Swiss Watching
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ISBN: 978-1-85788-548-4
Inside Europe's Landlocked Island
Diccon Bewes
Paperback, 320 pp. More details...
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Coming July 2010!
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Product Details
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The real Switzerland – Europe's most individual country
One country, four languages, 26 cantons and 7.5 million people (only 80% of whom are Swiss): there's nowhere else in Europe like it. Switzerland may be almost 400 km from the nearest drop of seawater, but it is an island at the centre of Europe. Welcome to the landlocked island.
Switzerland is the country that gave us triangular chocolate and holey cheese and the Swiss Army Knife. It's the country famous for its punctual trains and strict neutrality. The country that has yodelling festivals on national television. But what lies behind these stereotypes?
Swiss Watching is a revealing journey around Europe's most individual country. From seeking Heidi and finding the best chocolate to reliving a bloody past and exploring an uncertain future, Swiss Watching proves that there's more to Switzerland than banks and skis, francs and cheese.
This is a picture of the real Switzerland, a place where the breathtaking scenery shaped a nation not just a tour itinerary, and where tradition is as important as technology. It's also the story of its people, who have more power than their politicians but can't speak to one another in the same language – and who own more guns per head than the people of Iraq. As for those national stereotypes, well, not all the cheese has holes, cuckoo clocks aren't Swiss and the trains don't always run exactly on time.
About the Author
Diccon Bewes is an experienced travel writer who has lived in Switzerland for four years. An 18-month world trip set him up for a career in travel writing via the scenic route of bookselling. After ten years at Lonely Planet and Holiday Which? magazine, he decamped to Switzerland, where he is currently manager of the Stauffacher English Bookshop in Bern. As well as grappling with German, re-learning to cross the road properly and overcoming his innate desire to form an orderly queue, he has spent the last four years exploring the bits of the country he'd never head of before and eating lots of chocolate. See his website at http://www.dicconbewes.com
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