Fälensee is a lake in the Alpstein range of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Switzerland. At an elevation of 1446 m, the surface area is 0.12 km². It is located in a narrow valley between Hundsteingrat and Roslen-Saxer First.

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Lavertezzo is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Lavertezzo is first mentioned in 1327 as Laverteze.In the Middle Ages, Lavertezzo was a Squadra of the Vicinanza of Verzasca. For centuries the people lived, in the summer months, in the Verzasca valley and migrated in the winter, with their cattle, to the lower valleys. After the dissolution of Terricciole in 1920, a shared territory between Locarno, Minusio and Mergoscia, the settlement of Riazzino was allocated to Lavertezzo.The parish church of Madonna degli Angeli was built in the 18th Century. Lavertezzo became an independent parish in the 16th Century, when it separated from Vogorno. It was granted a provost in 1806.The double arch stone bridge was built in 17th Century, and is one of the most distinctive sights in the village. The economy in the valley consisted mainly of farming and grazing. There was added income, from emigrants who went to Italy, especially Palermo. In 1873, they began to systematically produce granite from quarries in Lavertezzo. In the last decades of the 20th Century Riazzino developed into a shopping and recreation center. By 2000, the agricultural sector still provided a good one-tenth of the jobs in Lavertezzo.

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The Ebenalp is the northernmost summit of the Appenzell Alps. The mountain is a popular hiking destination and has been accessible by cable car from Wasserauen since 1955. Ebenalp attracts up to 200,000 visitors each year.From the high plateau of the cable car station visitors have a panoramic view of the rolling hills of Appenzell. impressive trails start at the station and lead to the a network of mountain huts. These hiking routes lead to popular sites such as Säntis and Seealpsee. The nearby Wildkirchli hut can be reached by hiking through a cave.

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Schwarzsee is a small lake in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland with an area of 0.47 km². The lake in the Swiss Prealps is bordered by the peaks of Schwyberg in the West, Les Reccardets and Spitzfluh in the South, as well as Kaiseregg .

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The Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe.The falls are located on the Upper Rhine between the municipalities of Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Laufen-Uhwiesen, near the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland, between the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zürich. They are 150 m wide and 23 m high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m³/s, while in the summer, the average water flow is 700 m³/s. The highest flow ever measured was 1,250 m³/s in 1965; and the lowest, 95 m³/s in 1921.The falls cannot be climbed by fish, except by eels that are able to worm their way up over the rocks.The Rhine Falls were formed in the last ice age, approximately 14,000 to 17,000 years ago, by erosion- resistant rocks narrowing the riverbed. The first glacial advances created today's landforms approximately 500,000 years ago. Up to the end of the Wolstonian Stage approximately 132,000 years ago, the Rhine flowed westwards from Schaffhausen past Klettgau. This earlier riverbed later filled up with gravel.About 132,000 years ago the course of the river changed southwards at Schaffhausen and formed a new channel, which also filled up with gravel. Part of the Rhine today includes this ancient riverbed.During the Würm glaciation, the Rhine was pushed far to the south to its present course, over a hard Late Jurassic limestone bed. As the river flowed over both the hard limestone and the easily-eroded gravel from previous glaciations, the current waterfall formed about 14,000 to 17,000 years ago. The Rheinfallfelsen, a large rock, is the remnant of the original limestone cliff flanking the former channel. The rock has eroded very little over the years because relatively little sediment comes down the Rhine from Lake Constance.

