Italian Switzerland... all the Swiss efficiencies mixed with all of Italy's charm

Nate and I were able to spend a four day weekend in this gorgeous part of Switzerland and it turned out to be the most relaxing trip yet. This was quite unexpected for me because we hiked & camped and I didn't think it would be possible to relax... but we did.

The four hour train ride (the longest one we've taken in Switzerland) flew by as we were nestled in the Alps for about 3 hours... we went through parts of the country that we had never seen before. When we passed by the lake in this picture, we both looked at each other and said, "We have to come back here!"
This next picture of Jake probably has you slightly puzzled, but let me explain. The first 5 months of being in Europe, Jake traveled just about everywhere with us (yes, we know he's spoiled). Well, every time he traveled with us, we had to buy a train ticket for him too, but one day someone told me that we wouldn't have to pay for him if we put him in a 'bag'. Nate and I were not too sure that Jake would sit still in a bag, but we tried it and... it worked! The guy came by to check our tickets and didn't say a word about us paying for Jake. He just looked at him and gave him a big smile. Also, Jake was calmer than usual because we put a soft towel inside the bag, so he was comfy and even fell asleep... a win, win situation. Thanks to Cotton Inc. for the perfect-sized Jake tote bag! :)

When we arrived in Lugano, we strolled it's hilly streets and grabbed some lunch. We needed our energy to do some climbing a little later.

But we thought we would let the cable car do most of the climbing for us. :)

I was pretty nervous about this cable car ride because it was really steep. It made a clicking sound that reminded me of going up a roller coaster ride and for some reason that made me more nervous... as if I was anticipating a big drop. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
When we got to the top, we had to hike a little ways for the views. The sky was a bit cloudy and hazy, so that was a little disappointing, but it was still awesome to be up that high.

Can you find me in this picture?

I think this is just the sweetest picture of Nate & Jake...

This was a scary spot. There's a huge drop off under my feet and it was so windy, I felt like I was going to fall over!

Once we reached the very top of an old church, there was a 360 degree view of Lake Lugano. It was breathtaking. A sign says that on a clear day, you can see the city of Milan from this view point!

After our little hike, we ventured to our campsite. It was in a tiny town off of the lake called Caslano. We kind of took a risk with going there, but it turned out to be a little gem.

It's a good thing I took a picture of this, otherwise, you might not have believed me... Nate finally got me to go camping with him! Ever since we were first married (almost 3 years ago), Nate has been trying to take me camping, but somehow it never worked out. I always had some excuse for not going, mainly because I worked on the weekends. I mean, your job comes first in those situations, right? So, before moving to Switzerland, Nate made sure that he bought all the gear to backpack and camp throughout this outdoorsy country... and now I have no excuse!

This was our spot every night as we ate dinner. We had to wait awhile for our food because we think they made the pasta fresh, after we ordered. We had some of the best ravioli we ever tasted. We didn't take pictures of our food because we were too hungry and forgot!

This picture didn't turn out that great because it was pretty dark out, but it was really peaceful to watch the swans swim by...

We started off our second day with some coffee and pastries (energy for a much bigger hike) as we waited for our boat to arrive.

Nothing fancy... but it was fun to ride!

We weren't quite sure what Jake thought of his first boat ride... he was either having fun or plotting a way to jump off... ha!When we got to our destination, we had to take another mode of transportation, a funicular. It looks like it took us a long way, but I think it only helped us with a fourth of the way of our uphill hike. Nate wanted to forgo the funicular, but I thought he was crazy, so we ended up taking it, and that was definitely the smartest decision we made that day.

This hike was the toughest, steepest, and most tiring of all other hikes I've ever done. I had been sick for the whole week before our trip, so maybe that had something to do with it, but there were times when my legs could barely take another step! It was even much harder than going up the steep parts of the Grand Canyon. Nate agreed with me, so I know I wasn't imagining it. When we finally reached the top, the views were quite rewarding.

I was so happy to finally be sitting down! The mountain behind us to the left was the mountain that we went to the top of the previous day.
We went a different round going back down and it was a lot easier. But then again, going down is always easier. This path led us through cute little Swiss-Italian towns...

And pretty country sides with vineyards. After 5 hours of hiking, Jake was still going strong!

After our hike and another delicious dinner, we slept really well... even in a little tent. Our last day we decided to take a boat cruise around the lake to the different towns. It was so relaxing. It took us by the cutest towns and eventually back to Lugano, where we need to go...

This picture cracks me up... Jake is making the funniest face...

Before heading back home, we took one last look of the city of Lugano, but we hope to go back someday!