Day 11 - Lugano

Another day in Switzerland!  Now, Ramona's conference begins.  While we'd been blessed with beautiful weather, with clear skies and warm temperatures throughout our whole trip in Europe, today would be a cloudy day and then temperatures would fall.  The morning was much cloudier than the other days had been.  Today,  the high would only be 64 degrees, compared to the 70s we had experienced much of the trip. By the time we leave for Kalamazoo, the highs here would be down in the 50s. 

We started the day with a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Mona opted to visit the fitness center for a workout, while I studied the local transit system. She wanted to take buses to the university, as well as easily getting around to a few places. I, too, wanted to see a few places here in Lugano.  Fortunately, the region has an extensive system of trams, trains and buses, all of which are covered by the Ticino ticket we received. Basically, we can travel anywhere within the Ticino region by bus or train for free during our stay. Talk about a bargain!

After breakfast, we made plans to get to Franklin University for the conference. I spent a bit of time reviewing bus timetables figuring out which buses we can take. I made a quick list of stops and times, so that whenever we were ready to go, I had an idea which bus was available and where to walk. We proceeded away from the hotel headed to the street. We waited just a few minutes for the #4, then found out way to the station. We weren't able to catch the #436, which dropped off right in front of the university, so we took the #2 which meant a short walk. The side street took us through small, quiet neighborhoods with the traffic on the distance. After a short uphill walk, we found ourselves at the University. Mona got registered for her conference, and I was free to explore!

I took the bus back to the train station, and planned to buy our return train tickets

from Lugano back to Milan (our return flight leaves at oh-dark-early from there on Wednesday).  I learned that the travel counters here use a ticketing system that combines several services into the same counter, and allows you to see your place in the appropriate queue.  This station let you ship or pickup DHL packages, purchase tickets or send money via Western Union.  It sure would be nice to see the Secretary of State get this level of efficiency! 😕

An agent helped select the train and travel class, and I scored a pair of tickets for $30 each.  The handle on Mona's luggage had broken during our last leg, so it was up to me to purchase another one before we packed.  A quick Google search turned up a department store at the base of the funicular station, so it was time for another vertical train ride!  I found the luggage section and wasted no time getting a bag picked out.  Lucky for me, the exchange rate was little better US Dollars to Swiss Franc, than the rate we'd paid for US Dollars to Euros.

Now that I had luggage, what would I do next?  Why, get my daily gelato fix!  Sadly, gelato cost us much more in Switzerland than it had in Italy.  Still, it was quite tasty.  I had ample time to walk along the edge of Lake Lugano and take in the overcast afternoon.

I headed back to the hotel to coordinate with Mona, as she and a colleague had plans for dinner when her evening sessions were over.  She was able to secure an invitation to the evening reception, so I dropped on in!

Dinner featured a nice assortment of Swiss treats to make everyone feel welcome.  We had a pleasant

dinner conversation with her colleagues, then struck out for after-dinner snacks.

The patisserie we tried to visit the other night was on our way, so we took the bus and headed out.  Fortunately, it was open this time, and we were able to score some excellent dessert!  After a short walk back to bus stop, we had just a few minutes to wait before the return trip to the train station.  From there, just a few minutes saw us back our hotel.  Tomorrow would be our last day in Lugano, so it was time to pack.