Ticino Part 1

We are in the Italien part of Switzerland enjoying a long weekend. Thursday was a public holiday and I took Friday off, so we have 4 days here. We were up early on Thursday to catch the 7am train south. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were glad to have gotten out early. After 2:30 hours on the train we arrived in Bellinzona. We stayed just long enough to drop our bags at the hotel before heading to Monte Generoso.
A small cog train climbs the mountain from 300m to 1600m elevation. The view from the top was spectacular! Perfectly clear skies and the whole Alp chain stretching out to the north of us. To the sounth the plains of Toscana stretching into the haze over Milano. We took a short hike from the top and had time for icecream before heading down again. We made a quick stop at Swissminatur (Swiss sights on a small scale) before heading back to Bellinzona, dinner and bed.

We didn't recognize many buildings,
but Andreas knew Zurich!

Milano Cathedral
Andreas remembers walking its roof last year 

Yesterday we headed to Locarno and Lake Maggiore. The plan was a boat trip to a botanical garden on an island (Isole de Brissago). We just missed one boat so in the wait for the next we took advantage on our 3-day travel pass and took the cable car to the top of the mountain just outside town. It was more hazy but the view of the surrounding mountains and lakes was still great. The trip out to the island was also nice and we enjoyed the variety of interesting plants. A late lunch in Ascona in an outdoor cafe near the lake shore made it really feel like a summer holiday!

Monkey Puzzle tree from Argentina

Lake Maggiore