Anecdotes about some of the people we met (mostly fictitious names):

Canadian tea man

A Canadian named Mark owns Casa del Tea, a tea shop in Locarno's Citta Vecchia (Old town - developed mainly in the 16th and 17 centuries). This cozy, easy-to-miss shop is at Via San Francesca #1 and well worth a visit. It is not a restaurant but a shop that sells raw tea, not the brewed stuff. The pony-tailed Mark sits at the back surveying his treasures and keeps a pot boiling to give samples of whatever he's drinking that day. 

Mark, married to a native Ticinian, is happy to chat about life in Ticino as well as the tea business. He has imported tea ranging from a few dollars to over a $100/lb. He showed us tea rolled into a hard slab (like a gold bar) that was used as money in China, Tibet, and elsewhere. Other teas were hand-rolled into what looked like birds nests and flowers, for use as ceremonial teas. This small shop is gem!

Ascona restaurateur

Lunching at the waterfront Moevenpick in Ascona, we met the manager Francesco. His Italian name but distinctly British accent led to an animated conversation. Franco, as he preferred, was born of Italian parents in London, England but moved as a child with his family to Verbania on Lake Maggiore. Asked why he was working in Switzerland, Franco indicated that he had the best of both worlds: higher Swiss wages and lower Italian cost of living.

A natural raconteur, it didn't take much to get Franco to talk politics. About politicians,  Franco had this witticism: "Politicians are like minestrone soup. Minestrone can have many different vegetable combinations. Some minestrones have more carrots, some more garbanzo beans, some more tomatoes, and some more zucchini." Franco then added with a sardonic grin, " But in the end it's all still minestrone."

French artiste

Wherever we travel, we try to buy a small painting as a memento. The search led us to Maurice Frido and his Gallerie-Atelier at Via Borgo 25 in Ascona. Maurice, age 67, was originally from Paris and had lived in Ascona for 36 years. He spoke better French than English so that is how we conversed. 

Dressed in a straw-coloured suit with vest, matching two-tone shoes, and colorful ascot, Maurice and his goatee would be at home in the Paris of the 1930s. He enthusiastically  showed us which pictures he had painted for his wife on her major birthdays and proudly showed his paintings of their beautiful daughter. 

His collection was diverse but the ones that we liked most were reproductions of his huile sur toile paintings of Anscona and Locarno in the impressionist style. Maurice also had postcard reproductions of many of his Ticino scenes and these were priced to sell at 3 CHF each.

Our lasting impression is of a man who truly enjoyed life and had lived it to the fullest. His joie de vivre was infectious.

Train Encounters

You encounter interesting characters on Swiss trains. 

The Australians (future in-laws)

On the almost 4-hour return trip from Basel, we found ourselves seated in one of the enclosed rail compartments with a stylishly dressed 50-ish couple from Australia named Ian and Tess. Tess was engrossed in a Dick Francis paperback as Ian read the International Herald Tribune.  When they ordered some wine from the concession cart, Tess looked at us.

 "I hope you don't mind that we're drinking but we need courage as we are meeting the parents of our son's fiance for dinner tonight." 

Their son had met an Italian girl on his travels and she was completing her PhD in Switzerland. Her parents, the future in-laws lived in Lugano, which was where Ian and Tess were heading after vacationing a month in Europe. After the events of September 11 Ian had wanted to go home to the comforts of Australia but Tess had insisted that they stay as she did not want to miss one moment with her son.

Tess and Ian had made many trips to Europe and were enthusiastic travellers, having gone around the world with their children. Tess noted that their daughter and some friends had visited Canada and they occasionally mimicked what she called the "Canadian accent with its broad vowels."  Cannot imagine what she meant as we Canucks do not have accents. Their favorite country--Ireland. As Ian put it with a grin, "We feel quite at home in Ireland. The Irish tend to feel the same about the Brits as we do."

Unfortunately our chat ended in Bellizona where we had to change trains for Locarno while they went on to Lugano with our best wishes for an intrepid dinner.

German caravaners

On the train to through centovalli (valley of a 100 valleys) in Italy (on the way to Stresa via Domodossola) we were lucky to sit beside Max and Rose, an elderly German couple, and a vision of the perfect Opa and Oma. Max and Rose lived in the Black Forest region of southern Germany and were travelling around Switzerland in their campervan. As Rose explained, they were visiting their many Swiss friends but mostly followed the sun. The train was the best way to see centovalli and after the trip to Domodossola they planned to drive the camper to Stresa.

Max was likely in his early 80s and was not as fluent in English as Rose. Picture a  white-haired, chubby gentleman dressed in loud shorts and a patterned top that would not be out of place on a beach in Waikiki. Despite being a bit frail and unsteady on his feet, Max constantly maneuvered about the compartment to get the best shots with his video camera. As the train swerved around hairpin gorges, stumbles and near falls did not phase him. Rose went out of her way to explain some of the vegetation visible from the train windows. We can only wish that at their age we have half the energy and adventurous spirit of this delightful couple. 

"Muttie und die Kinder"

On the trains from Zermatt to Locarno, with a change in Domodossola, we met a German family - Maria, her daughter Lea and son-in-law Niklas, both in their 20s. They had left their car in St. Moritz and were using a rail pass for their Swiss holiday. They epitomized what we had noticed in Locarno--how often in Europe the different generations vacation together. 

The travel agent

Eva, a woman of about 60, helped us out on the platform in Bellizona, where we had to change trains on our way to Basel. The time for the train to Basel (actually Frankfurt, as that was the final destination) had come and gone. The overhead speaker was blaring something in Italian that we did not understand. Seeing our confusion, Eva came over and told us what we suspected--the train was late. 

Eva was a native of the Ticino region who had lived in several cities in  Europe and the USA as her husband, now deceased, was a chef and they relocated periodically. Currently she resided in Florida where she had a part-time job with a travel agency as a tour guide specializing in Switzerland and Germany. Each year Eva would lead a few tours to Europe then stay for an extended visit with her family. One of her brothers ran a hotel in Ascona and she was happy to work on the front desk for him for a couple of weeks. 

When the train finally arrived, Eva noted that it was probably delayed in Italy, certainly not Switzerland as Swiss trains always ran on time.

Aussies from Germany

Gunther and Anna, both 50ish and travelling with only backpacks, commiserated with us on the way from Locarno to Zurich at the end of our trip. We had heard them speaking both English and German soon after departing Locarno and later learned that they were originally from Germany but now lived in Australia. 

The terrorist attack of September 11 had really shook them up because they had twice holidayed in New York and stayed at a hotel in the World Trade Center complex. We all had a similar sensation on first seeing the airplanes fly into the Twin Towers--it must be a movie.

Gunther and Anna were near the end of a European holiday chasing what was left of the summer sun. Athens was next, then home via Thailand. No one was looking forward to flying.