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The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps.The highest summit in the Swiss Alps is Monte Rosa near the Swiss-Italian border. The highest mountain which lies entirely on Swiss territory is the Dom. Other main summits can be found in the list of mountains in Switzerland.Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Alps played an important role in history. The region north of the St. Gotthard Pass became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century.The composition of the great tectonic units reflects the history of the formation of the Alps. The rocks from the Helvetic zone on the north and the Austroalpine nappes - Southern Alps on the south come originally from the European and African continent respectively. The rocks of the Penninic nappes belong to the former area of the Briançonnais microcontinent and the Tethys Ocean. The closure of the latter by subduction under the African plate (Piemont Ocean first and Valais Ocean later) preceded the collision between the two plates and the so-called alpine orogeny. The major thrust fault of the Tectonic Arena Sardona in the eastern Glarus Alps gives a visible illustration of mountain-building processes and was therefore declared a UNESCO World Heritage. Another fine example gives the Alpstein area with several visible upfolds of Helvetic zone material.With some exceptions, the Alps north of Rhône and Rhine are part of the Helvetic Zone and those on the south side are part of the Penninic nappes. The Austroalpine zone concerns almost only the Eastern Alps, with the notable exception of the Matterhorn.The last glaciations greatly transformed Switzerland’s landscape. Many valleys of the Swiss Alps are U-shaped due to glacial erosion. During the maximum extension of the Würm glaciation the glaciers completely covered the Swiss Plateau, before retreating and leaving remnants only in high mountain areas. In modern times the Aletsch Glacier in the western Bernese Alps is the largest and longest in the Alps, reaching a maximum depth of 900 metres at Konkordia. Along with the Fiescher and Aar Glaciers the region became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. An effect of the retreat of the Rhine Glacier some 10'000 years ago was the Flims Rockslide, the biggest still visible landslide apparently worldwide.

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Grindelwald is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Grindelwald, the municipality also includes the settlements of Alpiglen, Burglauenen, Grund, Itramen, Mühlebach, Schwendi, Tschingelberg and Wargistal.Grindelwald village is located at 1,034 m above sea level in the Bernese Alps.The oldest trace of a settlement in the area are scattered neolithic tools which have been discovered around Grindelwald village. Several Roman era coins have also been found in the municipality. A castle was built on the Burgbühl hill above the village during the High Middle Ages.In 1146 King Conrad III, granted estates in Grindelwald to Interlaken Abbey. In the late 12th century, the barons of the alpine valleys in what became the Berner Oberland went to war against the expansionist Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. The Duke defeated a coalition of nobles in the Grindlewald valley in 1191. His victory allowed him to expand Zähringen power into the Oberland, to expand the city of Thun and found the city of Bern. Beginning in the 13th century, Interlaken Abbey began to purchase rights and land in Grindelwald and eventually forced the local nobles out of the valley. The Abbey continued to exert influence in the village and in 1315 and again in 1332 ordered the villagers to raid Unterwalden to further the political ambitions of the Abbot's patrons. In response to the raids, in 1342, Unterwalden attacked Grindelwald. A few years later, in 1348-49, the villagers joined in an unsuccessful rebellion against ecclesiastical power. In 1528 the city of Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation and proceeded to spread the new faith in Grindelwald against the populations' wishes. Bern was able to impose its will, converted the village and secularized Interlaken Abbey and the Abbey's lands. Grindelwald became part of the bailiwick of Interlaken, under a Bernese bailiff.The first village church was a wooden building from the mid 12th century. The wooden building was replaced with the stone St. Mary's Church in 1180. This church was replaced in the 16th century and the present church was built in 1793.The tourism industry began in Grindelwald in the late 18th century as foreigners discovered the scenic town. Pictures of the vistas were widely reprinted, quickly making the village internationally famous. In the 19th century many Englishmen came to the village to climb the alpine peaks around the valley. The Finsteraarhorn, the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn and the Gross Fiescherhorn were all climbed during the 19th century. The Grindelwald road was built in 1860-72 and the Bernese Oberland railway reached the village in 1890, both of which transformed an arduous journey into a simple trip and allowed tourists to flood into the village. The first resort opened in 1888 and there were 10 hotels in 1889 and by 1914 there were 33 in Grindelwald. A rack railway was built to Kleine Scheidegg in 1893 and it was expanded to the Jungfraujoch in 1912. Numerous ski lifts, cable cars, hiking trails and alpine huts were built in the late 19th and 20th centuries to allow tourists to explore the mountains. Today, almost the entire economy of Grindelwald is based on tourism.

