Some photos may appear in more than one category. So far I have loaded 124 of the 200 photos which will be used on this site.
Links to all my websites:
Gruetzi.com:
Photos of Switzerland, with an emphasis on transport.
360° Panoramas:
of Switzerland, with notes on the 'Panorama" Java applet and my technique.
Zweisimmen.com:
Photos of the MOB (Montreux Oberland Bernois) narrow gauge railway in Switzerland, plus information on G (garden) gauge model railroad projects of mine.
Schau.Biz:
Swiss shooting medals, beer coasters, etc. for sale.
BernBear.com:
Our log cabin in Greene County, Virginia, and examples of the use of the Bern Bear heraldic symbol on decorative objects.
About This Site
Who Am I?? I am Ralph Walker and I can be found at 1542 North Jefferson Street, Arlington, Virginia 22205, USA. My phone number is (703) 237-0859. I'm retired from the Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum) where I toiled for 27 years as a computer programmer, specialising in electronic printing and database publishing. Since I'm retired I'm easy to reach and e-mail is welcome.
I'm married to Jan and have two grown sons, Vance and Spence, all three of which (along with me) appear in some of the Swiss photos. In addition to my love of Switzerland and photography I have been involved with Marusho/Lilac motorcycles since 1975, and maintain an extensive website devoted to these classy shaft-drive bikes which were built in Japan from 1951-1967.
What's GRUETZI?? In time I hope to write an authoritative paragraph on this word, but for now let's say it's a Swiss German greeting, related to the verb grüßen. There is no real consensus in Switzerland about how it is spelled, but the spelling I have chosen for my URL seems to be the most popular. If you are a German language authority I would be most grateful for your input.
What about the Bear?? Our home base in Switzerland is in the canton of Bern. This bear in the background is the symbol for both the canton and the capital city of Bern. The name derives from an old form of the German word for 'bears'.
Our Travels in Switzerland: Since 1982 we have taken 22 vacations in Switzerland, each 3 weeks or more, of which we spend 2 weeks at a chalet in the village of Schönried. It is only a few kilometers from the well-known resort town of Gstaad. It is a touristy area, but not so much so as the Interlaken/Jungfrau region.
We always take our last week in other towns in Switzerland and have stayed in too many to list. There is no question in my mind that the Bernese Oberland is the best possible region in which to stay. For most people the Interlaken region is the best bet. The important thing is to make sure you can reach all the destinations you wish to visit during the day without difficulty.
The Photos: Most of the photos were taken using a Minolta X700 camera, often using a 16mm or 7.5mm fisheye, Kodachrome 64 and, when needed, a flashbulb. Flashbulbs are useful for lightweight travel. The smallest flashbulb (AG1B) is more powerful than most electronic flashes. In recent years I have also used a Canon Pro90 IS digital camera and a Minolta Dimage A2 digital camera.
The slides were either converted to Kodak Photo CD format or scanned on my Polaroid SprintScan 35LE scanner. When suitable, the images were cropped to 500x700 pixels and placed in a border, using Photoshop on a Windows XP system. They were compressed in JPG format to a quality level of about 20 on a scale of 0-100, and the quality is coded into all the file names (such as 'gr345Q20.jpg'). Thus you are not seeing the best possible versions of the files. Still, I judge them to be pretty good by Web standards. The images average 70kb.
The Website: After writing code for assorted computers since 1966, I find that I really appreciate a simple, clean, slow interface, high in content and low on bells and whistles. Code on the Web is a house of cards in any case, with no two companies agreeing on anything, and this is a good reason to avoid any controversial or ambiguous commands. I do want this site to resemble the form in which I wrote it, so if you have a reasonably modern computer and browser and are having a problem with my site you will be doing me a great favor if you report it to me. I've used as little Java as I could.
Spelling Note: You may wonder why I don't use spellings such as 'Lucerne' and 'Berne'. I spell place names the same way that someone living there would spell them, or, if there is a well-known English variant, I might use that. It would be nonsensical to choose the French spelling for Luzern ('Lucerne'), or to choose the German spelling for Geneva ('Genf'). However (for instance) since the English variant 'Lake Geneva' is so well established, I would use it over the French 'Lac Léman'. There is no perfect way to handle this but at least I don't have to be dead wrong. . .
Copyright © Notice: All my photos on this site have a tiny copyright notice. You may use photos of mine from this website on your own website provided you include credit, either in the text or the alternate text, and a reference to WWW.GRUETZI.COM. If you want higher quality images (uncompressed, higher resolution or no feathered edges) send me email with the file name(s) and the use to which you intend to put the image(s) and I'll see what I can do.
Thanks for visiting. The only way I'll ever know WHO visited this site and what part of the world you are from is if you send me e-mail.