Movies and Rain

We're back from Locarno (a week ago) and I can truly say I had a brilliant weekend.  Our 3 hour road-trip to this little town close to Italy was breathtaking. We took a longer route over the Gotthard mountain pass but were rewarded with breathtaking views.  At the top we were met with mysterious spooky fog which made for a dream-like experience.

Once in Locarno we walked around taking in the rustic architecture, bustling film-festival goers & enjoyed listening to everyone around us speaking Italian.  Once we realised that a few crisps munched in the car didn't count as an adequate meal, we stopped at a little café by the lake and shared a salad and the cutest mini croque monsieur while wishing we could speak better French (him) and Spanish (me). It didn't rain until about 30 minutes before they scanned our tickets to let us into the Piazza Grande so we quickly bought some bright yellow plastic ponchos which we wore while eating our pizza slices & espressos-to-go as we waited for the stars to arrive.

We werent really fans for the film Cowboys & Aliens but Drive, which was the second feature film was far more entertaining (although I had to close my eyes at the gruesome bits). The soundtrack was amazing.

 Sometimes we take Switzerland for granted: view we got while driving towards Locarno

Huge rock faces whilst we drove over the Gotthard mountain pass

We found ourselves driving through many of the tunnels pictured here at the bottom

The higher we got, the foggier it became

 Mouth-meltingly-good:  our Mini Croque Monsieur

Salad with Goat's Cheese

 Italian Coffee by the lake

 Just saying hi to my friend Craig

  Sitting in the Piazza Grande for a drink before the Films

 Locarno's massive open-air screen, it's as big as the buildings!

 Waiting in line to see if we could still watch the movies in the rain

 We could...  We did (with the help of our sexy ponchos)

We saw celebrities and the atmosphere was great, it was very much worth it

 on Sunday after a long sleep, we watched some beach volleyball in Basel before watching another open air movie

Nice seats we had with the Historical Barfüsserplatz Museum in the Background.

We ended up seeing 3 movies in an open-air setting in 2 Swiss cities within 24 hours. It was certainly an experience, but I may be watched-out for a week or so.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  

LILY's REVIEW

On Sunday it was Date night  :-)  !!!  We went to one of our favourite restaurants in Basel. Lily's!  This pan-Asian restaurant has a simplistic modern design of communal thick wooden tables & benches which encourages communal dining. They serve fresh currys (Indian/Thai), wok, soups noodles & more. It boasts an open kitchen often lit up by fire created by the chefs wok-tossing skills. Lily's keeps a focus on the simplicity of delicious food

In the Garden with my plants

 Lily's Kitchen

 the Ice Teas 

I would certainly recommend either the bright orange thai ice-tea or the deep red hibiscus ice-tea as the ideal thirst quencher.  I tried a lemon-grass ice-tea this time which was also fresh but can't compare to the favourites.  We shared a chicken-satay to start with and I have always found this to be the best in Basel as both the chicken is perfectly seasoned and the peanut sauce is ultra creamy!  We ate it too quickly so I couldn't take a picture.

Pad Thai Gai & Bai Kapao Mains

Hmm beefy smokey taste !

The Pad-Thai-Gai is fail-safe and delicious- it's what I order at Lily's 80% of the time. It is the perfect combination of Rice Noodles, Bio-Tofu cubes, chicken, egg, peanuts, spring garlic, soya beans all fried up in a sweet&sour tamarind sauce and garnished with a handful of fresh coriander.

My ♥ ordered the Bai Kapao: A wok dish composed of beef slices, thai-basil, thai-green beans, cauliflower, chilli & garlic and served with a fried egg on top. Sometime's this can come very spicy but the heat gives it a particular kick. It all came to about Fr.-75 for the two of us which isn't too bad for Switzerland.






THE MOVIE WE WENT TO SEE

We walked back to Gross Basel and watched the 'Tree of Life' in a near-empty cinema which was perfect for the date-mood.  Terrence Malick created a dream-like film packed full of so many beautiful shots leaving you in an awe of relaxation (almost hypnotising). It was very unlike the usual big-buck films that are common for Summer.  I liked that there was a bit of an indie/kult-kino feel to it.

  

P.S  Here's a quick close up of my babies.  my Tomatoes!

getting big !