Walking: It's the cool thing to do

Hi folks,

So I haven't had internet for least 24 hours--it was quite the scare. And quite frustrating. Apparently the air conditioning the main computer room where they keep all the servers shut off, and then everything overheated and all the servers shut down. So that was lame. I spent way too much time attempting to recharge my phonecard yesterday because they chose me for a "random security verification," and they wanted the last four digits of my social security number, my birthday date, voice recognition from someone at the home phone number. And then it never went through. Mom ended up having to call them, and they accepted her credit card number with batting an eye. How lame is that? Ah well. I was just thrilled to have some minutes.

Let's see... so what happened yesterday? Saturday. Ah. I remember now. Deniz and I went to town around 11:15am, I won't mention anything that happened before then because it's not really of note. We walked to Manor (grocery/department store), where I purchased a large yellow pot (hooray!). Then Baba called after he and Angi returned to Lugano after spending a couple of days in Ascona. Sounds like they had some excellent food there. Deniz and I had turkish food for lunch from a little place right next to Manor. Then we walked along the waterfront until we ran into Baba and Angi there. Then we took them to the Turkish place for lunch. Then we got some gelato. Then we walked and walked and walked some more. Ended up walking for about five solid hours yesterday. After that Deniz headed back to Girasole and I went to visit Baba and Angi at their hotel and receive many food-gifts from Ascona. Then I went back to Girasole and got dressed, and Deniz came with us out to dinner at La Gondoletta.

Baba ordered a lobster out of the tank there, who he dubbed "Pierre." But we're quite sure Pierre was not actually served to him... Angi had ossobucco, and Deniz had lasagna. And I had cervo with spatzle (sp?). Cervo = deer. It came with a lot of candied fruits too. So that was something new and different. Maybe not either for the masses, but for me at least. Then Deniz and I were dropped off back at Girasole, and I made new popcorn on the stove with my brand new pot and watched The Big Lebowsky. Went to bed around midnight--that's the latest I've stayed up other than Blues to Bop. Yes, I'm a cool college kid.

Then this morning I met Baba and Angi for breakfast at their hotel. It was a buffet, the buns were good. The waiters were not very fond of people. Ah well. After that we went for a walk all the way down to the Lido, where the swimming pool/other swimming recreations may be found. That was 90 minutes, or 2 hours. Something like that. Then I came back to Girasole only for a bit, only to have Baba call and summon me to go on another walk. We walked all the way to Gandria, had lunch a little before we got there, then took a boat back to Lugano. In all it was about a four hour trip--probably 2.5-3 hours of walking.

I am almost convinced at this point that walking is THE thing to do here. I mean, what else is there, really? Other than drinking and eating? Or maybe jogging? That reminds me, there was a 5km and 10km Terry Fox run (for cancer?) this morning in Lugano today. It rained this morning for a bit, but it cleared up a bit in the afternoon, and largely held out until the boat pulled in for the most part. I should probably go get ready for dinner soon, too. I am very tired after so much walking. I think I am going to meet Baba and Angi for breakfast tomorrow morning before I go to classes, and before they leave. They're planning on leaving Lugano for Milan at about 10:30am, I think.

All right, so those are the highlights for now. I am sure there are many more amusing anecdotes that could be provided, except that I have to both finish some homework and get dressed for dinner within the next hour... Miss you guys!

Smile,
Ari

PS I have been receiving all the comments that have been posted--I do apologize for not really addressing them a whole lot. But I do always receive them and enjoy reading them! :-)