Ticino (8/27-28/1983)

Saturday, August 27, 1983

The Alps from Jan & Kirby's

At 9:30 I walked down to Jan & Kirby’s, and we left at 9:45 to drive to Ticino, stopping in Solothurn to buy film.
Headed past Luzern where Jan & Kirby pointed out the city wall when we were between tunnels. We entered the long tunnel by passing the Vierwaldstättersee/Lake Lucerne. We closed all the windows in the car because the ventilation in the tunnel is poor. We would rather suffer in our own stuffy air than to let in the auto fumes. Later we went through the Gotthard Tunnel and because of the conversation we were distracted from being bothered by the stuffiness. Seeing that the weather was really clear on the other side, we debated whether we should try to go up Monte Generoso beyond Lugano or continue with the plan to hike near Locarno. We stopped for gas and Jan called for a train time, and there was one we could easily make. I heard the weather report in Italian which said it would be great until Tuesday when a storm would arrive. Nevertheless, we decided to stick to the original plan.

We arrived in Locarno at 13:30, taking only a total of 3 and 1/2 hours due to new roads being open beyond the Gotthard Tunnel. We went to a pizzeria café in Piazza Grande, and the waiter asked me something that I didn’t understand. I kept saying “what?” in Italian, and finally he said “da mangiare?” Only then did I realize he was saying the same thing, but in German! I had a quattro stagione/four seasons pizza. Jan had a mushroom pizza and Kirby had a spicy calzone. Kirby also had nearly a half of Jan’s pizza and a quarter of mine. My bill was 12 CHF/$6 with a gassosa. We walked up a brick street to “Jan & Kirby’s” bakery. There they bought three amaretti concoctions: a kirsch-spiked chocolate glop between two almond flavored cookies. It was delicious despite the liqueur, but I knew I didn’t want to take any home. Jan & Kirby bought a package of six. We returned to the car and drove to Ascona. We saw the start of the hiking trail, but had to drive all around town to find a parking space. Jan & Kirby changed into shorts (Jan into a pair of mine!) and we began our hike at 14:50. We left the main road at the post office and climbed a narrow cobblestoned alley. We passed a Roman Ruin fountain and kept following this road as it headed up and west towards Ronco.

View back on Ascona (Kirby)

We then followed the path of an old Roman road. We expected to see the paved Roman road, but it was now a leaf-strewn dirt path with stairs!

Strada Romana/Roman road (Kirby)

We followed this path for quite a ways, behind villas with tile roofs, interesting chimneys, and a minimally hazy view across Lago/Lake Maggiore.

Isole di Brissago/Brissago Islands in Lago/Lake Maggiore

 Soon we could see the town of Ronco sopra Ascona perched on the slope ahead of us.

Lago Maggiore and Ronco sopra Ascona

Lago Maggiore and Ronco sopra Ascona (Kirby)

We found a waterfall and dipped our hands in the water to cool off. It was hot, today.

Jan at the waterfall

The weather report had promised 40 degrees C/104 degrees F. We left the “Roman” road and followed the regular road (one car wide) into Ronco. We made several stops to take photos and identify plants. Jan discovered a slope covered with butterfly bushes and Kirby found a hummingbird hawk moth!

Hummingbird hawk moth in lower left quadrant!

He was in a constant flutter, but you could discern the long proboscis/snout!

We arrived at the San Martino church of Ronco, and stopped at a grocery across the tiny cobblestoned square. Kirby bought a liter of Coca-Cola and I got a bottle of Pepita/grapefruit soda, and Jan got three little bottles of grapefruit juice. We examined the postcards as we drank. Using the deposit on the bottles we returned, we bought two postcards.

We entered the church, which was a mish mash of decoration. There were bits of “original” frescoes, some overlying newer frescoes, a gaudy altar, old Swiss wooden window shutters to either side, and green plants all over. We left the square, passing the Casa Ciseri, home of the local artist Antonio Ciseri and following the narrow alley named for him. We went to an artisan’s shop with pictures of mostly people done in leaves and flower petals. Abstract art yet realistic looking!

Looking back at Ronco sopra Ascona (Kirby)

We found ourselves winding around back alleys that slowly took us downward. One path was very rustic!

