My birthday celebrations in June 2022
Day 1 - The day(s) before!
I had already received a couple of cards before my birthday on 2 June 2022. First to arrive a couple of days ago were a card and flower arrangement from Christine F. She had apparently liaised with Richard about collecting an arrangement from the small flower shop by the station. It was a small bowl full of colourful flowers, accompanied by a card signed by many members of the On Stage Group, of which I am only an honorary member. The flowers and card were very pretty. And other cards started to arrive by post during the preceding days - of course I didn't open them!
Day 2 - The big day!
I got up a bit late for breakfast with Richard, and I opened all my cards. Most of them came from family members, but I also had some from old friends in UK - Sally, Penny, etc. I found room for them on our wide windowsill.
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| My colourful birthday cards! |
We returned via the ferry and rested during the afternoon. It was also the Trooping the Colour in London to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Don't suppose she knew about my do! Her card never arrived...
Day 3 - Off to Locarno
We had already planned to spend a special weekend in Locarno, a Swiss city we both like to visit. We packed our case on a sunny morning, and took an early bus to the station. I had printed out the train connections via Zug and Bellinzona to Locarno. We went through the Gotthard tunnel from sunshine into rain! When we arrived in Locarno, it was pouring down but luckily the hotel had arranged a pickup for us, which it took a few minutes to find. And we forgot to bring our umbrellas!!
The Hotel Belvedere was up a steep hill from the station via narrow cobble streets. Thank goodness we had our chauffeur! We checked in at the hotel, receiving a very friendly welcome - they had three multi-lingual ladies on duty at reception. We received our card keys and directions to our room on the third floor. We unpacked and had a bit of a rest.
Later we went in search of the swimming pool on the ground floor. The water was quite warm and partially under cover. We swam up and down a few times in a relaxed mood. Then we got dry and headed back to our room to relax before dinner. Before our meal, we sat in the indoor bar and enjoyed the artwork.
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| On the train journey |
It was still pouring with rain so we were seated inside for dinner. I had an aubergine tartlet followed by a trio of chicken, and a dessert of chocolate and raspberries. Yummy! We also enjoyed a bottle of Gruener Veltliner. There was very little to watch on TV and we had an early night. I slept like a log.
Day 4 - In Locarno
It was a fine day today, so we decided to take the funicular and cablecar up to Cardada. We had to wait a short while at the mid-stage change but the cablecar wasn't too full. On emerging at the summit, we walked along a rather dodgy path to the viewpoint, from where we could see the some of the highest Swiss mountains opposite and Lago Maggiore below. We also saw lots of swifts flying high to catch flies (according to Richard).
After enjoying the views, we returned by the same transport and went back to the hotel. I enjoyed a club sandwich for lunch, and Richard had prosciutto with melon. After resting for a while, we went for another nice swim, before sitting out in the garden on sunbeds with my book.
In the evening we had dinner at Ristorante Portico in the square in Locarno. I had minestrone soup and lamb; Richard enjoyed prawns and gnocchi. Plus some house red wine. It was a bit of a struggle to get back up the steep roads to our hotel. We both slept well.
Day 5 - the Journey Home
Our last breakfast at the Hotel Belvedere. We enjoyed our luxury visit! We had breakfast at our usual table outside. Again I failed to find a boiled egg, but I enjoyed orange juice, cappuccino with an excess of foam, and muesli with strawberries and blueberries; followed by a tasty choccy croissant. Then back to the room to finish our packing and pay for all the extras, including the funicular tickets!
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| Our hotel garden |
We waited for the shuttle bus which dropped us off early at the station, where I had time to pop into a stationery shop to buy a new English magazine.
Then, in a rash moment, Richard suggested taking an earlier train, the IR26, via a scenic route to Arth-Goldau. It was almost empty! It went along the old route via the loop round the same little church three times!
Then we went into a tunnel towards Brunnen, and the train got stuck!!! There were several announcements to the effect that there would be 'more news soon'. We waited a long 13 minutes, which was a bit scary. However the train eventually started again and we got off at Arth-Goldau where it was rainy and cold. We had a bit of a wait for the next train to Zug, and then boarded the IR75 which stopped at Thalwil. Luckily we didn't have too long to wait for the 145 bus home.
Happy to be back home again, where I had a couple more cards to open :-) . My bouquet from Christine is still going strong. Later, we watched a Midsomer Murders episode which we hadn't seen before!!