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The Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe.The falls are located on the Upper Rhine between the municipalities of Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Laufen-Uhwiesen, near the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland, between the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zürich. They are 150 m wide and 23 m high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m³/s, while in the summer, the average water flow is 700 m³/s. The highest flow ever measured was 1,250 m³/s in 1965; and the lowest, 95 m³/s in 1921.The falls cannot be climbed by fish, except by eels that are able to worm their way up over the rocks.The Rhine Falls were formed in the last ice age, approximately 14,000 to 17,000 years ago, by erosion- resistant rocks narrowing the riverbed. The first glacial advances created today's landforms approximately 500,000 years ago. Up to the end of the Wolstonian Stage approximately 132,000 years ago, the Rhine flowed westwards from Schaffhausen past Klettgau. This earlier riverbed later filled up with gravel.About 132,000 years ago the course of the river changed southwards at Schaffhausen and formed a new channel, which also filled up with gravel. Part of the Rhine today includes this ancient riverbed.During the Würm glaciation, the Rhine was pushed far to the south to its present course, over a hard Late Jurassic limestone bed. As the river flowed over both the hard limestone and the easily-eroded gravel from previous glaciations, the current waterfall formed about 14,000 to 17,000 years ago. The Rheinfallfelsen, a large rock, is the remnant of the original limestone cliff flanking the former channel. The rock has eroded very little over the years because relatively little sediment comes down the Rhine from Lake Constance.The nearest community is Neuhausen am Rheinfall, where tourists can also view the Schloss Wörth castle.Boat trips can be taken up the Rhine to the falls and the Rheinfallfelsen. There are also viewing platforms with a spectacular view of the falls built on both sides of the Rhine. These are reached via steep and narrow stairs (access by fee on the Schloss Laufen side). Guided tours of various lengths start from Schloss Laufen on the Zürich side of the falls - a youth hostel is also located in Schloss Laufen. Various restaurants are located in Schloss Laufen, Schloss Wörth and the Rheinfall park.The Rhine Falls are easily accessible by car, bicycle and public transport. Large pay-parking lots are located on both sides of the falls.Tourists have been awed by the Rhine Falls for centuries. In the 19th century, the painter J. M. W. Turner made several studies and larger paintings of the falls,and the lyrical poet Eduard Mörike wrote of the falls:

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Swiss wine is produced from nearly 15 000 hectares of vineyards, and the wines are mainly produced in the west and in the south of Switzerland, in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Ticino, Valais and Vaud. White grapes varieties are grown on 42% of the country's vineyard surface, and red grape varieties on 58%.According to data from the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture,the Swiss wine production in 2009 was just over 1.1 million hectoliters, divided into 527 000 hl of white wine and 587 000 hl of red wine.Nearly all the national production is drunk within the national boundaries;less than 2% of the wine is exported. Switzerland ranks in the top 10 of per capita consumption of wine and as of 1983 imported two thirds of it, including more Beaujolais than the United States.The tradition of wine and viticulture in Switzerland is very old, at minimum from the Roman era.The first bottle, made in ceramic, was found near Sembrancher, in a Celtic tomb of a lady of 2nd century BC. An inscription on the bottle indicates that it contained wine. Around the 150s BC, in the Celtic era, the people in Valais offered wine to the dead, and probably they also drank the same wine. After a century, the Roman amphorae also appeared.

