Tuesday's travels

We were up fairly early Tuesday and ready for some sightseeing. We decided to head up the Valle Verzasca. We took a bit of a side trip up the western side of the valley to enjoy the town of Mergoscia. Mergoscia is perched high on the side of the mountain, overlooking the lake behind the Verzasca Dam. We spent about an hour here, enjoying the scenery, visiting the church and the cemetery. Then we headed back down the road to cross over below the Verzasca dam and head up the Valle Verzasca. The next stop along the way was the town of Lavertezzo, famous for its very photographed bridge, of which we took many. One of the more exciting things going on in town that day was trash pickup. And being a true Dashnau, I just had to check out the pile and the dumpster. And, yes, Pauline was right in there with me.
We continued up the road to a spot along the river just south of Brione where we had a picnic lunch of cheese, fruit and bread.  Then we headed on up to the end of the road and the town of Sonogno. A beautiful town to walk thru. We visited one artisan shop where most of the things for sale were wool and felt items raised and made right in the area. We spent some time on the way back down the valley walking thru the town of Frasco, enjoying the stone homes, the gardens, the wisteria that seems to be everywhere and a beautiful water fall. Of course a stop at the Verzasca dam was called for on the way back. The dam is famous for a bungy jumping scene in a James Bond movie. Now there is a company were you can pay $250 for one jump. One look from the jumping platform was enough for me.

We then headed back into town for another grocery store adventure. Andy was coming down for the night and we needed to have something for dinner. At the time we had no idea that he was bringing friends along. This time we went shopping at the COOP. It is several stories high and at least one square block. First you pull into the parking garage and try to figure out the payment method. Then you 'buy' a grocery cart. You put a coin, almost any will do, into a slot in the handle. That releases  a chain that has attached it to the cart in front of it. When you bring your cart back and re lock it, the coin pops back out of the handle. Next it is on to the large glass elevator, and trying to figure out what level you are on and what level the groceries are on. Finally you arrive in the grocery section only to find out that nothing is in english and you shop by pictures. It is quite an adventure. Very little in the way of canned things, and the packaging sizes are much smaller. The produce selection is amazing and colorful. Everything looks so fresh! You chose your produce, put it in a bag and then when you weigh it you also enter the bin number that you got it from and out pops a price tag to put on the bag. Groceries are rather expensive here. We have not been able to get ourselves to buy any meat yet other than sausage at the local butcher. A package of two boneless chicken breasts was close to $10lb. So we headed right on over to the pasta aisle and got several boxes. They have lots of different things for adding to pasta, including more varieties of sauces and cans of tuna that have tomatoes and basil mixed in with the tuna and other assorted combinations. Finally finished with the grocery shopping we searched for the elevator, headed down to the car, re-locked the cart and tried to find our way out of the garage. Then it was back to the house, carry the groceries down 140 some odd steps,exhausted, only to find out that company was coming for dinner.

     We started with cheese and sausage, both fresh from the butcher at the top of the hill. Then Andy announced that the 'company' that was coming was someone that we already knew, a friend he had brought along with him to Michael and Whitney's wedding. A bit later Hans and his wife Dora arrived and we started in on the wine, the grappa, the salad, then the spaghetti, then the pork and sausage cooked over a fire on the patio. We headed in after this to escape the chill and enjoyed strawberries, cookies, chocolate, strong coffee, sampling the varieties of wine that come from the vineyards here, grappa, walnut liquor, sambuco, and lots of laughter.