Celebrating at the crime scene: when a bored author decided to kill off his detective hero, he chose Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls near Meiringen as his Tatort--the scene of an unthinkable crime. Swiss News revisited the scene in honour of Sherlock Holmes and his Scottish creator's milestone birthday.Hotel and tourism officials in the Bernese Oberland's Oberhaslital valley will be ecstatic this month-and especially on May 22--as Sherlock Holmes societies worldwide pay homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on what would be his 150th birthday. Visitors from the world's 200-plus Sherlock Holmes societies are planning pilgrimages to the crime scene. For it's here, at the top of the thundering Reichenbach Falls Reichenbach Falls, waterfalls, total drop 656 ft (200 m), S central Switzerland, where the Reichenbach River joins the Aare River. Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts (c.300 ft/90 m high) in the Alps. It is familiar to readers of A. , that the fictional detective locked brains and brawn brawn n. 1. Solid and well-developed muscles, especially of the arms and legs. 2. Muscular strength and power. 3. Chiefly British The meat of a boar. 4. Headcheese. with his archenemy arch·en·e·my n. 1. A principal enemy. 2. often Archenemy The Devil; Satan. Used with the. archenemy Noun pl -mies a chief enemy Professor James Moriarty, in a 'fatal' hand-to-hand duel. From physician to cult hero The Scottish physician began writing stories in 1882 after his new medical practice in Elm Grove Elm Grove may refer to:
writing style, genre drama - the literary genre of works intended for the theater prose - ordinary writing as distinguished from verse after Holmes and his sidekick foil, Dr. John Watson John Watson is a common name. Some of the more notable John Watsons include:
Making masterful use of his medical know-how, Conan Doyle wrote about two Holmes cases a year after that, and soon earned global fame and acclaim from pulp-fiction readers everywhere. But success eventually bred boredom, and by 1893 the writer felt driven to produce more serious work. Yet the Scot could contrive con·trive v. con·trived, con·triv·ing, con·trives v.tr. 1. To plan with cleverness or ingenuity; devise: contrive ways to amuse the children. 2. no exit strategy for the character who won him fame--at least not until he toured Switzerland with his wife. There, they visited the Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland (Bernese highlands) is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the South of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps (thus, the inhabitable parts from approximately the level of Lake Thun at 558 and the Reichenbach Falls while staying at a hotel in Meiringen. Disposing of Sherlock Conan Doyle, an ardent hiker, is believed to have hatched the plot to dispose of To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. See also: Dispose Holmes after a foot tour from Grindelwald over the Grosse Scheidegg Grosse Scheidegg (el. 1961 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, connecting Grindelwald and Meiringen. The road over the pass is open only to bus traffic, however hiking is popular and this pass forms part of the cross-country Alpine Pass Route. pass, and on to Meiringen via the 120-metre-high Reichenbach Falls. Conan Doyle felt sure the site would mark the setting for his last Holmes case, The Final Problem. To appreciate his strategy, listen to Holmes' physician companion describe the Swiss falls as a "fearsome place": "The torrent, swollen by the melting snow," Watson says, "plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening glis·ten intr.v. glis·tened, glis·ten·ing, glis·tens To shine by reflection with a sparkling luster. See Synonyms at flash. n. A sparkling, lustrous shine. coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip." In short, an ideal spot at which to stage a man-to-man struggle--to the death. The dirty details In The Final Problem, published in 1893, Conan Doyle opted to pit Holmes against a man the sleuth called the "Napoleon of Crime", and head of an international crime syndicate, Professor James Moriarty. As Scotland Yard closes in on the syndicate thanks in part to Holmes' crucial tip-offs, Moriarty first tries to bribe Holmes into backing off. Unsuccessful, he then plots to kill him. To frustrate Moriarty's plan, Holmes invites Watson to accompany him on an evasion trip from London to Belgium and France, before winding up in the Bernese Oberland. But they never managed to lose the pursuing Moriarty. Walking in their shoes Visitors can retrace Sherlock's steps by taking the Swiss Federal Railways from the Interlaken Ost station to Meiringen, a 25-minute trip. To get an overview of Holmes' and Watson's London digs, take a brief walk along Bahnhofstrasse to the Sherlock Holmes Museum The Sherlock Holmes Museum is the most popular privately run museum in London, dedicated to the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. It is situated near the north end of Baker Street in central London close to Regent's Park. , located in the basement of the former English Chapel at Conan Doyle Place. It's a near replica of the Holmes museum near London's Regent Park. "Everything here is authentic to the last detail," museum director Ferdinand Salverda told Swiss News. "But it looks lived in--as if [the landlady landlady n. female of landlord or owner of real property from whom one rents or leases. (See: landlord) ] Mrs. Hudson had not yet tidied up." Keep in mind that tours of the 221b Baker Street flat shared by Holmes and Watson can only be arranged during the afternoon from May to September. Sleep in authenticity Salverda, a Dutchman, also directs the adjacent Park-Hotel du Sauvage, where Conan Doyle and his wife are said to have stayed during their milestone 1893 visit to Meiringen. In The Final Problem, Conan Doyle renamed the hotel the Englischer Hof. It has now been enlarged from 30 to 90 rooms, but Salverda says his renovations otherwise retain the same amenities the Conan Doyles enjoyed during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's a 20-minute walk from the hotel to the funicular railway for an ascent to the Reichenbach Falls ledge. From this lookout point one can view a white star on a rock across from the platform. It marks the spot where Holmes and Moriarty staged their famed struggle to the death. Back from the dead Eventually, pressure from Sherlock Holmes fans coaxed Conan Doyle to revive his hero in The Empty House, a 1903 case in which the detective reappears to greet a now married Watson in his new home. The shock of seeing his old comrade causes Watson to faint before the two reunite to solve many more cases. But, for the man who wrote 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories and four novels, that's really another story. See for yourself (and join the celebrations) May 2, "Murder in the Hotel" murder mystery dinner theatre at the Park-Hotel du Sauvage, Meiringen: The hotel where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife stayed continues its traditional 'crime-solving' events in the hotel theatre as a prelude to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 150th birthday tribute on May 22. Groups of at least 40 amateur detectives can book 'the scene of the crime' exclusively. For room and sesquicentennial ses·qui·cen·ten·ni·al adj. Of or relating to a period of 150 years. n. A 150th anniversary or its celebration. Noun 1. event bookings go to www.sauvage.ch www.aareschlucht.ch: Learn about foot tours from Meiringen along the scenic Aare Gorge www.rail-info.ch/MIB/daten.de: The five-kilometre electric MIB (1) (Management Information Base) The hierarchical database used by the simple network management protocol (SNMP) to describe the particular device being monitored. MIB objects are identified using ASN.1 syntax. See SNMP, RMON, OID and ASN.1. rail stretch from Meiringen station offers visitors impressive views of the Aare Gorge to Innertkirchen www.reichenbachfall.ch: Take a seven-minute funicular ride in 110-year-old carriages from Willingen to the waterfall platform for a view of the site where Holmes and Moriarty engaged in their legendary struggle (open mid-May through October); evening excursions on request. www.haslital.ch: Local tourism and event information www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/ beeline/M_museum.php: Learn more about the detective and Meiringen's Sherlock Holmes museum |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion