It's been nearly a week since our wonderful European vacation ended, but I want to follow through on describing our experiences and reflections from each of the places we visited. So far I've blogged our time in Lausanne, Switzerland and Milan, Italy. What remains is our visit to Locarno, Switzerland (1 night) followed by a 3 night stay in Nice, France and one last night in Europe which we passed in Geneva, Switzerland. My memory of the places and events has already begun to fade, but I will attempt to remember the highlights of the trip nonetheless.
The purpose of our brief visit to Locarno was to catch one of our all-time favorite bands, Jamiroquai, in concert at the Moon and Stars Festival. Thus, we departed Milan by train at approximately 11am on Wednesday, July 14.
From Milan to our first transfer point in the southern Swiss town of Bellinzona, we were seated next to a lovely Canadian couple called Mimi and John. We began with small talk and quickly discovered that we had much in common with this friendly pair. Mimi is a retired math teacher who continues to instruct as a private tutor. She's also a therapeutic touch practitioner and was kind enough to perform an impromptu treatment on John to help clear up the head cold he'd been dealing with since our last night in Lausanne. Mimi's husband John, on the other hand is a retired school counselor who now serves school districts through his own private practice. Both were so engaging and fun to talk to. It was a treat to discover that they also share our spiritual point of view and each of them managed, through casual conversation, to offer us encouragement and insight in the parts of our lives where we currently face the steepest challenges. I feel all warm and tingly when I remember the encounter with Mimi and John. I'm convinced that our meeting was important and purposeful. I have already written John, using the address on his business card. I sincerely hope we will have the pleasure of their company again someday.
After we changed trains in Bellinzona, we had a 20 minute ride to the station in Locarno. The town of Locarno is situated on the northern shores of Lake Maggiore which spans part of the border between Switzerland and Italy. It's a fun little resort town with outstanding lake views, gorgeous mountain views and palm trees EVERYWHERE. We had a very short (less than 5 minute) stroll from the train station to our hotel, which was right across the street from a lakeside park. On the walk there, we stopped to take a few pictures of the lake front. As we made our way through the park, I noticed an elderly couple sharing a little nap on a park bench. They were huddled together, with her head resting on his chest and his head resting atop hers. They looked to be upward of 70 years old, but very vibrant and fit in their shorts and hiking sandals. They were the picture of commitment and contentment. We discreetly snapped a few pictures of them and I silently prayed that John and I would someday be that old, healthy and happy together.
Our hotel in Locarno was sufficient. We stayed at a Ramada Inn called the La Palma au Lac. True to its name, the hotel is at the lake. And, like most Ramada properties I've been to, it lacked character, but was reliably clean and efficiently run. Our room was clean, large, modernly furnished and quite comfortable. We had a very nice view of the back parking lot and the steep mountain slopes upon which are built many lovely homes and churches. Given that our check-in was at 2pm and our concert was at 8pm, we didn't have much time to spend in the room. After checking in, we quickly freshened up, checked email, and headed out in search of lunch. For lunch we had lasagne and gelato near the town square. The meal was just OK, but nothing to write home about.
After leaving the restaurant we wandered toward the Piazza Grande where the evening's concerts would be staged. On the way, I found a very inexpensive pair of sneakers to wear to the show which was a necessity for all the standing that would be involved. We also found a grocery store where we purchased bug spray, a few toiletries, and some snacks to take back to our room. By this point, both of us were tired and in need of a nap before returning to the square for the concerts. As we cut across the piazza en route to our hotel, we were stopped in our tracks by the appearance of the opening act, Corinne Bailey Rae, doing her sound check. We stopped for several minutes to watch and listen and take photos of Corinne. We got some great shots which have been posted by John to our SmugMug site.
After a short nap back in the room, we got dressed, doused ourselves in insect repellent, and walked back to the Grand Piazza to enjoy the music. It was a lovely evening, with clear skies and warm air. The square was packed with revelers and drunkards. We hung out at the very back of the crowd (farthest from the stage) and caught the last 3 or 4 songs performed by Corinne. She and her band of fellow singers and guitar players plus a pianist and drummer did their thing nicely, but the crowd was clearly there to see Jamiroquai. What I appreciate about Corinne's performance is that she and the band sounded great and they were really into their performance. They might be a shy group when compared to the stage presence of other contemporary acts, but they are soulful and earnest and grateful for the opportunity to share their art with us. I especially liked their bluesy rendition of the old Doris Day standard "Che Sera Sera". She had this male guitarist backing her up and when he opened his mouth to sing "the future's not ours to see..." the crowd went wild in response to his righteous style.
After a 20 - 30 minute break, on came Jamiroquai! They were so good! The lead singer, Jay Kay, is such a showman and his live performance is always as brilliant as his studio recordings. John and I have been devoted fans of this group since 1995 and we've been watching videos of their concert performances ever since people started posting them on YouTube, so we've seen our share of live Jamiroquai performances, all of which are awesome. This one was no different and worth all the time, money and effort involved to get there for it. The band, the background singers, the lighting, the sound and most of all Jay's singing and dancing were spectacular. They did several of our favorites including "When You Gonna Learn," "Blow Yr Mind," "Love Foolosphy," "Little L," "Alright," and "If I Like It I Do It". John filmed as much of the concert as his phone (dying battery) would allow. For my part, I danced and jumped as much as my own fading energy reserves would permit. A quick Google search has turned up a complete set list from the concert along with corresponding videos. Ain't the "information superhighway" grand? :)
Euphoric after a great concert, we stopped at a nearby drink stand so that I could purchase "a little sangria". For my 7 Euros, there was nothing little about the 16 oz serving of sangria I received. It took every ounce of discipline in my body to stop drinking that stuff when my cup was about half empty and I had begun to feel slightly off balance. What remaining strength and discipline I had went into helping me walk back to the hotel without falling, colliding with people and fixtures or making a spectacle of myself in some other embarrassing fashion. In other words, the sangria was POTENT. The sangria was also quite YUMMY. I won't forget it and the way it had me feeling for a long while.
Given all the heat, travel, and gelato and / or sangria consumption of previous days, our 8:45am departure from Locarno on the following morning was a tall order. We drug ourselves out of bed, quicly reorganized our possessions into our bags, checked out of the hotel and made our way back to the train station with headaches and bleary eyes, but minimal problems. The ride back to Milan--where we were hoping to make a tight connection with the train to Ventimiglia (on the coast between Genoa and Monte Carlo)--was uneventful, but running several minutes late. We pulled into the Central Station of Milan at 11:03. With our next train scheduled to depart at 11:05, we were very eager to get off the train and find our connection.
After disembarking the train from Bellinzona we found ourselves on Track 8 in the hot, crowded station. We rushed toward Track 6 to view the LCD display of train departures and track assignments. To our horror, our train was due to leave in 2 minutes (luckily, it too was running behind by a few minutes) from Track 20! We quickly turned and ran as fast as the crowded platforms and clumsy luggage would allow. We climbed aboard our train at Car 2, having decided that we could take our time in weaving our way the train's packed corridors to our assigned seats in Car 8. This was a smart move on our part, but it was not without cost. Halfway through Car 2, drama ensued when I took the bait and descended into an episode of momentary grouchiness in response to an unfriendly confrontation with another passenger. If you've been reading these blog posts from the beginning, you've already learned about this incident. If you haven't, but are curious, go read my post about rail travel in Italy.
My next post will be about our time in Nice, France.
No comments:
Post a Comment