Ronco alley 

Next we were in the woods and continued down, down, down. According to the hiking map, we should have ended up high in Brissago, not at the lake’s edge in a town between Ronco and Brissago! The hike from Ascona to Brissago was to be 3 and 1/2 hours long and we thought we were making good time. But we had a dinner reservation in Ascona at 19:00, so had to head back. We headed to Porto Ronco and looked down into the clear water, at the docks and boats anchored nearby (a lot of racy looking boats!), and across at the Brissago islands. Arriving in Porto Ronco at 17:45, we found there were no boats to Ascona for a couple hours, so we waited for the 18:06 bus. Kirby wrote a postcard and Jan called the restaurant to change the reservation from 19:00 to 20:00. The bus came and we boarded with a bunch of old ladies, all speaking high-German. We paid 1.60 CHF/80 cents each.

Ronco to Ascona bus ticket

At a later stop, a girl we recognized from the hospital boarded! About ten minutes later we got off at a stop designated Ascona Posta. We couldn’t get our bearings, and asked a woman where the Chiesa Evangelica was located. She pointed us in the right direction and we found the car.

We piled in and drove to Locarno, finding a parking spot near the Piazza Grande Hotel, and walked up a little street across from it. Jan & Kirby knew where to find the Casa Gardenia, having been there a couple times before. It was just a big villa. The maid met us and took us into the basement to Jan & Kirby’s room, then I was taken upstairs into the owner’s apartment and was shown a regular bedroom. There was a sink in the room, a doll on a blue velvet chair, a bed, and a wardrobe with clothes in it! I was left to wash up and change clothes. I went down to Jan & Kirby’s room to allow the maid to make up my bed. When they were ready, we went to the car to get Kirby’s belt, then walked down into Locarno and over too the water’s edge to follow it around to the 5-star La Palma Hotel and its “Tradition et Qualité” restaurant Coq d’Or. We couldn’t find our way into the restaurant! Finally went in a back door and the maître d’ took our name, then led us back outside! We left a room that looked like it was set up for a buffet, and went to the actual restaurant. We were given a table in the back corner, and Kirby asked if we could sit outside under the awning. But those tables were reserved. The maître d’ asked again under which name we had a reservation. During the meal he came to ask again. Apparently they had no record of Jan’s name, even though she called three times, and including today to change the time of the reservation. Kirby started with a beer and Jan and I shared a pitcher of water with ice cubes. Kirby and I had the 80 CHF/$40 menu and Jan ordered à la carte. Compliments of the chef we were given little wedges of a cheese tart. The crust was very firm and difficult to cut through; when the fork suddenly cut through, usually the piece went flying, sometimes onto the floor! We had brass or copper plates with a doily on it. The dishes of our meal were placed on this plate. And we had “gold” utensils. We picked our bread rolls out of a large basket and there was butter in a little round crock. We had no butter knife, so used our knife from our utensils. Once, as the waiter was giving us new silverware (goldware?) for the next course, he turned my knife in the proper direction. He must have noticed the butter on it, because he then got us butter knives and took away our buttered knives! The rather small kitchen was behind large glass windows.

Kirby and I first got crayfish tails (three each on a pile of cantalope and watermelon pieces). A couple were mushy and they were rather tasteless. Jan got a vichyssoise/cold potato soup with sections of orange in it. Next Kirby and I got a large plate with a small pile of cucumber slices; fanned around were tiny strips of chicken, and a tinier pile of mushrooms in a vinegary sauce in the center. The chicken tasted only like the sauce, which wasn’t too bad. Kirby got a half liter of white wine. We then got a plate with a bit of white sole rolled in tasteless bread crumbs, with a puff pastry and a tablespoon of spinach. Jan received her salmon stuffed with spinach, which was a hundred times tastier than our dishes! Kirby and I got a goblet of grapefruit sherbet swirled like soft ice cream. It was slightly pinkish in color and tasted just like grapefruit! Kirby and I got our main dish of a mignon of veal, and inch thick and perfectly rare in the center. Very good. With it, artistically arranged were three celery roots and three carrots, and a thing with a concoction of chopped onions and what? Whatever it was, it was tasty. We had our choice of a dozen cheeses. I had Valparaiso and something harder. Kirby had Valparaiso, a Valle Maggia cheese, and a very creamy Chamois d’Or. With the cheese came a plate of brown bread slices. Finally dessert. Jan chose three sherbets, getting kiwi, lemon, and grapefruit, each in its own goblet! Kirby and I got the menu dessert that was a parfait of figs with a “slice” of orange mousse that tasted strongly of figs surrounded by fig halves, currants, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Not really too exciting. The waiter brought the petit fours tray with a huge basket of flowers made of sugar (both the flowers and the basket!). I took two cookies. Jan & Kirby took all the chocolate candies and the one of a kind things. While Jan and I used the restroom, Kirby had their “Tradition et Qualité” books signed. There is an association of restaurants around the world, including Fredy’s in Lausanne, and you can get a stamp from each restaurant in this little book. They also gave Kirby the 1983 edition of the book. We got the bill of 233 CHF and left 250 CHF/$125, which had a generous tip. The food wasn’t the greatest. but the service was impeccable. We walked back to the hotel, and the shocker of the night was when Kirby pulled out a pack of cigarettes! He was supposedly doing so well in giving up smoking!

