Lugano (photos soon)

Today's international ride to Lugano (Switzerland) will involve some hills. Not easy to cross all the highways that ring Milan. I have done this same ride last year in the opposite direction. I device to try another road that avoids all the traffic of Como, of Lake Como fame. This is a good decision and it's a quick, but a little boring ride, to Lugano.
Lugano is famous for being one of the wealthiest cities of Switzerland, due to its special banking practices. This is bounlrne out by the abundant luxury shops and sports cars. CouchSurfing tonight with Marco means that I get to see some of the city with a local and have not need to find a place to pitch the ol' tent. I really don't see why so many tourists visit here. Sure the lake is nice and there are nice views from the tall nearby mountains, but the general atmosphere is destroyed by high rise apartments and excessive traffic. To be fair, they have drastically increased the bicycle infrastructure in the last eight months. Still, there are far nicer cities in Switzerland.