weekend jaunt. and other things.

Oh, where to begin...? We'll start with Friday night, whereupon we met up with Mike's buddies Steve and Aaron. Grabbed a drink at the Ole Ole Bar on the Langstrasse (Zurich's seedy neighborhood...oooh!), then had a late dinner at the Thai Food Corner. Name aside, the food was actually quite good, although the menu was nearly impenetrable (written in both German and Thai, which made it a teensy bit overwhelming). Somehow I ended up with chicken massaman curry, YUM, which was served with the following, terribly adorable, plate of rice.

So. Saturday we got up and went south to Locarno, which was lovely and sunny--up into the 50s during the day! HUZZAH! It's a nice enough town, near the northern end of Lago Maggiore ("Bigger Lake") and surrounded by extremely steep mountains. Small-ish old town, complete with a castle and a lovely large piazza, and a waterfront lined with little cafes and pizzerias. Certainly not as quaint, quiet, or beautiful as Varenna, our single other lake-district destination, but not bad at ALL.

View from our little hotel balcony.

Prosecco and snackies on the balcony. 

Mike helping me take a picture of our heroically-proportioned bathroom. (Plus, I loved the teeny gray subway tiles.)

Waterfront.

Really, isn't this why you go to Italy? (And the pasta, of course.)

If the funky chicken were a weathervane...

So...after wandering the mean streets of Locarno for hours, trying to find a place that looked interesting, we finally settled on Ristorante Il Boccalino for our single dinner in old town Locarno. (Mike claimed that his indecisiveness was due to the pressure of only having one dinner there; therefore, it had to be good. Me, I just didn't see any place in particular that said, "Dine hither!") But oh, the food! Soooo glorious. The aperitifs were divine, although I can't remember what was in them. Mike had an electric-orange, cream-of-pumpkin soup, which was fantastic, and then onto the pasta courses. Mine was spaghetti with shrimp, garlic, grape tomatoes, and red pepper; Mike's was spaghetti with tomato cream sauce with prosciutto crudo and mushrooms. All topped with fresh parmesan, of course, and all FRICKIN' FANTASTIC. Panna cotta with "forest berries" for dessert. People: if you're ever in Locarno for dinner, GO THERE.  

Anyway. The next day we meandered around the Piazza Grande...

Yes, those are Alps in the background. SO very pretty.

Saw the castle...

Castello Visconteo, initially built anywhere from the 10th to the 12th century, continued to be remodeled through the 16th century.

One of the few existing pictures of me that I don't hate. Mike says the only way to get me to hold still for photos is to treat me like a toddler: "Look at the birdie! Ooh, what's this over here?"

Found the fencing school...

To the basement, nerds! (Seriously, though. It's in the basement.)

Saw LOTS of trees with gigantic flowers on them, even in early March...

They had pale pink ones, too.

Saw Smurf costumes and action figures (!) for Fastnacht (the Swiss version of Carnival)....

Yaaaaaaaay, they still exist!

Enjoyed a sub-par cappuccino by the waterfront...

The bad ones are always better with sugar, we've found.

And took one last stroll down by the water. 

Yeah, it's kinda pretty here, if you're into this sort of thing.

We cut day 2 in Locarno short, because A) it was Sunday, and nothing but the cafes were open, and B) we REALLY needed to go home and assemble our closet. Which we're still in the process of doing, seeing as how it's this MASSIVE behemoth piece of furniture from--where else?--Ikea. At least we scarfed some amazing Italian sandwiches on the train home. (Mike's was prosciutto crudo, mozzarella, and mushrooms on a giant square ciabatta roll; mine was prosciutto cotto, mozzarella, and butter lettuce on a crispy, perfect baguette. SOOOOOOO FANTASTIC.)

What I just finished reading:

I was worried about my first foray back into fiction, after all of the history-nerd fare I've been consuming as of late, but I this was a seriously good book. Thanks for the recommendation, Dad. I finished this one in 3 nights, it was that good of a read. Stunningly, beautifully written, extremely compelling story...I can't remember the last time I was up that late to keep reading. I absolutely could not put it down, and probably would have stayed up all night, had not common sense prevailed (at least, after a time). Once again, I really don't want to ruin the entire book for anyone, so suffice it to say that this is the story of an atypical family's search for an outlaw son on the lam. It's a story full of faith and belief, heart and soul, heartbreak and miracles, I could go on...but the truth is, I can't do justice to this book in this paragraph. It is truly an exquisite read. The only problem I've discovered with this book is that I fail to see what I can read next that will even compare. READ IT. NOW.