Switzerland

A Swiss farm beneath a blossoming sky in Zurich

The Swiss Matterhorn has faces in all four compass directions. The first serous attempt to scale this mountain was in 1858 but it wasn’t until 1865 that that Edward Whymper, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz and the two Peter Taugwalders (father and son) succeeded. On the descent, however, Hadow slipped, taking Croz, Hudson and Douglas with him. The rope connecting them broke the four fell to their deaths.

A goat clambers up the glaciers.

The Swiss mountain called the Jungfrau.

Chugging up the Cog Railway to the Ice Palace

The Ice Palace on top of the Jungfrau Mountain. If you look closely, you can make out the ice sculpture behind me. It’s two eagles.

A traditional Swiss procession using bells.

The Schuplattler, a traditional Swiss dance, involves leaping and clapping.

In 1812 this statue was hewn out of natural rock in memory of Swiss guards at the Tuileries in 1792 who gave their lives to protect King Louis XVI. The King, along with a frightened Marie Antoinette, was being besieged by an angry mob of Parisians in his own palace. In this carving an arrow pierces the lion’s body, yet he still rests his paw protectively over the king’s coat of arms.

The Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge, was built in 1333. As you cross over Lake Lucerne you can see over a hundred triangular paintings from the early 1500s that chronicle the city’s history inside the bridge. In 1993, however, a fire destroyed the bridge and it was reconstructed to the very last painting.