mostly harmless.

News from the shores of Lake Lugano is scarce, I’m afraid. Most of my peers have abandoned Switzerland and are currently en route to the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest this weekend.

It’s rained twice since I’ve been here. Rain here is strong; it’s rarely a drizzle but a downpour that lasts for hours on end. It’s refreshing and disheartening at once.

We took a trip with one of my professors up to Rigi Kulm and then down through Luzerne a few weeks ago. The mountain views were breathtaking and it was great to get to explore a new city. The rest of my photos from the trip are all up here.

On the way downtown, I have to pass a house on a hill. I adore this house, fitted with a long, grandiose set of stairs and what I image to be one of the best views of the lake in all of Lugano. The building is completely surrounded by trees and has a multi-leveled garden in front of it. The narrow streets of downtown Lugano are always jam-packed with people, a veritable menagerie of different cultures. Walking down the streets you can pass by conversations in dozens of languages. The rest of my photos of downtown Lugano can be found here.

Finally, I bought a new tea cup today at a store downtown. The woman who owned the store was very nice and told me that people come in and buy her tea cups one at a time, usually not in sets, because that way every pattern on every cup you own is unique and gorgeous at once.

Here it is, in all its floral patterned glory:

Maybe someday I can get a collection as fantastic as jljjld’s!

(Polarioid image template from Poladroid.)