Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

15 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

BIS 'Tower' building © --Wladyslaw Disk./cc-by-sa-3.0

BIS ‘Tower’ building © –Wladyslaw Disk./cc-by-sa-3.0

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organization of central banks which “fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks”. The BIS carries out its work through subcommittees, the secretariats it hosts and through an annual general meeting of all member banks. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and other international organizations. It is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City.   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…

The trimaran Hydroptère

17 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

© hydroptere.com

© hydroptere.com

The Hydroptère is an experimental sailing hydrofoil designed by French yachtsman Alain Thébault. Her multihull hydrofoil design allows the sail-powered vessel to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with Éric Tabarly since the 1990s. On October 5, 2008 she reached a record speed of 52.86 knots (97.90 km/h; 60.83 mph), however this was over a shorter distance than the 500m necessary to qualify for an official world record. On December 21, 2008, the Hydroptère briefly reached 56.3 knots (104.3 km/h; 64.8 mph), but capsized shortly thereafter.   read more…

The Lake Lucerne in Switzerland

17 September 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Lake Lucerne from Mount Pilatus © Ttrainer

Lake Lucerne from Mount Pilatus © Ttrainer

Lake Lucerne (“Lake of the Four Forested Cantons“) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.   read more…

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