Locarno, Switzerland

The weekend of Sept 25 we headed to the Italian part of Switzerland for Ted's birthday.  We drove through the famous St. Gotthard Tunnel which is 10.5 miles in length making it the third longest in the world.  The weather was miserable and rainy when we entered but on the other side we were welcomed with warm temps and lot of sunshine!  We stayed in the city of Locarno, at a camp ground where we rented a trailer for 2 nights.  The girls loved it!  The city boarders lake Maggiore and we spent our first evening enjoying the boardwalk and eating pizza and gelato.  The next day we boarded a boat and cruised toward Italy but got off on an island called The Isole di Brissago, once home to a very wealthy family who built a mansion and turned the island into a botanic garden paradise.

 Here's me and my soon to be 3 girls.  I'm 5 months pregnant and in my 23rd week.

 

The girls loved playing in the formal Roman looking bath/pool.  Right up until they booth fell in and had to live with wet pants the rest of the afternoon.

 

The girls had tons of fun playing on the knobby roots of these Cypress tree.  Because these trees grow where the soil is saturated with water they have developed these "breathing knees" roots to obtain oxygen.

Here's a view from Lake Maggiore as we took the boat back to Locarno.