Twenty-seven Candles

We had a lovely day on Nick's birthday on Sunday. We started off with Nick's favourite brekkie: bacon and eggs on toast, coffee and o.j. Followed by present opening. He particularly enjoyed his Victorinox golf tool - which is a sophisticated spin on the traditional Swiss army knife.
We spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun, swimming and diving into the one hundred meter pool in Carona.
Carona is a lovely rustic village, all granite cobblestones, ochre facades and geraniums on windowsills. It’s situated in the hills overlooking Lake Lugano, completely immersed in forest.
The pool is set in a large, tastefully landscaped park that features some grand old maples and chestnut trees. There's also a cove that hosts a lounge bar, which serves mojitos and caipirinhas laced with electro funk.
After a pleasant aperitivo followed by some passionate smooching on the bar stools, we went for a three course dinner in the very swish Grotto Della Posta.
The old restaurant has been beautifully renovated and transformed into a contemporary-rustic style preserving some of the unique features, like the original fireplace and mantelpiece, and the old wooden tables and chairs. They even use white linen and tea lights on the tables in the garden, which is full of hydrangea bushes and forsythia – very romantic!
The result is very classy. We ordered salad, green olive gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce, rack of lam with eggplant ratatouille and a torrone parfait with chocolate sauce.
After I wobbled over the cobblestones (on my high heels), back to the black BMW we parked at the entrance of the village, we slowly drove home, following the winding road down the mountain.
It was a beautiful balmy night, in the moonlight, the surrounding mountains looked like big pillows covered in lush black velvet and the city lights twinkled like diamonds reflected in the lake as still as glass.