Sunday, August 28, 1983

Met Jan & Kirby for breakfast at 8:30 of two rolls with butter and black cherry jam, out on the balcony. Jan had mint tea and Kirby and I had Nestles hot chocolate. A German couple came out on the balcony, then the owner who was an older lady with frizzy hair who wore chic clothing. Her first question was why were we at her place? Jan explained in French, that they had been to her place a couple times before with a friend and recalled a couple conversations, but the lady didn’t remember. The lady talked blithely to the other guests in German. Kirby had to fill out a registration form and the lady talked to us In German. She asked where we had dinner last night, and I spoke too quickly before seeing that Jan was hesitating. So I had already said, “La Palma.” Well, then we told we should have asked her for recommendations on good places to eat. We paid 25 CHF/$12 each for our lodgings.

Decided Monte Generoso would be too hazy, and drove to Centovalli. Centovalli starts at the wide Maggia River delta, then quickly narrows. We followed the train tracks on a winding road along the valley, not seeing much civilization, with a hundred little gorges leading into it. We noted wires/cables leading up to infrequent stone houses across and above the valley. We made several stops to view the dried up streambed deep below us.

Centovalli terraces

Valley off Centovalli (Kirby)

Marroni/Chestnut trees

We passed an aerial cable car station, and drove down to see a brand new looking dam holding back that chemical green-colored water. We continued up to the Italian border before turning back. We stopped briefly in Locarno to see the Centovalli trains.

Centovalli train

In Lugano we stopped at a Burger King and Kirby and I went to order while Jan stayed in the car to wait for a parking space to open. When we went back out, Kirby saw a car leaving and went to stand in the spot until Jan arrived. But a car with Geneva plates drove into the spot, driving Kirby backwards. We ended up finding a spot near the Santa Maria degli Angioli church and sat by the waterfront to eat lunch. Later we entered the church to see Bernardino Luini’s Last Supper fresco on the left wall and a huge fresco over the chancel wall in the front. We checked the Michelin guide, and went back to see a small fresco of the Virgin and Child with St John (“a beauty worthy of Leonardo da Vinci”) on the left wall of the first chapel on the right. The other one of Bernardino Luini’s finest frescoes was the large one in front of the nave on the chancel wall of the Passion dominated by the Crucifixion scene (“ample and expressive”). Below on the columns were St Sebastian (arrows) and St Rocco (hole in one thigh). We then drove through Lugano towards Villa Favorita for a parking space. After finding one, we walked up the hill to the entrance of the villa, with a guard at the gate. We then followed the shoreline along a tree-lined path of well-kept gardens. At another gate we paid 10 CHF/$5 to enter, walking through more gardens to the actual villa with a well out front.

Villa Favorita ticket

Inside there was a tapestry on the wall, a few paintings, and an Andrea della Robbia above the souvenir desk. We went upstairs and along a gallery to see a series of wonderful rooms (rich wood, chandeliers, fireplaces, etc.) which now housed a collection of Impressionist paintings from the Pushkin Musuem in Moscow and the Hermitage in Leningrad. The first room had three Claude Monets, three Vincent Van Goghs, and three Pierre-Auguste Renoirs. Best appreciated from a distance, it was difficult to view the painting because of the crowd of people. I thought Monet’s most realistic one was striking because of the whiteness of the woman in the garden (Femme au Jardin). Of the more “abstract” paintings, I liked the other one than the one with people in it that Jan & Kirby preferred (because of the people in it?). A near-life size portrait of an actress (Jeanna Samary by Renoir) was striking because the face was full of character, and it was funny to see the sparkling of her belt buckle. An interesting Van Gogh was of a circle of prisoners.

