Overdue -- Lugano Professional Cycling Race

The Villa's Garden on a beautiful Sunday
(It's pretty awesome to sit out here after meals to relax for a little bit)

Friday, April 6, 2012 -- 12:37PM

So, I completely forgot to post about this: On Feb. 26th a couple of us caught the short train up to Lugano to spectate a cycling race. Basically all the top professional riders/teams were here for this short circuit race. Rick and Blake are huge cyclers, and I'm aspiring, so we decided to spend the morning up there before afternoon studio. It was a beautiful day and it was really awesome to see these extreme athletes.

Our train station

The first lap, they weren't trying yet. Smiling for pictures and whatnot

Cadal Evans, in the red, was the Tour de France winner

10 minute train ride back to Riva

Lugano, Switzerland

January 20, 2012 -- 3:40PM

Yesterday we traveled 15 minutes north to Lugano. It is the nearest "city" to us. It is very small and tucked in between the mountains on the Ticino River, just like Riva. It is an absolutely beautiful city. You can find anything from high design fashion/high end food/high end, international businesses to small businesses, small shops, small cafes, and brilliant parks. The architecture was absolutely amazing. It was like every other turn you took you found at least one nice building/detail to take a picture of. Many famous architects have built in this city such as Mario Botta and Thomas Durisch. We met with Lucy Ferrari, who founded this program with her husband who is the founder of Virginia Tech's College of Architecture.

Università della Svizzera italiana

Biblioteca

This building used to have an operable shading system but it broke within the first year

Mario Botta building