Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Just the Weekend

So Friday was babysitting. Saturday I woke up around 7.00 and walked up the hill to meet the people in charge of the culinary club.

We went to Schokoland--a chocolate factory on the very southernmost boarder of Switzerland. Wouldn't you know it, we only went into the gift shoppe; it was worth it. The free samples were fabulous (dark chocolate covered hasslenuts, anyone?).  And I bought this HUGE bage of bars of chocolate for 10CHF. There had to be at least 15 bars in there. If I were to go anywhere else, one bar would be 6CHF.

I've been giving some away though, like to my techie friend who helped me work out my computer issues--thank you, Nick!

After Schokoland, I headed toward Ponte Tresa but never made it. There was another stand nearby that I just had to stop at. I ended up buying French figs and some pear-looking, watermellon-tasting fruit, about three pounds total and all for 2.50 Euros. The figs were gone in a few hours. They didn't stand a chance. The other thing is good but no one knows what it is. It looks way too exotic for Switzerland and northern Italy but they sell them around here all the time. Hmm...

Sunday was the Festa d'Autunno in downtown Lugano. And my dream came true.

I saw an Alpine Horn Band! If thunder had a sound, the Alpine Horn would be its call.

The whole time I was eating the free grapes vendors were giving away--they had to be three times the size of my thumb, on average.

I also saw jars of pickled grapes for sale...unusual. I was tempted to buy one if they weren't 25CHF for practically nothing.

There were so many folk bands (one even had a mellophone), it made me just want to pick up an instrument.

Oh well, such is life. If this is what I'm doing on my weekends, then I'm a happy camper.