Our train ride to Bellinzona

The train station is close to Pietro's parents' apartment, so we finally gave in to Amedeo's persistent request: I want to go on a train ride! There is a nearby town, named Bellinzona, that is famous for having 3 castles in close proximity.

Amedeo was an angel on the train. I think if we want to travel anywhere, we should go by train, since the novelty doesn't wear off for him.



Here is the largest castle. We were lucky enough to have another beautiful day. I can't tell you much about the castle. It is old and recently restored. It dates back to medieval times. Everything was written in Italian and I was busy trying to prevent Amedeo from falling off a parapet, so I just tried to drink in the beauty of the scenery instead of getting a history lesson.



We took an elevator up to the castle inside.


After that, we could roam around, appreciating all the old rocks.



In the large tower, we had a good time climbing up all the stairs.



Pietro took a few snaps from the top. Here is part of the piazza in Bellinzona. That is one thing I regret. America is deficient in the number of lovely outdoor spaces in which you can shop and eat. I guess we just like our A/C and shopping malls.



We decided to take a snack break after all of that climbing.

The end...no, just kidding. More pics tomorrow!

Swiss Miniatur

Here we have 3 generations of Bernasconi men.


We decided to visit a very famous tourist trap about 45 minutes from Locarno, the Swiss Miniatur. It is a scale model of various mountains and buildings in Switzerland. It is a large, outdoor exhibit. There are lots of cars, trains and airplanes for a toddler to see. Fortunately everything was glued down, so he couldn't make off with anything.


Amedeo dragged Nonno and Nonna all over the place...


Part of the exhibit involved a child sized train.


We ate lunch in a nearby restaurant. After we drove back into town, Romi had to water the orchard. Amedeo had fallen asleep in the car, so I stayed with him for a bit.


Then, Pietro kept watch while I went to check out the plants. They have grapes, kiwis, blueberries, cherries, plums, figs, and probably some others that I am forgetting. All of it is on very steep land....I suppose most things on the mountain are.



Annita's sister, Armida, lives close to their orchard, so we decided to drop in for a visit. Several of you commented on Amedeo's sleeping...we were waking him up early, giving him short naps and putting him down late at night, so he was super sleep deprived. When we let him sleep, he slept HARD! He didn't wake up when we took him out of the car!


Zia Armida and Pietro enjoy a drink.



We had to wake him up to have a chat with the matryoshka dolls.



Here is Armida's balcony. Amedeo thought I was leaving, so he was crying.


We packed a lot into the day...I think everyone was tired after all of this!

Isole di Brissago

I'm starting to lose track of which day is which...so maybe this is the 3rd or the 4th? We decided to go on a boat trip to the Isole di Brissago. One of the boat guys took our picture before we left.



While we waited to get on the boat, Amedeo and I walked on this bridge over and over and over again.



Enjoying the boat ride. If I remember correctly, it took about an hour to get to the island, since the boat made a few different stops along the way.



Here is a neighboring town, Ascona.

Once we landed at the island, a noisy peacock greeted us.


The island is divided into sections of plants...ferns, tropical plants, etc...with ponds sprinkled around. Guess who wanted to throw rocks into all the ponds?



One of the most surprising things about Switzerland is the palm trees. There are many other tropical plants too...yucca and lots of bromeliads. While it does get cold in the winter, the lake is such a large body of water, that it keeps the surrounding area a little warmer in the winter.



We saw some giagantic ferns!

Pietro is blissed-out when he is surrounded by the mountains and the lake.


When we ate lunch, we had guests. Those ducks practically sat in our laps to get at the sandwiches.



It was a beautiful day.


Amedeo took a nap while we waited for the boat to come and take us back home.

Day 2 in Locarno

Here we are on a little walk. Pietro's parents have an apartment that is a 10 minute (or less) walk to the lake. The area around the lake is very pretty, if a little touristy. There is no shortage of Swiss German tourists.

We decided not to bring a stroller, instead we had my Ergo Baby. It is very comfortable. Now that Amedeo is about 30 lbs, it is still comfortable, but it makes you very tired if you're out all day. Note my sunglasses. They're on my face, right?!?



Well, I managed to drop them in the lake. Grrr. I asked this swan if he would mind looking for them, but he didn't seem to speak Italian or English.



As you can see from our clothes, the weather was not super warm. There was still a bit of snow on the mountain tops. In this view, you can see Vira Gamborogno across the lake, the little town where Pietro's mom grew up. Her sister and brother still live over there.



Here you can see more of the snow. There are usually a number of boats out on the water. Tomorrow, I'll show you the boat that we rode to see the Isole di Brisago, an arboretum on an island.

Amedeo enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake. Who doesn't?


Yup, tomorrow there will be more...we took 800 pictures.

Nothing Like Coming Home

I'm going to interrupt our little journey in Switzerland with a short tale so I don't forget. The second day that we were home, Pietro and Amedeo went out in the backyard to play. Pietro came in to tell me that he found two snakes tangled in our fence near the garage. We have a plastic mesh attached to the top of our fence to keep the cats inside and safe. These dumb snakes squeezed themselves into the holes until they got stuck. I went out to investigate. The first thing I noticed was the stench. If you have never smelled decomposing body, you won't have any trouble recognizing it for the first time, believe me! Ew.