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Lungern is a municipality in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. Lake Lungern is located within the municipality. Besides Lungern itself, the municipality includes the settlements of Bürglen, Kaiserstuhl and Obsee.The village of Lungern lies 750 metres above sea level in the highest part of the canton of Obwalden, on the lake of Lungern and at the foot of the Brünig Pass. It is the highest village of the Sarneraa-Valley, and is situated in a basin that is open only to the north and is surrounded on all other sides by steep and woody inclinations and rocks.The municipal district of Lungern has an area of 46.33 square kilometres, of which 6.48 square kilometres are meadow and tilled land, 19.2 square kilometres are pastureland, 15.97 square kilometres are wooded and the remaining 2.91 square kilometres are unproductive.The village of Lungern is divided into three districts: on the northern part of the lake is Kaiserstuhl/Bürglen; the town center lies on the eastern side of the lake; and the hamlet Obsee is situated on the southern side of the lake and might be the best maintained part of the old village. There you will still find old houses in their original structure and style.The first legal proof of Lungern's existence is contained in a tax register for the diocese of the bishop of Konstanz in Germany dating from the year 1275. It is mentioned as Lutigern and also as de Lungern.Lugern, traditional and modern houses along the lake.In 1861 it became easier to reach the village with the construction of the old road over the Brünig pass. A quarter century later, in 1886, the first mail carriages came over the pass. However, this only lasted two years, in 1888 the railroad from Brienz to Alpnachstad opened. In 1887 the Eibach river flooded causing damage to the old village church. Six years later, in 1893, was the consecration of the neo-gothic style church. At the end of the 18th century the population of Lungern lowered the level of the lake, with great effort and over many years, in order to improve living conditions. The works created new land for agriculture, housing, and a sawmill. Within 80 years the hard-won land was lost to a new dam: in 1922 a company named CKW built and started running a power station located at the lake. Nowadays the local power station produces electricity from the power of the water of the Lungerersee. In 1942 the railroad line over the Brünig pass was electrified.

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Le lac de Sils (du nom de la localité de Sils sur son rivage) est situé dans le canton des Grisons (Suisse) sur le plateau engadinois au sommet du col de la Maloja, il est au sud-ouest des lacs de Silvaplana et St Moritz.

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Furka Pass is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting Gletsch, Valais with Realp, Uri. The Furka-Oberalp-Bahn line through the Furka Tunnel bypasses the pass. The base tunnel opened in 1982 and replaced a tunnel at 2100 m.The Furka Pass was used as a location in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

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Kandersteg is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located along the valley of the River Kander, west of the Jungfrau massif. It is noted for its spectacular mountain scenery and sylvan alpine landscapes. Tourism is a very significant part of its economic life today. It is a year round outdoors mecca for hiking trails and mountain climbing as well as downhill and cross-country skiing.Kandersteg is first mentioned, together with Kandergrund, in 1352 as der Kandergrund.Prehistorically the area was lightly settled. However, several late-neolithic or early Bronze Age bows have been found on the Lötschberg glaciers and a Bronze Age needle was found in the Golitschenalp. From the Roman era a bridge and part of a road were discovered in the village.Until 1909 Kandersteg was politically and religiously part of Kandergrund. In 1511 the parish built a chapel in Kandersteg, which survived the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation in 1530. It became a filial church of the parish in Kandergrund between 1840 and 1860 and in 1910 became the parish church of the Kandersteg parish. A Roman Catholic church was built in 1927.Traditionally the local economy relied on seasonal alpine herding and farming and supporting trade over the alpine passes. In the 17th and 18th century they began mining sulfur in the Oeschinenalp. A match factory opened in the village in the 19th century to take advantage of the sulfur. Beginning around 1850, the municipality grew into a tourist destination. Between 1855 and 1890 five hotels opened and by 1913 there were 19 hotels. The population grew dramatically during construction of the Lötschberg Tunnel and the Lötschberg railway line between 1906 and 1913. The new railroad line and tunnel allowed ever increasing numbers of tourists to visit Kandersteg. A chair lift to Oeschinen Lake opened in 1948, followed by a cable car to the valley floor in 1951. A ski jump was built in 1979. The Kandersteg International Scout Centre opened in 1923.

