So far here is the trip northward from the glaciers along the Aare.
As we leave Biel/Bienna on our river cruise of the Aare we head slightly northwest to the picturesque city of Solothurn.
This is a really neat town that used to be the home to one of my favorite football teams … the Solothurn Ducks. (Well, the city is right along the river! That’s where ducks live!)
Unfortunately, the team has folded for lack of players … but, one of their better 
ex-players spends a lot of time in Spietz – near our team the Thun Tigers. So, he comes aboard to join our team. Their loss becomes out gain!
Solothurn is a city of around 17,000 that has grown around the banks of the Aare just along the Jura mountains. It serves as the capital for the canton of Solothurn.
The Jura range of mountains is pretty cool because they seem to be more vertical than they are lateral. Kind of interesting when you are near them.
This city is a really old place … the Romans were here in AD 15-25! Look it up … you guys who are history majors … that’s a pretty long time ago.
The old city was built between 1500 and 1800 and it shows a blend of all three cultures of Switzerland … the German, French and Italian. It is a really pretty place to walk around… well worth seeing.
For whatever reason in Solothurn the number “11” is important. Solothurn is the eleventh part of the Swiss Confederation … there are 11 churches and chapels in the area…and eleven fountains and towers. There are eleven alters …eleven bells and eleven steps to every landing in the cathedral.
Well … is that important???
I was once eleven … a long time ago …. You tell me is the number eleven that significant.
Someone thinks it is! I guess!
Next time I see you and you call me out … I’ll buy you eleven beers!
Hydroelectric power:
OK … here are some more Swiss numbers for you … there are more than 220 major dams and another thousand small-scale ones in Switzerland (the biggest one is the Grande Dixence Dam in the Valais – it is actually the tallest gravity dam in the world).
Well with the rivers and the mountains it is ideal to build them and then develop hydroelectric power.