Slow Train to Switzerland

Slow Train to Switzerland
Author: Diccon Bewes
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1857889762

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A travel diary from 1863 inspires author Diccon Bewes to retrace Thomas Cook's historic train trip that revolutionized tourism forever.

Swiss Watching

Swiss Watching
Author: Diccon Bewes
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2012-03-09
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1857889916

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A Financial Times Book of the Year and international bestseller.

The Gilded Chalet

The Gilded Chalet
Author: Padraig Rooney
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2016-09-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1473645026

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Part detective work, part treasure chest, full of history and scandal, The Gilded Chalet takes you on a grand tour of two centuries of great writing by both Swiss and foreign authors and shows how Switzerland has always been at the center of literary Europe. Two centuries after the Romantics went there to invent Gothic horror, the lure of Switzerland hasn't left us. Writers from the Fitzgeralds to Fleming, Highsmith to Hemingway, Conan Doyle to le Carré, came to escape world wars, political persecution, tuberculosis. They came for sanctuary (from oppression or the tax man), for fresh air and nude sunbathing, for scenery resembling, as Rooney puts it, 'Mother Nature on steroids.' Patricia Highsmith spent her last years in a granite home in Ticino with a fridge containing little but peanut butter and vodka. Hermann Hesse had himself buried to the neck as a cure for alcoholism. Nabokov chased butterflies and played tennis on the hotel courts. When it comes to literature, it seems all roads lead to Switzerland. Padraig Rooney peers through the chalet windows and discovers how Switzerland has influenced some of the greatest authors and characters of literature.

The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond

The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond
Author: Stephen O'Shea
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2017-02-21
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0393634191

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“An entertaining, turbocharged race among the high mountain passes of six alpine countries.” —Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review For centuries the Alps have been witness to the march of armies, the flow of pilgrims and Crusaders, the feats of mountaineers, and the dreams of engineers. In The Alps, Stephen O’Shea ("a graceful and passionate writer"—Washington Post) takes readers up and down these majestic mountains. Journeying through their 500-mile arc across France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia, he explores the reality behind historic events and reveals how the Alps have profoundly influenced culture and society.

Switzerland: A Village History

Switzerland: A Village History
Author: D. Birmingham
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2000-05-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780333800140

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Switzerland is a remarkable country half of whose territory lies in the Alps. The raising of cattle and the making of cheese eventually brought a modest wealth to the peasants but the destructive Napoleonic invasion brought revolution and poverty. The democratic unification of Switzerland created a common market and a single currency. This history of one alpine village illustrates a one-thousand-year struggle for survival on the edge of this white wilderness.

Night Train to Lisbon

Night Train to Lisbon
Author: Pascal Mercier
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2008-10-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1555849237

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The bestselling novel of love and sacrifice under fascist rule, and “a treat for the mind. One of the best books I have read in a long time” (Isabel Allende). Raimund Gregorius, a professor of dead languages at a Swiss secondary school, lives a life governed by routine. Then, an enigmatic Portuguese woman stirs his interest in an obscure, and mind-expanding book of philosophy that opens the possibility of changing Raimund’s existence. That same night, he takes the train to Lisbon to research the book’s phantom author, Amadeu de Prado, a renowned physician whose principles led him to confront Salazar’s dictatorship. Raimund, now obsessed with unlocking the mystery behind the man, is determined to meet all those on whom Prado left an indelible mark. Among them: his eighty-year-old sister, who maintains her brother’s house as if it were a museum; an elderly cleric and torture survivor confined to a nursing home; and Prado’s childhood friend and eventual partner in the Resistance. The closer Raimund comes to the truth of Prado’s life, and eventual fate, an extraordinary tale takes shape amid the labyrinthine memories of Prado’s intimate circle of family and friends, working in utmost secrecy to fight dictatorship, and the betrayals that threaten to expose them. “A meditative, deliberate exploration of loneliness, language and the human condition” (The San Diego Union-Tribune), Night Train to Lisbon “call[s] to mind the magical realism of Jorge Amado or Gabriel Garcia Marquez . . . allusive and thought-provoking, intellectually curious and yet heartbreakingly jaded,” and inexorably propelled by the haunting mystery at its heart (The Providence Journal). Night Train to Lisbon was adapted into Bille August’s award-winning 2013 film starring Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, Christopher Lee, and Charlotte Rampling.

Swiss Watching, 3rd Edition

Swiss Watching, 3rd Edition
Author: Diccon Bewes
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2018-09-25
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 147369972X

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New updated edition, new statistics and Epilogue One country, four languages, 26 cantons, and 7.5 million people (but only 80% of them 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. Swiss Watching is a fascinating journey around Europe s most individual and misunderstood country. From seeking Heidi and finding the best chocolate to reliving a bloody past and exploring an uncertain future, Diccon Bewes proves that there's more to Switzerland than banks and skis, francs and cheese. This book dispels the myths and unravels the true meaning of Swissness. In a land of cultural contradictions, this is a picture of the real and normally unseen Switzerland, a place where the breathtaking scenery shaped a nation not just a tour itinerary, and where tradition is as important as innovation. 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 clichés, well, not all the cheese has holes, cuckoo clocks aren't Swiss and the trains don't always run exactly on time.

Overland

Overland
Author: Ewen Levick
Publisher:
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2019-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9780646805207

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From the scorching deserts of Western Australia to the harsh vastness of Mongolia, Overland is the true story of a journey from Sydney to Switzerland without flying. It is a funny and honest account of rewarding successes and frustrating failures. It is also a vivid illustration of modern Asia and the people who live there: young Indonesian fishermen, backpackers and a slow train through southern Burma; eating grubs in Thailand and an armed confrontation in Laos; lullabies from middle-aged Chinese businessmen and a cold night on the Great Wall of China; encounters with wolves and reindeer herders in Mongolia; thieves, nomads, Russian scientists; and one ancient, stubborn motorcycle travelling through the world's wild places.

Swisscellany

Swisscellany
Author: Diccon Bewes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2012
Genre: Switzerland
ISBN: 9783905252248

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A treasure-trove of serious and not-so-serious facts about Switzerland that will amuse and enlighten you with statistics and details you never dreamed you'd enjoy knowing.

Amazing Train Journeys

Amazing Train Journeys
Author: Lonely Planet
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-10-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1788682025

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Experience 60 of the world's greatest and most unforgettable train journeys, from classic long-distance trips like Canada's Rocky Mountaineer and Darwin to Adelaide's The Ghan, to little-known gems on regular commuting lines. Each profile contains practical information like ticket options and timetables, plus inspiring photos and illustrated maps.