Editing Aare (section)

==Course==
[[File:Aletschgebiet aus dem Flugzeug.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Unteraargletscher]]]]
[[File:Ausgang Aareschlucht.jpg|thumb|The Aare at [[Innertkirchen]]]]
[[File:Aareschlucht 166 7.jpg|thumb|Inside the Aare Gorge]]

The Aare rises in the great [[Aargletschers]] (Aare Glaciers) of the [[Bernese Alps]], in the [[canton of Bern]] and west of the [[Grimsel Pass]].<ref name="CVDE"/> The [[Finsteraarhorn|Finsteraargletscher]] and [[Lauteraarhorn|Lauteraargletscher]] come together to form the [[Unteraargletscher]] (Lower Aar Glacier), which is the main source of water for the [[Grimselsee]] (Lake of Grimsel).<ref name=GH>{{harvnb|Gresswell|Huxley|1965|p=27}}</ref><ref name=cohen>{{harvnb|Cohen|1998|p=1}}</ref> The [[Oberaargletscher]] (Upper Aar Glacier) feeds the [[Oberaarsee]], which also flows into the Grimselsee.<ref name=GH/> The Aare leaves the Grimselsee just to the east to the Grimsel Hospiz, below the [[Grimsel Pass]], and then flows northwest through the [[Haslital]], forming on the way the magnificent Handegg Waterfall, {{convert|46|m|ft|abbr=on}}, past [[Guttannen]].

Right after [[Innertkirchen]] it is joined by its first major tributary, the Gamderwasser. Less than {{convert|1|km}} later the river carves through a [[limestone]] ridge in the [[Aare Gorge]] ({{langx|de|Aareschlucht}}).<ref name=CVDE /> It is here that the Aare proves itself to be more than just a river, as it attracts thousands of tourists annually to the causeways through the gorge.<ref name=GH/> A little past [[Meiringen]], near [[Brienz]], the river expands into [[Lake Brienz]]. Near the west end of the lake it indirectly receives its first important [[tributary]], the [[Lütschine]], by the Lake of Brienz. It then runs across the swampy plain of the Bödeli (Swiss German diminutive for ground) between [[Interlaken]] and [[Unterseen]] before flowing into [[Lake Thun]].<ref name=CVDE />

Near the west end of Lake Thun, the river indirectly receives the waters of the [[Kander (Switzerland)|Kander]], which has just been joined by the [[Simme]], by the Lake of Thun. Lake Thun marks the [[head of navigation]].<ref name=cohen/> On flowing out of the lake it passes through [[Thun]], and then flows through the city of [[Bern]], passing beneath [[List of Aare bridges in Bern|eighteen bridges]] and around the steeply-flanked peninsula on which the [[Old City (Bern)|Old City]] is located. To the south of the Old City peninsula is the {{ill|Mattenschwelle|de}}, a [[weir]] which provides water for the small Matte [[hydroelectric power plant]]. [[Open water swimming|River swimming]] in the Aare is popular in Bern, and the river is sometimes full of bathers on summer days. The river soon changes its northwesterly flow for a due westerly direction, but after receiving the [[Saane/Sarine|Saane or La Sarine]] it turns north until it nears [[Aarberg]]. There, in one of the major Swiss engineering feats of the 19th century, the [[Jura water correction]], the river, which had previously rendered the countryside north of Bern a [[swampland]] through frequent flooding, was diverted by the Aare-Hagneck Canal into the [[Lac de Bienne]]. From the upper end of the lake, at [[Nidau]], the river issues through the [[Nidau-Büren Canal]], also called the Aare Canal,<ref name=GH/> and then runs east to [[Büren, Solothurn|Büren]]. The lake absorbs huge amounts of eroded gravel and snowmelt that the river brings from the Alps, and the former swamps have become fruitful plains: they are known as the "vegetable garden of Switzerland".

From here the Aare flows northeast for a long distance, past the ambassador town [[Solothurn]]<ref name=CVDE /> (below which the Grosse [[Emme (river)|Emme]] flows in on the right), [[Aarburg]] (where it is joined by the [[Wigger (river)|Wigger]]), [[Olten]], [[Aarau]],<ref name=CVDE /> near which is the junction with the [[Suhre]], and Wildegg, where the Seetal [[Aabach (Seetal)|Aabach]] falls in on the right. A short distance further, below [[Brugg]], it receives first the [[Reuss (river)|Reuss]], its major tributary, and shortly afterwards the [[Limmat]], its second strongest tributary. It now turns due north, and soon becomes itself a tributary of the [[Rhine]], which it even surpasses in volume when the two rivers unite downstream from [[Koblenz, Switzerland|Koblenz (Switzerland)]], opposite [[Waldshut-Tiengen|Waldshut]] in Germany. The Rhine, in turn, empties into the [[North Sea]] after crossing into the [[Netherlands]].