressing the practical realities of international travel.
Actually, I deserve some credit — this afternoon I finally got myself to order some key items that might not have arrived in time otherwise.
It’s a start!
Hard to believe that — almost exactly two months from today — we’ll be in Lugano once again.
On the one hand, I can’t wait. On the other hand, I can’t believe how the last six months or so have flown by!
And for sure, time is only going to speed up between now and our departure date.
My friend, Graziella, posted this photo on Facebook today and seeing it brought back beautiful memories of being at a luncheon there in honor of Swami Kriyananda.
The room is the Cenacolo Fiorentino (which translates as the “Florentine Supper Room”) on the upper floor of the Ristorante Grand Café Al Porto, located in the historic center of Lugano.
If I remember correctly, it was May (I’m not sure what year) and Swami Kriyananda was relaxing for a few days in Lugano. In honor of his upcoming birthday, the leader of the Lugano meditation group organized a boat tour of Lake Lugano followed by lunch at Al Porto — one of Swamiji’s favorite restaurants in Lugano.
It was a beautiful day, now a treasured memory.
We saw this sign in front of a café in Lugano this morning and it made us chuckle. So I decided to share it with you.
Translated it says: “Life is that thing that begins after coffee.”
Lord knows I’ve had plenty of days where this felt all too true! ☕
We’ve really enjoyed our stay here at the Utoring complex in Aldesago, but it’s time to say goodbye — to this little apartment and to the expansive view of Lugano and the distant mountains.
Day after tomorrow we’ll say goodbye to Lugano itself for a little over a week while we visit Italy; first Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre, then Ananda Assisi.
Feeling extremely grateful right now.
No particular theme here, just a miscellany of images that caught my eye. Some are beautiful, others less so, but I found them all intriguing.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
For our Friday date night this week, we rather randomly watched a light romcom movie that was set in Rome.
The movie itself was nothing exceptional, but…! Not only was it in Italy, much of the dialogue was spoken in Italian (real Italian) with subtitles.
It’s amazing how homesick I feel for Europe in general and Lugano in particular, especially not having been there in almost four years.
Adding to my growing the anticipation is the fact that we’ll be visiting Cinque Terre, for my first time!