Ok...so the snakes are dead. We'll deal with it later. I made lunch, put Amedeo down for his nap. Pietro and I sat down to drink coffee. Remembering the smell, I told Pietro that we needed to take the snakes down ASAP. He agreed and headed outside. A few minutes later, he came back in with the news: only one of the snakes was dead. He informed me that it was a very much alive nonvenomous black rat snake.

I felt pretty sorry for the snake since he had to sit there while his snake-friend kicked the bucket right next to him. I trotted outside with some scissors. My plan was to cut the fence down with the snake still twisted in it, then I could snip around until he was free. The part where I cut him down worked well. He landed in the bucket just fine. The scissors wound up being too dull and thick to clip the tightly bound mesh. I had to use my good embroidery scissors with a sharp point. Pietro pinned our guy down with a stick as I snipped away. I had difficulty seeing exactly what I was doing, so Pietro started snipping instead.

The more netting we cut off our snake, the better he felt. He started thrashing around, flashing his big mouth at us. It was hot outside and both of us were sweating. Pietro finally got the last bit of fence off of him when the snake popped out of the bucket and sat on the grass. He kept a close eye on us, following every move we made. I wanted to move him away from the house and down into the woods. I got a broom and swept him towards the overturned bucket. Pietro carried the bucket down the slope using the broom to keep the snake inside.

I'd say it took about an hour to rescue the dumb snake. I had to wonder if I was messing with Darwin's survival of the fittest.

Next...more pictures from our trip!

Switzerland!

We came back on Tuesday night from a 15 day trip to Switzerland. Pietro's hometown is in the canton of Ticino. The little town is called Locarno and it is on Lago Maggiore. This lake extends into Italy.

Pietro hasn't visited his family in 3.5 years, so he was tremendously excited to start our journey. We wanted a non-stop flight to Zurich, so we left from Dulles. We expected a bit of waiting. We expected a fair amount of standing in line. It was CHAOS! I have never been to Dulles when it has been so crowded. The security lines were endless. The trip from the check in desk to our terminal was extraordinarily long. Once we got to the gate, they (the idiots at United) told us that we could not sit together because they had overbooked the flight. Ok...a two year old in his own seat surrounded by strangers might be a little amusing. Pietro is a fairly calm person. He doesn't make much fuss over problems. This time, he was a teensy bit more assertive. The lady at the desk asked him to stop yelling, she's see what she could do.

At this point, I wanted to turn around and go back home. I still had a 8.5 hour flight left with a 2 year old. I was able to sit with Amedeo, but Pietro had to sit in the middle seat in front of us. The lady sitting next to Amedeo on the flight asked me if he was going to sleep. I said, "Ummm...I don't know. Probably not. Maybe if you want to sleep you could switch with my husband." She said, "oh, I'm fine." At that point, I gave up on trying to prevent Amedeo from kicking her, or jostling her or squealing. After 5.5 hours of being in her aisle seat, she finally made the switch with Pietro. It was only then that Amedeo was able to settle down and sleep. Only 2 hours of sleep! Ack! It was a stressful flight. I almost asked the flight attendant for a bottle of whiskey and some Ambien.

When we caught the second flight to the airport closer to Pietro's town, we got the news that my suitcase was still at the Dulles airport. Another major bummer. I was resigned to wearing the same clothes for 15 days, my mood bolstered only by large quantities of home made wine from Pietro's dad's cellar.

My conclusion after this: don't fly United. They are incompetent. Don't order the children's meal for your child. They are disgusting. Also, keep a spare pair of panties in your purse when on an international flight. At least you'll have them when your suitcase doesn't arrive.

On the very very bright side, Amedeo recognized Nonno Romi instantly! He raced over to him in the airport and hugged him. They were instant pals. Or at least Amedeo recognized that Nonno was willing to follow certain orders such as, "Nonno, Come here!" "Nonno viene qui!!!"


Amedeo is thinking, "I have Nonno right where I want him!!! Playing with me!"

Pietro was delighted to be back at home, eating Nonna Annita's cooking. Cheese, salami, pasta, soup, salad, roasts....etc etc...and of course, oodles of wine and buckets of coffee.


Nonno and Amedeo share a love of music. Shown here are the two virtuosos playing a duet on the harmonica.

And, of course, Amedeo was able to find a playmate any time, any place. There was always a willing person available! "Come here, Nonna!"

Next, a brief discussion of What We Found When We Came Home, followed by a continued rehashing of the trip.

Butt, it was a nice weekend...

Nice weather calls for some blatant nudity! Naked pool time!


Naked playtime...I guess the co-ed naked volleyball comes later...


Pietro spent most of his weekend hauling mulch around the yard. Between the two of us, we have used about half of the 10 cubic yards that we ordered last weekend. It is depressing when I think of having 5 yards to go...

Here are the boys after happy hour at grandma and grandpa's house.


Here are the chefs in person...yummy dinner!

Lately, Amedeo has been asking for a 'big, sharp knife.' What do I say, "Well, yes, o, son of mine, here you go...the biggest and sharpest that I've got." No no...we can't have that. Grandma found a toddler knife...hee hee...it is pretty funny.


And now for something which made us all laugh hysterically...we were talking about my sis in law, Debbie, and how to get her out of jury duty. I said, (loudly) "Just tell everyone that you're a racist!" Amedeo kept repeating all night long, "I'm a racist. I'm a racist." Oh no. I really hope he forgets that particular phrase...this could be really bad!