The next couple rooms had nine Pablo Picassos, from the more realistic to the cube-y ones. Then a large room of nine Paul Gauguins, colorful and blending of colors, but seemingly more primitive. The following room had three Henri Matisses; Jan liked the huge painting of a red dining room (La Desserte Rouge) where he meant to do away with perspective. The paintings were colorful with bold outlines, and the one with dancers was interesting because you could see where the bodies were painted over to change the leg position or to make the leg slimmer. I was most impressed by the gypsy (Amido) because a few simple strokes portrayed a hand on the hip. Next was a room of nine Paul Cézannes. A much acclaimed painting was the small Mt Sainte Victoire, but I liked a pastel-like country-scape. I also liked the self-portrait with a few simple bold strokes, enough to make the painting seem whole. Kirby liked the man with the pipe more. From afar, a vase/pitcher in a still life looked delicate, but no matter how far you got from the painting of a footbridge in the woods, it still looked splotchy.

We went back through a gallery of portraits and upstairs to the permanent collection with lots of works by the Flanders. Stuff by Albrecht Dürer (lots of hands and ugly faces), Lucas Cranach the Elder, Hans Holbein, Anthony Van Dyck, and Peter Paul Rubens (the original of the postcard Jan & Kirby sent me last Christmas!). We found a Raffaello and a Domenico Ghirlandaio, plus several Canalettos and Tizianos; but no Caravaggios. We went back through the special Impressionist exhibit again, perused the catalogs, and found that all the postcards Jan & Kirby wanted were sold out.

We went to Terassa sul Lago for drinks, and I had gassosa, Kirby had Coca-Colas, and Jan had a Rivella (a carbonated drink with milk whey). We looked at slides and watched the antics of the waiter (owner?) who sang and talked to the ducks and seagulls, throwing bread to them (to the seagulls in mid-air). I paid the 7 CHF/$3.50 to treat.

On our drive home I was to read a D H Lawrence story and explain it to Kirby. Ha! We made a stop for gas before getting on the Autobahn. In Biel I was dropped off at the corner to make a reservation at Chez Manuel as they went to get gas. But Chez Manuel was closed. We went to da Carlos Stadtgarten Restaurant on Zentralstrasse instead. Jan just got a green salad and a consommé with an egg in it. Kirby got a mixed salad and spaghetti carbonara. I got spaghetti al pesto Genovese. The carbonara was mostly eggy with very little ham. The proprietor had said good evening when we arrived, and “buon appetito” when the food was served. But when he saw Kirby picking through his pasta for ham, he went into the kitchen and never returned. Mine had very little pesto and a lot of garlic, but I ate all of it! Kirby waved the waiter over and said “two Cokes, a Rivella…” and the waiter thought he was ordering more drinks, until Kirby continued with what he and Jan had ordered. Kirby meant to pay, and so I paid also (12 CHF/$6), even though I hadn’t finished eating! The waiter had sloshed Jan’s soup, and at another table we saw him push the plates so they slid in front of the customers. With Jan’s soup he only said “mon dieu” instead of apologizing. Outside there was thunder and lightning, and I was dropped off at the Personalhaus/staff residence at about 21:00.

Monday, August 29, 1983

Found a five-leaf clover on the way to Ried.

Five-leaf clover

Went to the Fremdenpolizei/Immigration police to get an informational pamphlet on rules regarding foreigners in Italian.

Thursday, September 1, 1983

Fire drill at Kinderspital Wildermeth

Hans Rüdi S picked me up at 20:00 for short lessons. When Hans Rüdi was driving me home, we saw a man lying on the sidewalk. Hans Rüdi stopped to help the man stand up. He was wet between the legs, his fly was half open, and his belt was awry. He reeled around a couple steps, then tumbled over into the grass. Hans Rüdi helped him up again and brought him top the car to support himself. When Hans Rüdi came around the car to shut off the engine, the man fell over again. Hans Rüdi went to pick him up and started walking him down the street. At some point the man didn’t want any more help, so we hope he made it home okay. Hans Rüdi didn’t want to shake hands goodbye tonight!