(not necessarily in that order)
A fabulous and full day in the PNW — choir, purification, Sunday service, delicious lunch, talking to lots of new friends, a visit to Heart Song Hermitage, Ananda Washington’s leadership meeting — all culminating in a well-earned and much-appreciated pizza for dinner.
In fact, we were rather surprised at just how good it was.
The perfect end to a fantastic weekend.
I completely dropped the ball when it came to taking photos at our Saturday workshop in East LA. Suffice it to say that everything was beautiful and we had a small but enthusiastic group of attendees….singers who also happened to be the choir members, and who spent the second half of the workshop rehearsing songs for Sunday service with us.
Service on Sunday was my first time serving as an “official” Lightbearer; this also went quite well. Then, after a brief rest, Dharana and Pritha drove us to Forest Lawn cemetery, so we could visit Yogananda’s crypt. It was so peaceful and inspiring; I was really glad we made the time to go there.
Finally we arrived back at the ashram, ready to join the residents in some major “relax & have fun” time — namely, pizza and a movie! (I was also finally able to remember to take a few pics.)📷
Attending last weekend’s reunion was a lot of fun, but this Friday I’m very grateful to end the week with a nice quiet date night.
Pizza and a movie with Ramesha — oh yeah!
Today Ramesha and I spent time together in Lugano Centro, mostly under i Portici — the arcaded walkways filled with an amazing variety of shops and restaurants.
Our favorite spot for cappuccino is Mauri Concept. They also have fun signs.
Speaking of signs, we got a kick out of the message on the edge of my caffè macchiatto (Ramesha’s cup was blank).
We spent the afternoon getting started on packing for our return home, then went out for dinner.
The pizza was delicious, but I was a bit surprised by the bathroom. I mean, I’ve never seen a see-through toilet seat cover before — covered with rose buds no less! 😂
Yesterday was about connecting.
We had lunch with all the members of Ramesha’s family who currently live in Switzerland (father, brother, sister and brother-in-law, niece and boyfriend) at a pizzeria in Lugano Centro.
We very much enjoyed our first “official” pizza of this year’s trip…and boy was it good!
Then in the evening we had dinner with the Lo Menzo family — Dudo, Karin, Samuele, and Lia. They’re some of my favorite people on the planet; unfortunately, we laugh so much when we’re together that I almost always forget to take any pictures. 😂
Today we enjoyed an excursion to Centro Lugano.
First was lunch at Migros: fresh slices of pizza, followed by caffè macchiato, and mini-fruit tarts.
Then we walked to and through Parco Ciani, enjoying the beautiful spring flowers that are blooming everywhere.
A lovely, relaxing day.
It’s been a while since I sat outside and simply enjoyed the quiet.
Even better: this evening I also enjoyed the dinner time view — it went really well with pizza!
Having waited so long since our last trip to Europe, we had a long list of foods that we were eager to taste once again. And I’m happy to report that we’ve eaten pretty much everything on our list:
Cappuccino (lots and lots of cappuccinos!) = ✅
Pizza (quite a bit of pizza) = ✅
Swiss cheese* = ✅
Gelato = ✅
Pizzoccheri = ✅
Tiramisu = ✅
Gnocchi di zucca = ✅
Pasta con pesto = ✅
Risotto = ✅
Torta di mele (apple); also cioccolato (chocolate), nocci (nuts), della nonna (Grandmother), etc) = ✅
It almost looked like we weren’t going to fit in fondue or raclette, but tonight we had a family dinner featuring both, so… = ✅
I do believe that the only local treat that we haven’t yet had is polenta. Oh well, I think we’ll survive.
* Meaning about fifteen different types of cheese produced in Switzerland, but NOT Emmenthaler (the one with holes), which most of Swiss folks I know don’t even like!
We spent this evening at a pizzeria called Ristorante Washington and located in the village of Maglio di Colla, about thirty minutes outside Lugano.
We traveled along a small, curvy road in a sparsely populated area. As we got out of the car I felt like we were really out in the countryside. Until we walked into the restaurant, that is!
It had a cozy, homey kind of feel, but was quite large. And within half an hour it was completely full, and felt like a popular restaurant in the middle of a big city.
We were there to meet new friends Gianna and Maria Grazie (who are friends of a friend of Graziella’s) who are acquainted with Ananda Assisi.
It was delightful getting to know them. And as they’re relatively new to Ananda they really enjoyed hearing our stories and about our experience with Ananda over the years.
We also learned from them that there’s going to be an Ananda event here in Lugano in early May, which we’re definitely looking forward to attending.
Maybe you’re as curious as we were about how a restaurant in Switzerland came to be called “Washington”. Turns out the great-grandfather of the current owner emigrated to the United States back in the 1920’s. He eventually returned to Ticino and had a family, naming his son Washington and his daughter Philadelphia.
Washington opened the restaurant named for himself and it’s still in the family. A fun story, but I really have to wonder what became of the daughter named Philadelphia!