Swiss chocolate milk

We arrived about noon, just under 14 hours from leaving. It was a beautiful day, with incredible alpine scenery along the way. Lakes, rivers, waterfalls, picturesque isolated villages with a church steeple, stone walls, and green everywhere. I took some bad photos from the bus of Campione d'Italia and Lugano, just north of the Italian border, where I served as a young missionary in 1977. We still have dear friends there and visit every time to go to Italy. It was sad to be so close and not get a chance to see our friends.

Campione from across the lake

Lugano exit

We had been told that we couldn't check in until 2pm, but fortunately they had someone at the desk already, so we were able to get into our rooms immediately. Our room is small but functional, maybe 7 feet across and 20 feet deep. No drawers or nightstands or counter space! The accommodations here at the temple are not luxurious, but they only cost 10€ per day for patrons. Jim Huber says he calls this "temple camp." I was really exhausted and quickly took a very sound 1.5 hour nap before even unpacking in the afternoon. Meanwhile Dee took our wheeled cart to the grocery store about 15 minutes away on foot, getting food items for us. She bought some rice milk for me for breakfast, without realizing it was chocolate. She said the carton was written in German, but I retorted that the picture of chocolate milk on the front should have been a dead giveaway! 😍 That's ok; I would have opportunities to mess up as well, and we both laughed. She also bought an outlet strip, and we got some Swiss adapter plugs from the front desk. We forgot that the 3-prong plugs here are different (we left our Swiss adapters at home in California, not thinking we would need them during our mission), but now we're set.

In the basement of the patron housing facility is a common eating area, with several large fridges. Each of us gets a shelf. There are also banks of small storage bins, with one bin set aside per room, labelled with the room number. Within an hour or two of arriving, everything was completely stuffed. There is also a large kitchen, with utensils and flatware, plus eight cooktops and eight sinks. At dinner time, which is from 5pm until late because most of the patrons this week are from Italy, the place is bedlam, with all kinds of delicious food being cooked and consumed. Fortunately I cooked my dinner  early to beat the 7-9 pm Italian rush.

After unpacking, I could not find my vitamin/supplements and medicines. I was quite sure that I had packed them, but I went through my stuff several times. Fortunately I keep a week of extra meds in my shoulder bag, and Dee generously offered to share her supplements that we both take, so I would have been ok. After a while, I moved my pillow and there they were. Whew! Later that evening, after dressing for bed, I couldn't find the clip-on missionary nametag that I need for casual clothes. That would have been a bummer, forcing me to wear dress shirts the whole time. It would show up the next morning, turned with the white side up on a white shelf underneath a white handkerchief, which is why I couldn't find it. Dee didn't make fun of me at all for nearly losing two things, probably because we both do it. Traveling is hard, because you don't have known places to put things, and we are living partly out of suitcases.

The WiFi at the hostel here is pretty good. Dee has phone access, while I have only WiFi, and that works pretty well for us.

In the evening we did some visiting with Italians from our ward and all over. We also went to the store again right before closing, this time together, to get a few more things, including white rice milk. I then gave the two liters of chocolate milk to the Peregos and the Huber's son, making myself a hero in both cases. 

There is no AC in the housing here, but fortunately it isn't too hot. It cools down nicely at night when we open our window, auguring well for our sleeping. We needed to get up early for the next morning, so we got to bed soon after 10pm.

I met three women who are Temple workers here. They are a mother and her two daughters. The daughter was a new member in Naples when I served there in 1976. I didn't remember her, unfortunately, but we know people in common, so they filled me on some of them. The mother wanted to know why I didn't ask to come to Naples on our mission. It doesn't work that way....Speaking of seeing people, we're so happy that Ugo's parents have driven up for the week. 

We went for a walk in the evening, and felt like we were getting bitten by mosquitoes. West Nile is taking hold in northern Italy and probably here, so we were anxious about it. But it turned out that we weren't bitten, whew.

Riding on the bus caused my ankles to swell (especially on the left, where I had broken my foot). I wore compression stockings on the bus, which helped but couldn't eliminate it. Never being horizontal for a day and a half is hard on a body.

When I walked to the store, I saw fruit trees like fig, plum and peach. I guess it's not as cold here. But I also saw apples. It's such a homey neighborhood. The houses aren't big by La Costa standards, but they look comfortable. I was surprised to see a pool in one side yard. The fence was two feet high.

Everything is clean and orderly here. And the drivers stop when you cross the street!

I went to a second store (Coop) to try to get celery for Doug, but it was $8. They're not kidding that Switzerland is pricey.

On the bus, I got to visit with the Hubers for an hour or so. They are a huge positive influence for the young people of the ward, and just plain nice. They've been here for three years. He is an Army pilot, a colonel for over 25 years, and works in Nato. He served a mission to Argentina when he was young and his wife Kim served in Belgium. They have lived all over the world and know how to be a part of the family wherever they are.