Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz

22 August 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Bphstm/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Bphstm/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Badrutt’s Palace Hotel is a historic luxury hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The hotel opened in 1896 and it has 157 rooms of which 37 are suites. The Badrutt’s Palace Hotel belong to Swiss Historic Hotels, Swiss Deluxe Hotels, and the Leading Hotels of the World. The majority shareholders are Hansjürg and Anikó Badrutt. The history of the hotel and the family Badrutt started in 1856, when Johannes Badrutt bought a small guesthouse in St. Moritz and started to rebuild it, to create the Hotel Engadiner Kulm, which is today known as the Kulm Hotel St.Moritz. He had built an artificial coasting slide and a curling ground for his guests. In 1864, the son of Casper Badrutt bought the Hotel Beau Rivage in St. Moritz and altered it to create the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel we see today. The official opening was in 1896 and two years later the son of Casper Badrutt, Hans Badrutt, took over the management.   read more…

The Paradeplatz in Zurich

4 April 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© SISHION/cc-by-sa-3.0

© SISHION/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Paradeplatz is a square at the Bahnhofstrasse in downtown Zürich. It is one of the most expensive real estate locations in Switzerland and has become synonymous with wealth and the Swiss banks, being the location of the headquarters of both UBS and Credit Suisse.   read more…

Sion in Valais

5 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Sputniktilt/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Sputniktilt/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. It has a population of 33,000. On 17 January 1968 the former municipality of Bramois and on 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Salins merged into the municipality of Sion. Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon. Sion has an airfield for civilian and military use which serves as a base for countless life-saving air rescue missions.   read more…

NASA and ESA

12 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

NASA

© nasa.gov

© nasa.gov

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.   read more…

Portrait: Le Corbusier, one of the most important and influential architects of the 20th century

27 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Centre Le Corbusier Zürich © Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Centre Le Corbusier Zürich © Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who was better known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India, and America. Since 2016, The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement is a World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of 17 building projects by Le Corbusier.   read more…

Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland

7 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

View of Interlaken and Thunersee from Schynige Platte © Andrew Bossi

View of Interlaken and Thunersee from Schynige Platte © Andrew Bossi

Interlaken is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, a well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland. Interlaken is located between Lake Brienz to the east and Lake Thun to the west in the area called Bödeli. The town takes its name from its geographical position between the lakes (in Latin inter lacus). The Aare River flows through the town connecting the lakes.   read more…

The Lake Constance

19 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Lindau Island © Edda Praefcke

Lindau Island © Edda Praefcke

Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee (“upper lake”), the Untersee (“lower lake”), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps. Specifically, its shorelines lie in the German federal-states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the Austrian federal-state of Vorarlberg, and the Swiss cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen. The Rhine flows into it from the south following the Austro-Swiss frontier. Car ferries link Romanshorn, Switzerland to Friedrichshafen, and Konstanz to Meersburg.   read more…

The Lake Zurich

26 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Zürichsee is strictly the name of the part of the lake downstream of the dam at Rapperswil, mostly located within the canton of Zürich. The part upstream of the Rapperswil dam is called Obersee, and is shared between the cantons of St. Gallen and Schwyz. Besides Bürkliplatz in Zürich and the Seedamm, there are no bridges across the lake.   read more…

Theme Week Swiss – St. Gallen, gate to Appenzellerland

21 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Housing in the Abby quarter © Filzstift

Housing in the Abby quarter © Filzstift

St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 160,000 inhabitants) and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on services for its economic base. The main tourist attraction is the Abbey of St. Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its renowned library contains books which date to the 9th century. The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It also functions as the gate to the Appenzell Alps.   read more…

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