Witness
• Switzerland
Witness
• Switzerland
Homecoming
Swiss born Guido Meuller took his first pictures with his father’s camera when he was 12 years old. Buying his first camera at 16, Guido discovered his real passion when he started to travel, shooting landscapes in the US, Africa and Europe and his own country, Switzerland. A trained biologist and travel expert, Guido is enchanted by nature; here, enjoy a view of his home country through his lens IMAGES • GUIDO MUELLER / THE WIDEANGLE
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Etihad Inflight Inflight July July 2008 2008 63 63 Etihad
Witness
• Switzerland
Witness
• Switzerland
PREVIOUS PAGE: Green pastures and blue lakes, snowcapped mountains and happy cows: is it a cliché or is this really the picture-book country in the heart of Europe? A trip across Switzerland unveils a modern, prosperous country indeed set in a spectacular landscape. A few miles from city limits such enchanted landscapes are found; the town of Lauenensee, near Gstaad in the Bernese Oberland, is just one example THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Covering 60 percent of Switzerland, the Alps are as much a paradise for leisure walkers as they are for mountaineers. A short walk to Grundsee in Lötschental ends at this charming lake surrounded by red “alpine roses”; experienced mountain climbers armed with axes and ropes make their towards Tiefengletscher, near Furka Pass, in the Canton of Uri; a typical log cabin in the Alps
Etihad Inflight July 2008 64
Etihad Inflight July 2008 65
Witness
• Switzerland
Witness
• Switzerland
This page, clockwise from top: The village of Bilad Seet and its plantations in Wadi Bani Auf in Jebel Akhdar; a Bedouin man posing with his child in the Wahiba Sands; an Omani man standing with an Arabian camel or onehumped dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) in the Wahiba Sands
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Switzerland is known for its Matterhorn, the Chillon Castle and Lucerne’s Kappel-Bridge, but the simple things delight too, such as this bike ride through Zurich’s 4th District; a bed of fluffy flowers in the early morning sun near St Gotthard Pass; the awesome view down into a mountain valley in the Glarner Alps; cow bells tell of a curious Simmental cow in the back Geltenbach Falls, near Lauenen and Gstaad
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Etihad Inflight July 2008 67
Witness
• Switzerland
Witness
• Switzerland
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Mountain flowers growing in the rocky grounds near Tiefengletscher and the Tiefen Glacier in Uri; mountaineering on glaciers in Uri; a night walk near Zurich’s Mainstation by the Chimenee and Railroad Viaduct; cars waiting while their owners dance in some of Europe’s hottest clubs
Etihad Inflight July 2008 68
Etihad Inflight July 2008 69