Switzerland - 'All For One, One For All' Quiz

Answer: Lake Lucerne

Lake Lucerne is found in central Switzerland and receives a large amount of its water from the Reuss River. The Reuss' flow into the lake is restricted by an unusual type of dam known as a needle dam, which is composed of many wooden "needles" which may be added or removed by hand in order to modulate the amount of flow through.

Doublemm gazes over the beautiful scenes of Lake Lucerne, which provides a setting for Rossini's opera "William Tell".

Answer: Zermatt

In the canton of Valais, Zermatt rests at the bottom of this 4,478m peak known worldwide for its unique shape and its difficulty, even for seasoned climbers; many regard it as the last great alpine peak - once it was scaled, there was nothing left!

Zermatt is a unique town. Boasting a rather robust tourism industry, the Zermatt area contains many hotels and resorts. Additionally, you won't find many traditional vehicles in the streets. Residents travel in eco-friendly cars and visitors are barred from bringing theirs in. If you get tired of skiing on the local slopes, you could ways go across the border to Italy as well - it's only 10km away.

Kyle would like to head to Zermatt; he doesn't mind the cold or the altitude one bit.

Answer: English

According to the Swiss Federal Constitution, "The official languages of the Confederation are German, French and Italian. Romansh shall be an official language for communicating with persons of Romansh language." Switzerland is not a united country because of linguistic traditions - there are three distinct linguistic regions (German in the east, French in the west, and Italian in the south), with Romansh speakers spread around. The sense of national unity comes instead from the geography of the country, nestled as it is in the Alps, which keep it separate from the rest of Europe. It is easy to understand the historical importance of Swiss neutrality when you consider the consequences of joining sides in divisive conflicts between the main cultural divisions of the country.

Looney_tunes admires the multilingual Swiss, being fluent only in English, French and Latin (which is pretty useless for modern conversations).

Answer: Zürich

Zürich is known for its abundance of banks and financial institutions, so it's no wonder some of the world's biggest banks have headquarters or branches in Switzerland's largest city. Located just over 120 km away from the capital city, Zürich boasts beautiful architecture and stunning scenery (including the Limmat River which divides the Old Town district in two), and is also home to the base of operations for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, better known perhaps as FIFA.

Whenever eburge goes near a bank, he gets withdrawal symptoms. Thank goodness he doesn't live in Zürich!

Answer: Palm trees

The town of Ascona is located near the Italian border; thus over two-thirds of the population speaks Italian as a first language. Its elevation is at approximately 643 feet/196 meters, while Lake Maggiore is listed at 633 to 639 feet/193 to 195 meters (depending on the source). Thanks to its relatively mild climate (temperatures rarely go below freezing and can reach an average high of 80 F/27 C in the summer months), Mediterranean plants such as palm trees can be seen around Ascona. Incidentally, Dufour Peak is also known by its Italian name, Monte Rosa. It is separated from Ascona by Italy, so the 40 mile/70 km distance is "as the crow flies". Dufour Peak stands at 15,199 feet/4633 meters.

PDAZ would love to visit Ascona someday; she's very fond of palm trees.

Answer: An ancient Celtic tribe

Despite the ancient roots of the name, the title "Confoederatio Helvetica" only came into common usage after 1848.

The Helvetic Republic was the name given to Switzerland by expanding French armies in an attempt to unite several cantons. This union was unsuccessful and the Helvetic Republic collapsed after just five years.

Being a Celt and made of chocolate, Doublemm wonders if there is any Swiss in him.

Answer: The Lion of Lucerne

Although it seems a major role of the Swiss Guard is to be photographed by tourists in their colourful uniforms it wasn't always so. During the French Revolution the Swiss Guard was assigned to protect Louis XVI and his family. Whilst the family escaped the soldiers held their ground and at the end of the day were solidly defeated amassing 760 deaths and 350 survivors. The dying lion is depicted as a sandstone carving measuring 6m high x 10m long.

The Strassburg Monument is a thank you to Basel for looking after women, children and the aged in the German-French War of 1870/71. The Geneva National Monument celebrates Geneva's entry to Switzerland in 1815 and the Kindlifresserbrunnen is a statue/fountain of an ogre who is eating children.

All Exit10 needs now is a big bunch of money to put into a Swiss bank account of which there are more than 300.

Answer: A bar of chocolate

The triangular bar known as Toblerone was first patented in 1906 and is now produced by Kraft Foods. Depending on which story you believe, the shape was inspired by either the Matterhorn mountain or a pyramid shape formed by dancers in a burlesque show.

We are proud to bring another 'Sw-' country into this quiz as the chocolate was at the heart of a 1995 political scandal in Sweden known, appropriately, as the Toblerone Affair. The prime ministerial aspirations of Mona Sahlin were destroyed when it was revealed that she had racked up private spending on her official government credit card including - two Toblerone bars.

Question 'krafted' by glendathecat who would have also liked to have featured Swaziland but guesses that chocolate melts there too quickly.

Answer: A water fountain

The Jet d'Eau (a name literally translating to 'Water Jet') can be found on the edge of Lake Geneva, one of Europe's largest lakes. Constantly running, the Jet d'Eau is one of the largest fountains in all of the world; it reaches up to one hundred forty meters in height.

The nearby Lake Geneva is found in both Switzerland and France and is fed by the Rhone River. It's found in the westernmost edge of the country. The beauty of this lake is noteworthy as it's been the home of several celebrities from the Romantic era onward.

Kyleisalive hopes to visit someday. He's accepting donations.

Answer: Hungarian and Brazilian soccer players

The Battle of Bern is the 'affectionate' name for the quarter-final of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, a match that has gone down in soccer's folklore. Three players were sent off, in an age when referees were far more lenient towards foul play. Were the exact same match to be played today, it would probably have to be abandoned for lack of sufficient players on the pitch! The violence continued afterwards on the pitch and in the Hungarian dressing room. For the record, Hungary won the game 4-2.

Glendathecat hopes you were on the ball and on a (Swiss) roll when it came to answering this question.