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The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass is a high mountain pass in Switzerland between Airolo in the canton of Ticino, and Göschenen in the canton of Uri, connecting the northern German-speaking part of Switzerland with the Italian-speaking part, along the route onwards to Milan.Though the pass was locally known in antiquity, it was not generally used until the early 13th century because it involved fording the turbulent Reuss, swollen with snowmelt during the early summer, in the narrow steep-sided Schöllenen Gorge, below Andermatt. As early as 1236, it was dedicated to the Bavarian Saint Gotthard of Hildesheim.The Gotthard Pass connects the cantons of Uri and Ticino. The pass itself is located within the latter canton, about 2 km south of the border with Uri, between the massifs of Pizzo Lucendro and Pizzo Centrale. The pass lies on the most important route between the southern canton of Ticino and central Switzerland as well as most of the northern part of the country. It is the most direct link between Zürich and Lugano and also between some regions of Germany and Italy. The nearest towns are Hospental near Andermatt and Airolo, respectively in the valleys of Urseren and Leventina. The region of Andermatt lies at the foot of the Furka and Oberalp passes connecting the Rhone and Rhine valleys thus making the Gotthard area a strategic place for transports and military.The hospice is located south of the pass at 2,091 m, near the Lago della Piazza and other small lakes. Lago di Lucendro and Lago Sella are larger reservoir lakes accessible from the pass.The pass can be reached by crossing the Schöllenenschlucht and several bridges have been built across the River Reuss in order to facilitate this. According to the oral histories of the nearby villages, seasonal deaths resulting from drowning reached a peak in April–May of most years and thus a safer crossing was required. The original bridge built under these challenging conditions was one of so many "devil's bridges" that the legends about them form a category in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales.The legend of this particular bridge states that the Reuss was so difficult to ford that a Swiss herdsman wished the devil would make a bridge. The Devil appeared, but required that the soul of the first to cross would be given to him. The mountaineer agreed, but drove a goat across ahead of him, fooling his adversary. Angered by this sham, the devil fetched a rock with the intention of smashing the bridge, but an old woman drew a cross on the rock so the devil couldn't lift it anymore. The rock is still there and, in 1977, 300,000 Swiss francs were spent to move the 220 ton rock by 127 m in order to make room for the new Gotthard road tunnel.The bridge permitted traffic to follow the Reuss to its headwaters and over the saddle at the top—a continental divide between the Rhine, which flows into the North Sea and the Ticino River towards Milan, which after leaving Switzerland flows into the Po River and ultimately into the Mediterranean Sea. It carried only foot traffic and pack animals until 1775, when the first carriage made the journey on an improved road.Several tunnels provide access through the pass. The 15 km Gotthard Rail Tunnel was the first and opened in 1882 for railway traffic at a cost of around 200 workers' lives (there is uncertainty as to the exact toll). It replaced the pass road, connecting Göschenen with Airolo.A 17 km motorway tunnel, the Gotthard Road Tunnel opened in 1980. It was closed for two months in 2001 following a fatal fire.A second rail tunnel through the pass, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, is currently under construction. When completed, it will be the longest rail tunnel in the world at 57 km. This tunnel, combined with two shorter tunnels planned near Zürich and Lugano as part of the AlpTransit initiative, will reduce the 3 hour 40 min rail journey from Zürich to Milan by one hour, while increasing the size and number of trains that can operate along the route because the line is nearly level, compared with the spirals of the older tunnel.

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Derborence is a hamlet in the municipality of Conthey, in the canton of Valais, in Switzerland. It is located at 1,450 metres in an isolated valley on the south side of the Bernese Alps and is not permanently inhabited. Derborence is completely surrounded by mountains: The Diablerets  on the north, Haut de Cry on the south and Mont Gond on the east. Derborence can be reached by a road from Conthey, or by foot from Gryon, using the Pas de Cheville.Lake Derborence was formed in 1749 after two landslides coming from the south wall of the Diablerets. Thousands of tons of rock came crashing down from a height of 1900 metres in 1714 and 1749, coming to 400 metres below and forming a 2 kilometre-long natural barrier which gradually filled with water. A virgin forest grew on the rock debris. It consists of spruce, pine, larch, stone pine, beech and willows. The area was acquired by Pro Natura in 1961 and is now protected.The valley, which is exceptionnally rich in fauna, is a natural habitat for ibex, chamois, deer, marmots and hares and several bird species including the owl, golden eagle, bearded vulture and alpine chough.

