Switzerland

• see also:

  • Europe

  • Central Europe

  • Western Europe

  • France

  • 10 day forecast for Delemont, Switzerland on weather.com 

Introduction:

• see maps here
• capital: Bern
• financial capital: Zurich.
• area:  41,293 sq.km
• pop:  7.3m (2000)
• govt: federal republic
• currency: Swiss franc
• language: German, French, Italian, Romansch
• religion: Catholic 49%, Protestant 48%
• geography:
• weather:
  • 10 day forecast for Delemont in the NW, lying in a valley at 1400' above sea level near peaks reaching 4500' - in Summer, overnight minimums 7-13degC, maximums 16-24degC.

• travel:

  • visas - Australian passport holders do not need a visa for tourist trips to France less than 90 days in 6mths (2005)

  • railways:

    • Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) - highly recommended, clean, efficient

    • Europass  

    •  

  • international airports:

    • Zurich airport:

      • massive airport - you need to catch a mini-train within the airport to get to your gate lounge - allow 15-30 min to find it!

      • train from Zurich airport (Zürich-Flughafen):
        • 10min to Zurich HB central station & run every 10min 
        • every 30min to Berne, Basel, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Constance, Geneva, Lausanne, Zug.

      • flights to Australia via:

        • via Singapore - Qantas, Singapore Airlines

          • Singapore Airlines has flights to Zurich but not Berne, and do not allow baggage check-in the day prior at railway stations as do many other airlines to save time.
          • Swiss Air fly from Zurich to Singapore, Hong Kong and then use another carrier to get you back to Melbourne

    • Geneva airport:

    • Berne airport:

    • Basel EuroAirport:

Basel / Bâle (French name):

• Basel website / Basel Tourism / official city map 

• a city on the Rhine (Rhein) River in north-west Switzerland and one of the main railway stations for travellers from France via Mulhouse (pron. mule-hoos-a or something like that - if you say Mull-house, no-one will know what you mean!)

• from the promontory on the river side of the Munster cathedral, one can see the hills of the Black Forest in Germany to the north, the hills of the Vosges in France to the west and the "knee" of the Rhine River.

• brief history:

  • settled by Celts in prehistoric times, then the Romans, then the Alemannic & Frankish peoples

  • 13thC: construction of 1st bridge on the Rhine

  • 1431-48: Council of Basel - Pope Felix V elected in 1440

  • 1460: Switzerland's 1st university

  • 1501: joins the Swiss Confederation

  • 1521-9: Erasmus of Rotterdam, humanist, taught & lived in Basel

  • 1527-8: Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541) is city physician of Basel

  • 1529: the Reformation

  • 17th C: 1st city to establish a public art collection

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Bienne:

• small city on a lake lined with vineyards

a window in Bienne along the lake (no Photoshop effects here)

Neuchatel:

• picturesque town on a lake with a newly constructed shoreline

• a major archaeological site following the lowering of the lake water level to reveal neolithic age sites