Ticino Camping Trip – Day 2

This was the day we actually did stuff. We woke up with some mediocre coffee and bready things for breakfast, then went into town and took the funicular up to Madonna del Sasso, a church/sanctuary up in the hills. It was hot and sunny out… like almost 90 degrees. But we had a nice/hazy view of the lake from above, and then walked around the church a bit. Yeah, I have an odd fascination with churches, specifically really old and ornate ones with insane architecture… despite being not the least bit religious.

At 2:00 we were able to rent a car and drive up to the Verzasca valley, where Emi was to bungee jump off this massive dam. That wasn’t til 4 though, so we killed some time by driving around and stopping at this lovely spot on the river where the water was clear and the rocks were nice and smooth and the mountains surrounded us. I pretty much just stood there in awe, snapping photos that probably wouldn’t do the scene enough justice. The water was freezing, but I would have jumped in had I had my bathing suit with me. That didn’t stop the boys though, as they went in in their underwear. Lots of people were there scuba diving… which seems weird, but apparently there are caves in the river.

Then Emi did his bungee, and the rest of us hung out on the dam and watched. Gorgeous view, though admittedly my eyes were also drawn to the insane jumpers going off the other side. I think it’s like 230 meters down. Good God, NEVERRRRRR will I ever willingly plunge head-first down into a gorge. That’s just nuts.

After that, we had more time with the car so we drove over to Ascona, a small town next to Locarno which I found to be less touristy and more chill. We went straight for the water and went for a swim (except for Emi, who was on the phone). We had a pre-dinner snack on the beach and watched the rays of light fall over the mountains and onto the lake. Does it get any better?

We had a late dinner at a fish restaurant in a hotel in Locarno and were pretty much the only ones there til closing. Yes, being loud and obnoxious. Yes, paying an exorbitant amount of money on food. I hate feeling like I’m throwing away money, but these kids don’t seem to care too much if they drop 40CHF on a meal or buy bus tickets they don’t end up using or pay 5CHF a few times a day for crap coffee. I can’t justify that, but I can’t exactly be like “sorry guys, f this, I’m doing my own thing without you”… so I’d try to spend as little as possible and sort of lessen the blow.

Oh, there was some biker festival going on all day, so in the Piazza Grande there were rows of motorcycles and big scary biker guys and a stage with some pretty bad cover performances. We even saw a real hippie! Yeah it definitely felt nothing like Italy. Or Switzerland, for that matter. We were technically in Switzerland, but Italian was the norm here in this region… which was nice because I could actually somewhat understand the language for once!