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Appenzell is a region and historical canton in the northeast of Switzerland, entirely surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen.Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of St. Gallen in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, becoming a full member in 1513. It has been divided since into Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden since 1597 as a result of the Swiss Reformation.The territory of Appenzell as a geographical entity is known as Appenzellerland or as das Appenzell. In political contexts, the two cantons are referred to as beide Appenzell.This refers to the Abbey of St. Gall, which exerted a great influence on the area. By the middle of the 11th century the abbots of St Gall had established their power in the land later called Appenzell, which by that time was thoroughly Alemannic.By about 1360, conflicts over grazing rights, taxes, and tithes were causing concern for both the abbot and the farmers of Appenzell. Both parties wanted to protect their rights and interests by joining the new Swabian League. In 1377 Appenzell was allowed to join the League with the support of the cities of Konstanz and St. Gallen. With the support of League, Appenzell refused to pay many of the gifts and tithes that the Abbot Kuno von Stoffeln demanded. In response to the loss of revenue from his estates, Kuno approached the Austrian House of Habsburg for help. In 1392 he made an agreement with the Habsburgs, which was renewed in 1402. In response, in 1401 Appenzell entered into an alliance with the city of St. Gallen to protect their rights and freedom.Following increasing conflicts between the Appenzellers the abbot's agents, including the bailiff of Appenzell demanding that a dead body be dug up because he wanted the man's clothes,the Appenzellers planned an uprising. On a certain day, throughout the abbot's lands, they attacked the bailiffs and drove them out of the land. Following unsuccessful negotiations Appenzell and St. Gallen entered into a treaty. The treaty between St. Gallen and Appenzell marked a break between the abbot and his estates. Perhaps fearing the Habsburgs, in 1402 the League expelled Appenzell. During the same year, St. Gallen reached an agreement with the abbot and Appenzell could no longer count on St. Gallen's support. Appenzell declared itself ready to stand against the abbot, and in 1403 formed an alliance with the Canton of Schwyz, a member of the Old Swiss Confederation that had defeated the Austrians in the last century. Glarus provided less support, but authorized any citizen who wished to support Appenzell to do so.In response, the League raised an army and marched to St. Gallen before heading toward Appenzell. On 15 May 1403, they entered the pass to Speicher and outside the village of Vögelinsegg met the Appenzell army. A small force of Appenzell and Confederation troops defeated the League army and signed a short lived peace treaty.Following another Appenzell victory on 17 June 1405, at Stoss Pass on the border of Appenzell town, the new canton continued to expand.[1] During the expansion, Appenzell had even captured the abbot of St Gall and in response they were excommunicated by the Bishop of Constance.However, while the Bund expanded the Austrians used the peace to regain their strength. On September 11, 1406 an association of nobles formed a knightly order known as the Sankt Jörgenschild to oppose the rebellious commoners of the Bund.Following a defeat at Bregenz, Appenzell was unable to hold the Bund together. The city of St. Gallen and the Canton of Schwyz each paid off the Austrians to avoid an attack, and the Bund was dissolved by King Rupert on April 4, 1408.As part of the peace treaty, the abbot gave up his ownership of Appenzell, but was still owed certain taxes.However, it wasn't until 1410 that the area was at peace.In 1411 Appenzell signed a defensive treaty with the entire Swiss Confederation, which strengthened their position against the abbot. Appenzell joined the Confederation as an "Associate Member", and wouldn't become a full member until 1513. Following another battle, in 1429, Appenzell was granted freedom from the obligations in the future. This treaty represented the end of Appenzell's last financial tie to the Abbey of St. Gall, and a movement to closer relationships with the Confederation.

