When my mom first visited the United States in 1989, I remember her saying that she finally understood why Tony Bennett sang that he “left his heart in San Francisco.” When she left to come home, she said she left part of her heart there. And now, I think there’s a little part of my heart that I left behind somewhere on the train ride from Basel to Lugano.
Switzerland has been nothing but amazing, but nothing prepared me for what I would see as our train emerged from one of the tunnels going to Lugano. Having lived in the tropics all my life, snow-capped mountains simply wasn’t a reality I could speak of or relate to. Don’t get me wrong, I love how I can go from the mountains to the sea within a single day and I miss swimming in Samal Island’s majestic coral reefs – but boy, the Alps certainly took my breath away. And I think a part of my heart.