Hotel Dufour

Biel

by bianchis

"When the rains came"

Since Switzerland is the water supplier of Europe, it is obvious that the system is controlling the water is quite intricate.
When the water collects from the Berner Alps it has to find its way down to the Aare and then to the river Rhine.
Not forgetting the water coming from the Jura mountains and Freiburger Alps they all find their way into the Neuenburger lake, Murten lake, which eventually flows into the Bieler lake.

"Hagneck-Kanal an important water canal"

For this immense amount of water there has to be a complicated system to regulate the flow of this water.
So in 1875-1878 the Hagneck-Kanal was built to direct the flow of the water from Aarberg into the Bieler lake, before this the old Aare flowed directly to Solothurn.
The reason for this was to drain the marshes which surrounded the Bieler lake and in so doing helped to control the amount of mosquitoes and other insects which had an ideal breeding ground in this area.
Also after the marshes were drained they became valueable agriculture land called Seeland"and the area provides all the vegetables for Switzerland.

"Rolex, Omega, Swatch famous watches of Switzerland"

Biel developed into one of the main watch areas attracting a lot of people who came to settle here to work in the factories of Rolex, Omega, and the famous Swatch watch.
Wherever there is water there are usually a lot of boating activities and water sports so that people come here to relax and enjoy the tranquility of this lake.
This city is also forms the language barrier between the French and the German Swiss. You will notice all the signs and names are written in both French and German. The people here are mostly biligual.

Swish

by Bigs

This has been my favourite pavillion of the Arteplage in Biel. Unfortunately I don´t have any pics from inside, as it´s quite dark and I think it´s disturbing to use the flash.

The main thing is that hundreds of Swiss peolpe were asked to tell there wishes in front of the camera. All these little interviews are shown inside and it´s quite intersting to listen for a while.

On the other side there are little projections on the wooden constructions of the pavillion. Little real people seem to live here inside this building. They really look real, as they are set up perfectly against the background! Fantastic!

At the end every visitor can write his wish into the lake. There are several computers transferring your message to the waves of the Lake Biel. Wait for a while and you might see your lines in the lake. You can walk right over them, cause the floor is out of glass. It´s dark in here, so you even can make it if you fear heights, like me!!! It´s just beautiful!