1 August - Cardada

Sunday August 1 was a big day for the Swiss. It’s the day Switzerland was founded. Every Swiss person was legally required to fly, hang, or wear at least 5 flags. It was like the 12^th of September 2001, only no one was rallying around George Bush. Despite the national theme, Analyn and I had only a local and a spiritual goal. Since I had failed to get Analyn real polenta last summer, I had to show her the real thing. Secondly, she had not yet been up to Cardada, the mountain across the lake from my house, above Locarno. She also wanted to go to church since it was Sunday. We had a plan to accomplish all our goals.

To get up to Cimetta, one needs to take the funiculare from Locarno up to Orselina, that’s only 10 minutes. From Orselina, you take the cable car up to Cardada at about 1000 meters. There we enjoyed the observation platform and I asked every employee in sight where the mass was. I got two “I have no idea” and two other answers that contradicted each other.

Then we rode the chairlift up to Cimetta. From there we walked down the hiking trail to an area called Alpe de Cardada, where I found us a mass. As my faithful readers know, I’m not big on masses, but this one was pretty cool. First, it was outside, in the shade of a huge cross. Secondly, it was on an Alpine peak over an amazing blue lake slithering off towards the Po plain. Finally, it was in Italian. I think all masses should have these three components. The paragliders were just gravy. When the proceedings got a little dull I simply watched them catch pockets of wind and float over, under, and around us like slow, silent, and very large bees that don’t sting.

Afterwards, we sat at the nearby restaurant where I had enjoyed polenta last summer with Radu et al – see prior blog. This stuff was autentico, rustico and damn good. I have and will continue to recommend it to anyone who will listen – or read. Analyn got a big platter of local Ticinese meats and I got polenta baked with fennel and mushrooms. Next time I’ll skip the fennel. We sat by the spring and cistern and watched kids and hikers stop by to play or drink. It was he purest, sweetest water I can remember in a long time.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day, literally and figuratively, was downhill as Analyn needed to pack for her flight the next day.