Last week Michael and I escaped the quickly approaching winter cold by taking a trip to Ticino- the southern most canton of Switzerland. Ticino is on the other side of the Alps, right next to Italy, and infact, the people in this part of Switzerland speak Italian. This time of year, its only a couple degrees (celsius) warmer, but full of sunshine, unlike the mittelland where fall is characterized by dense seas of fog.

To get to where we would be staying in Vosa, we first took a 4 hour train that went through the mountains and into... Italy!

Then another train east, back into Switzerland- Ticino, with sunshine, and a view of the mountains the whole time.

Once in the city of Locarno, which lies in a valley between two mountains, we took a bus up the side of one of the mountains...

Then a cable car to the other mountain, because this side of the valley doesn't have any roads...

THEN after a 20 minute hike on this side of the mountain, we arrive at last in Vosa di Dentro.

An activity Michael and I find ourselves doing every now and then on free days is helping Katharina (Michael's mom) out with her garden. Here are some photos from earlier this season of Katharina's beautiful home & garden.

On the way to Katharina's

Greetings from Switzerland! Here are a few photos to get you up to speed on my time here so far.

I've been staying with Michael in his squat in the city of Biel. Here're some of the fellow squatters, during a yard sale outside the houses.