Tessin

The day after the wedding my host Parents took my self and Elaine down to Tessin which is in the Italian part of Switzerland. This was just a wonderful trip……warm, sunny ….just heaven.

We drove down the long way over the top of the Gotthard Tunnel, which was just beautiful. It is faster if one goes through the Gotthard Tunnel however the Gotthard Tunnel is a huge long tunnel over 18km long and for the view....well there is not much to see. So we decided to go over the top of the tunnel and zig-zag our way through the mountains taking the Gotthard Pass. This was so beautiful, huge mountains, rocky plains hills of green tress, windy roads, and we even stumbled across people going over the pass in a Historical horse drawn carriage.







Once in Tessin I could hardly believe that I was still in Switzerland, no longer were there cows wandering around the bergs covered with snow….oh no .now there were vineyards and palm trees …yes palm trees in Switzerland, it was hot, it was sunny, the buildings were made out of old stones and not wood….and if I had not seen Swiss flags flying I really never would have thought that I could possibly in a million years be in Switzerland.



Our Hotel was a lovely family run hotel and restaurant. It was made out of stone and had a great tropical feel, and while it was basic, it was clean and the people were friendly.




Our days in Tessin were spent swimming in many a different location. We swam in a Public bath pool area, and I have never seen so many people in their bathers in my life. It was exceedingly strange for me to see everyone of all shapes and size strutting around in their bathers with no board shorts or t-shirts.



It was also so odd to see people just stripping off in the middle of the grass and getting changed. I would never ever ever do that at all in Australia and I can not imagine anyone else doing that either, I was so shocked. At school we all go to the bathrooms to get changed after swimming locking our selves in a private cubical, if there aren’t any cubicles free then we use our towels as a tent to get hanged in….never in a hundred years would people just strip off and walk around in the nuddy-pants.

So apart from the nakedness of other people, swimming was just wonderful. On Various days we also swam in a lake, and in a river….the river was so so cold…but he water was so fresh and refreshing it was actually rather nice.




When we were not swimming we went and saw the sites of Tessin:

From a huge big dam…where James bond went bungee jumping,

to the old historic houses of Tessin,

to the city at night


Even to the view form the top of a mountain that we reached by a small train.






My favourite place was when we went to ‘Switzerland Miniature’…so as the name says a miniature version of Switzerland.



This was just amazing. Everything was built so perfect…if it was not a 20th of the size I would have thought it to be real.



I saw everything there is to see in Switzerland from Solothurn (The city where my school is),


to Bern,



to Luzern

to Cathedrals,





and many a small famous building









I felt alot like "big foot" walking around Switzerland almost stomping on all the cities and railways.




Also as one does in the Italian part of Switzerland we spent most of our time eating lots of Italian style foods. I had everything from pizza to pasta ....so good.








I was even lucky enough to get to go on a bungee trampoline with my host sister. I have not been on a trampoline in 6 months and I miss it greatly.

However I must say while the bungee cords are great fun…I do still think the freedom of being able to spin and fly solo without any bungee is still my favourite way to trampoline.

Our last evening was dinner in a restaurant over looking the whole of Tessin. The view from here was just magnificent. I even met the chef who had been to Australia and loved it so much he gave me a plastic Swiss flag.

Tessin was a great trip. I had so much fun. I loved the sun, the warmth and just having fun with my host family.