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Seelisberg is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.The Rütli meadow, according to legend the site of the original oath foundational to the Old Swiss Confederacy, is situated in the territory of the municipality.The Seelisberg Conference against anti-Semitism was held in this locality in 1947.The global headquarters of the Transcendental Meditation movement headed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was situated in a converted hotel in Seelisberg from 1968 to 1992.Seelisberg has an area, as of 2006, of 13.3 km2 (5.1 sq mi). Of this area, 34.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 48.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4% is settled and the remainder is non-productive. In the 1993 land survey, 43.5% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 0.7% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 0.7% is used for farming or pastures, while 23.6% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 2.0% is covered with buildings, 0.5% is classed as special developments, 0.2% is listed as parks and greenbelts and 1.3% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 1.9% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 0.2% is unproductive flowing water of 684.As of 2007, 11.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 4.2%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (97.1%), with French being second most common (0.8%) and English being third. As of 2007 the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.In the 2007 federal election the FDP party received 93.4% of the vote.In Seelisberg about 67.8% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education.Seelisberg has an unemployment rate of 0.88%. As of 2005, there were 72 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 18 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 7 businesses in this sector. 151 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 29 businesses in this sector.

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The Landwasser Viaduct is a single track six-arched curved limestone railway viaduct. It spans the Landwasser River between Schmitten and Filisur, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.Designed by Alexander Acatos, it was built between 1901 and 1902 by Müller & Zeerleder for the Rhaetian Railway, which still owns and uses it today. A signature structure of the World Heritage-listed Albula Railway, it is 65 metres high, 136 metres long, and one of its ramps exits straight into the Landwasser Tunnel.The Landwasser Viaduct has six arch spans 20 metres in width, resting on five high pillars. The railway line near the viaduct has a slope of 2 percent, and in plan a circular arc with a radius of 100 metres.The southeastern abutment of the viaduct is located on a high cliff, and at that point, the tracks lead directly into the 216 metres long Landwasser Tunnel.The viaduct's masonry is approximately 9,200 cubic metres in volume and is jointed with limestone dolomite.The dark limestone-built viaduct forms part of the Albula Railway section between Tiefencastel and Filisur, and is at the 63.070 kilometres mark from Thusis.To passengers on trains approaching the viaduct from Tiefencastel and Alvaneu on the Albula Railway, the viaduct becomes visible from quite some distance away. The first major feature to be reached on that approach is the Schmittentobel Viaduct, which itself is of considerable size. Then, while crossing the curved Landwasser Viaduct, passengers can observe the front of the train heading into the Landwasser Tunnel.On the other side of the tunnel, the separate line from Davos Platz forms a junction with the Albula Railway just as both lines arrive in Filisur. Shortly before reaching that junction point, passengers on the Davos–Filisur line can experience a view of the viaduct from the northeast.The viaduct briefly appears as bridge that got destroyed by Rasputin's minions in the 1997 animated film Anastasia. And it was portrayed as a taller viaduct, and was made to look very similar to a Roman aqueduct, except it was a 4-story viaduct in Poland. But there are no tall viaducts in Poland. So the Landwasser viaduct was the perfect prototype for a fictional viaduct.

