Travel from India to outer space
Billed as the “largest” film festival in the world, IMAX Days will bring a number of large-format films to Switzerland for the first time at the Swiss transport museum in Lucerne.
For outdoor enthusiasts, there are opportunites in the coming weeks to be among the first to explore moor landscapes and pay a visit to autumn festivals.
The highlights of IMAX Days, which runs until the end of October, include films on the lively beat of percussion groups and daredevil feats performed by skydivers and base jumpers.
Most of the documentary films being shown in Lucerne have geographical or environmental themes such as “India – kingdom of the tiger”.
“Pulse: A STOMP Odyssey” takes cinemagoers on a journey around the world to discover the rhythms and comical antics of diverse percussion groups.
“Space Station” is the first IMAX film ever made on space and “Island of the Sharks” gives viewers the feeling of swimming with sharks, manta rays and giant sea turtles.
“Adrenaline Rush” takes a look at the world of skydiving and base jumping and what extreme activities can tell us about science and innovation.
The 10 films are being screened every day between 11am and 9pm. Tickets cost SFr16 per film or SFr28 for two.
Moor walking
Switzerland’s only Unesco biosphere reserve, the Entlebuch region in canton Lucerne, has for the first time made its extensive moors accessible to walkers.
The Entlebuch, with more than a 100 separate moors and raised bogs, has unveiled a series of signposted trails along the moors and following old alpine routes.
The project has been launched by the Entlebuch biosphere and the environmental organisation, Pro Natura.
Mooo…
Until mid-October, cattle shows are taking across the Appenzell region in eastern Switzerland.
The cattle are herded into the region’s towns and villages after spending the summer grazing in the high alpine pastures.
They are inspected and judged by experts and admired by farmers who seem to spend a good deal of time yodelling during the event.
Roasting chestnuts
The town of Mendrisio in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino is the setting for a Chestnut Festival on October 17.
The versatile fruit, which was once a staple of the Ticino diet, will be celebrated in all its variations – roasted, preserved, as beer or cake.
Local restaurants will serve a diverse range of chestnut dishes.
Fair city
The traditional Basel Autumn Fair begins on October 23. As has been the case for centuries, the festival opens when the bells of St Martin’s church strike noon.
For two weeks, hundreds of market stalls will bring the streets of the city on the Rhine alive, in what is the biggest fair of its kind in Switzerland. The fair also boasts a particularly large selection of merry-go-rounds.
The event was founded in 1471 when the then mayor of the city travelled to the court of the German emperor, Friederich the third, to ask for permission to hold a fair.
The emperor gave it his blessing, and said it should be held each year “for eternity”.
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