Heidi's Paradise

This is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Although Heidi's adventures are purely fictional, the Swiss have named a place in the Alps, the Heidi Alp, after one of the world's most popular children's characters.

Here you can find a Heidi house, of course. It enables tourists from Japan to see how people typically live "happily ever after" in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. A Japanese cartoon made Heidi a household name there in 1974.

Besides tourism, agriculture is an important industry in the Swiss Alps. High mountain valleys and meadows which are almost impossible to reach in winter attract both hikers and farmers with their flocks during the summer months. The animals are driven down into the valley before winter sets in.

For a long time, goats played an important role in the mountains of Graubünden, providing both meat and milk for the locals. Easy to keep and agile, they were the ideal animals for the steep mountain slopes. In the story, Heidi liked to spend time in the mountains with Peter, a local goatherd.

Most of the first readers of "Heidi" could only dream of ever visiting the Swiss Alps but the wealthy have been conquering the region since the 19th century. They stayed at luxury hotels in resorts like Sils. The most famous visitors to Lake Silvaplana included Thomas Mann, Luchino Visconti and Max Liebermann.

Since the first hotel opened there in the mid-19th century, St. Moritz has become one of the most famous resorts in the Swiss Alps. Here people come to see and be seen. There are five luxury hotels here that over the years have catered to the needs of famous guests like Gunter Sachs, Aristoteles Onassis and Gianni Agnelli.

During the winter months, the Swiss Alps are a special attraction for tourists - and an extremely high-priced one too. The region has the most 4,000-meter-high peaks in Europe. This photo was taken near the exclusive resort of Davos.

On the second Sunday in March, you can see a strange procession across the frozen lakes of Graubünden. Every year since 1969, the Engadin Ski Marathon has attracted more than 10,000 participants. The current record for the fastest participant to cover the 42-kilometer (26-mile) trail - one hour and 16 minutes - was set in 1994.

And to round off our trip, we return to Heidi. In the new film, she speeds down a mountain on a sled together with her grandfather. Actor Bruno Ganz plays the gruff old man with a heart of gold. Talking about the role, he said if you are Swiss you will inevitably always be associated with Heidi.