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The Bernese Alps are a group of mountain ranges in the western part of the Alps, in Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Valais, Lucerne, Obwalden, Fribourg and Vaud. The latter being informally named Fribourg Alps and Vaud Alps respectively.The Rhône valley separates them from the Chablais Alps in the west and from the Pennine Alps in the south; the upper Rhône valley separate them from the Lepontine Alps in the south-east; the Grimsel Pass and the Aar valley separates them from the Urner Alps in the east; their northern edge is not so well defined, describing a line roughly from Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne.The Bernese Alps are drained by the river Aar and its tributary Saane in the north, the Rhône in the south and the Reuss in the east.One of the most considerable Alpine ranges, the Bernese Alps extend from the gorge of Saint-Maurice, through which the Rhone finds its way to Lake Geneva, to the Grimsel Pass or, depending on the definition, to the river Reuss. The principal ridge, a chain that runs 100 kilometres from west to east, whose highest peak is the Finsteraarhorn, forms the watershed between the cantons of Berne and Valais. Except for the westernmost part, it is also the watershed between the Rhine and the Rhone. This chain is not centered inside the range but lies close to the Rhone river on the south. This makes a large difference between the south, where the lateral short valleys descend abruptly into the deep trench forming the valley of the Rhone and the north, where the Bernese Alps extends through a great part of the canton of Berne, throwing out branches to the west into the adjoining cantons of Vaud and Fribourg. There the mountains progressively become lower and disappear into the hilly Swiss Plateau or into the Lake Thun and Brienz on the eastern part.The main chain west of Gemmi Pass consists mainly of a few large prominent summits slightly above 3,000 metres, generally covered by glaciers. On the eastern part, the main chain became suddenly wider and the peaks reach over 4,000 metres, in the most glaciated part of the Alps.A characteristic in the orography of the Bernese Alps is, that whereas the western of that chain consists of a single series of summits with comparatively short projecting buttresses, the higher group presents a series of longitudinal ridges parallel to the axis of the main chain, and separated from each other by deep valleys that form the channels of great glaciers. Thus the Tschingel Glacier and the Kander Glacier, separate the portion of the main range lying between the Gemmi Pass and the Mittaghorn from the equally high parallel range of the Doldenhorn and Blümlisalp on its northern side. To the south the same portion of the main range is divided from the still higher parallel range whose summits are the Aletschhorn and the Bietschhorn by the Lötschental and the Lötschenlücke. To this again succeeds the deep trench through which the lower part of the Aletsch Glacier flows down to the Rhone, enclosed by the minor ridge that culminates at the Eggishorn.It is in the central and eastern portions of the range only that crystalline rocks make their appearance; the western part is composed almost exclusively of sedimentary deposits, and the secondary ridges extending through Berne and the adjoining cantons are formed of jurassic, cretaceous, or eocene strata.

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Lavertezzo is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Lavertezzo is first mentioned in 1327 as Laverteze.In the Middle Ages, Lavertezzo was a Squadra of the Vicinanza of Verzasca. For centuries the people lived, in the summer months, in the Verzasca valley and migrated in the winter, with their cattle, to the lower valleys. After the dissolution of Terricciole in 1920, a shared territory between Locarno, Minusio and Mergoscia, the settlement of Riazzino was allocated to Lavertezzo.The parish church of Madonna degli Angeli was built in the 18th Century. Lavertezzo became an independent parish in the 16th Century, when it separated from Vogorno. It was granted a provost in 1806.The double arch stone bridge was built in 17th Century, and is one of the most distinctive sights in the village. The economy in the valley consisted mainly of farming and grazing. There was added income, from emigrants who went to Italy, especially Palermo. In 1873, they began to systematically produce granite from quarries in Lavertezzo. In the last decades of the 20th Century Riazzino developed into a shopping and recreation center. By 2000, the agricultural sector still provided a good one-tenth of the jobs in Lavertezzo.Lavertezzo has an area, as of 1997, of 58.11 square kilometers. Of this area, 0.7 km2 or 1.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.34 km2 or 50.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.52 km2, 0.96 km2 or 1.7% is either rivers or lakes and 22.83 km2 or 39.3% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.1%. Out of the forested land, 36.8% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 11.4% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 2.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 23.4% is unproductive vegetation and 15.9% is too rocky for vegetation.The municipality is located in the Locarno district. It consists of the village of Lavertezzo in the Verzasca valley  and the exclave of Lavertezzo Piano in the Magadino valley.

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