Old Town Zurich
Alassio
On the drive back to Lugano, we decided to leave Monaco early enough to stop over in Alassio, a smaller beach town on the Italian Riviera. One of my friends studied in Italian in San Remo over the summer and raved about this town. Luckily, we had the GPS to direct us off the autostrada and it conveniently directed us right to the center of town. It was the middle of the day, during the week, and entering into the sleepy season so the town was pretty quiet, but still very beautiful. There are miles of beaches and all types of small cafes lining the boardwalk. We managed to find another restaurant (Clapsy, pictured above) I had read up about and had the speciality in the area... foccacia di recco. Basically, very thin crusted pizza, cut up into small pieces, with all different toppings. It definitely wasn't what you would expect "foccacia" to look like, but we enjoyed it while overlooking the ocean. From there, we headed back to Lugano. About a hour or less after leaving the coast, the weather turned cloudy and grey. We managed to skirt by Milan and missed the possible traffic delays. We arrived home with enough time to return the car, leisurely walk around Lugano and then have drinks at a wine bar I've been eyeing for some time. I've started enjoying more Brunellos and my mom liked the Barbera. A change from typical Chiantis... Afterwards we went back to another favorite Italian spot downtown. The next morning, we took one last long walk along the lake and then headed to the train station for the trip to Zurich. Even though it was STILL raining the ride was still beautiful, green green green! Arriving in Zurich about 3pm, we checked into our hotel walked around the city and then got ready for drinks and dinner. I recently traveled to Zurich last summer and remembered my way around the city quite well. We were planning on having dinner at a Spanish Restaurant called Bodega, but ended up staying at Cantinetta Antinori, a restaurant on the Bahnhofstrasse. The atmosphere and food was too inviting to resist. After dinner, we celebrated our last night with some champagne at an amazing bar called Jules Verne Panorama Bar. It is above a French Brasserie called Lipp and it has about a 360 degree view of the city. On a clear day, I'm sure it is magnificent because even on a rainy evening it was still remarkable. The last time I was in Zurich I was leaving for the States the next day and wasn't able to enjoy the nightlife, but being there again made me want to visit again soon. Kel, maybe we need to have round two??!! I also enjoyed a taste of home at Starbucks. I know it's bad and probably hard to understand, but it sure is comforting! My mom left that morning, I wandered around the city for a few hours and then headed back on the train to Lugano. It was sad to have my mom leave and our trip to be over! I am very excited to come home in less than 2 months!
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