Catherine from Living in Nyon and Lisa from the website Know-it-all passport , have teamed up and created a podcast called "Living in the Know". For their first short ten minute podcast they have chosen to feature a selection of local events scheduled for November 2015 From where to go for Thanksgiving, to a talk on the local school system, and an upcoming talk in Nyon by Diccon Bewes on his latest book "Around Switzerland in 80 Maps”. As an added bonus, every month Lisa will teach Catherine a fun French expression on the podcast, the kind of expression you probably won’t be taught in French class! To hear the podcast, click here This is their very first podcast and although they realise the sound quality and the content order could be improved, it’s a start and we hope you enjoy it. They welcome constructive feedback from readers. Would you like to hear more events, more French expressions or is there something else you would like us to feature?  Do let us know either at info@livinginyon.com or on the contact page  at Know-it-all passport. Know-it-all passport Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman is the founder of Know-it-all passport and moved to Geneva in 1972 with her family. She attended the Lycée des Nations in Bellevue (now gone) for three years, then the next six years at Ecolint LGB where she graduated. Trained as a graphic designer in the US, Lisa worked full-time in three different countries. The first edition of the guidebook Know-it-all passport was released in 1999. The brand includes an important website, www.knowitall.ch , hosting articles, calendars, classifieds, and more. Music intro on podcast Jump it Up Jazzy by Swiss band "Mad Manoush" from their album "Train to New Orleans"

Was Jeff Lynne from E.L.O. ( Electric Light Orchestra) looking at this view? Or this one? Or this one? Eleven stops out of Nyon on the Nyon-St Cergue train line there is a village called Bassins. Like many of the villages up in the Jura it is pretty. It has fountains galore in the centre with obligatory summer hanging baskets, a church with immaculately kept grounds, a pottery, and old houses, barns, converted and otherwise. What you always find high up in these villages is a great view down the valley and Bassins is no exeption. If you look one way across the fields you get more villages. Look down the hill and you get views over the lake and across to Mont Blanc. On a clear day, these views can be stupendous, in winter, even more so, especially when there is lots of snow on the Alps.Anyway,whatever time of the year it was, the view obviously inspired Jeff Lynne when he stayed in a chalet in Bassins back in the 70s, as he wrote Mr Blue Sky and other songs for the "Out of the Blue" album here. I did try to discover exactly which chalet it was that he stayed in (see sleeve notes below) to take a photo from the same spot. So I sent a few emails off to various places, but I never got an answer. No matter. Even though the song is over 30 years old, when the sun comes out the words still ring true today and when you are up in Bassins (or anywhere in this area to be honest) it is just gorgeous. You can see what he means. Pic taken from another village not far from Bassins. These photos don't really do it justice, I'm sure there are much better pics but it gives you an idea of what it's like. You can see that a bit further down the hill nearer Nyon, even on the main road you get a great view. This pic below is taken from the car with Mont Blanc in the background, and then the next pic is down by the lake at the end of the same day. All together now " Sun is shinin' in the sky, There ain't a cloud in sight. It's stopped rainin' .....etc " dum dee dum Here are the notes taken from from the Out of the Blue sleeve notes website outlining the background to the song and album. "A Jeff Lynne masterpiece and one of the finest albums ever recorded, 'Out Of The Blue' began life in a Swiss chalet overlooking the picturesque village of Bassins in the mist and rain of the Jura Mountains. Immediately after ELO's 'A New World Record Tour' ended in April 1977, Lynne left for Switzerland determined to compose enough new material for a double album. The singer-songwriter and producer had elevated ELO to global superstardom with the release of 'A New World Record' during 1976 and expectations of their record company, critics and ELO's millions of fans were higher than ever. "Jeff Lynne: "I rented this little chalet in Switzerland, in the mountains just beyond Lake Geneva. I rented this gear from a little shop in a village, a little music shop, with a Revox tape recorder, an electric piano - I had my guitar there - and just sat there to try and write. For two weeks, I came up with nothing - and I only had four weeks to write this double album! I was sort of thinking, 'bloody 'ell, maybe I can't come up with anything'. The weather had been really bad and then one day I got up and it was fantastic, the sun was brilliant and shining, all the mountains were lit up and this mist had gone away. It was gorgeous and I came up with 'Mr. Blue Sky'. I just kept coming up with songs then, y'know? They just came real quick and I came up with about fourteen in the two weeks after the first empty two weeks."

This year  Caribana celebrate its 20th year and it is kicking off the anniversary in style. Last night the announcement was made that the opening act on Weds (9 June) will be the British rock group Deep Purple . The festival, set on the water's edge down at Crans près Celigny (just outside Nyon) is one of the first of the summer festivals in the area and this year takes place from 9-13 June. There are new additions planned for the festival such as an enlargement of the beach area, more places to sit down, the removal of the "Rock the Block" bar to create more space and careful planning to ensure that one sound from stage doesn't encroach on the others.  When more announcements are made as to the rest of the line up, they will be posted here. If you have never been to Caribana , read about previous concerts on the right hand side bar.

Performance arts festival in Nyon. FAR , the festival of arts vivants (living arts) takes place in Nyon from the 10th to the 22nd August in various venues across the town. This festival is a major event in Nyon's calendar along with Caribana, Paléo and Visions du Réel, and this year FAR celebrates its 25th anniversary. The festival began in a small way in Nyon in 1984 with a team of people who were passionate about theatre. They used the (then non renovated) Usine a Gaz to host a handful of theatre performances. The event was so successful it continued and expanded to meet demand, it also provided the townsfolk with a local arts event which they appreciated (so they didn't have to go into Geneva or Lausanne). There are plenty of events in FAR where you do not have to understand French to understand the performance. Some of these are: YoungSoon Cho Jaquet on the 12th who has a creation called "Champignons". Also on the 12th in the courtyard of the Usine a Gaz there will be a free performance called Schattenspiele. The programme outlines Schattenspiele as the following "Shadow game” in English, invites those who wish to swap sides. The game involves two players and lasts about 7 minutes. The visual poetry will delight you as the players amuse themselves building moving shadows." On the 13th on the Plage de Trois Jetées there is Dunkel Homberger and on the 14th there is the Angklung-Duo (in photo below) This is what the programme say about them. "Playing the "angklung", a traditional Java instrument made of bamboo, the two hilarious artists take us on a journey from the wild Amazonian forest to a crazy city jungle. Very funny and exceptionally creative, Angklung-duo is truly fascinating!" On the 18th there will be traditional mime from Prague called La Société des Mimes Cinglés (below). on the 19th Laura Kalauz with "Do what you see see what you do". This is what the programme says; "It's not a theatre piece, or a party, not a happening nor a salon, nor a school, or a church, or an asylum-centre... The situations you will experience may have some similarity with "reality“ but whatever happens, we guarantee it is all pure fiction or a so-called adventure in an artificial jungle." on the 20th Mart Kangro with a creation dance called "Can't get No/ Satisfaction". The full programme is on their website . Check it out. The website has a brief explanation in English of each day's art event to help you. Photos above, courtesy of FAR

Thankyou to all those who came by to the Léman Expat fair yesterday in Morges, it was nice to put faces to the names of Living in Nyon readers. I hope you found the fair useful to meet others and to pick up information on living in this area. For readers of the Living in Nyon column in La Côte newspaper, you may have noticed that last week's English column did not appear last Friday as there was no Forum section printed. However it will be in this week's paper, and the title of the column is called "Bonkers for Conkers" and is about you guessed it, conkers... News from Morges tourism office. From the 10-25 October Morges Tourist Office are offering a *free one hour audio (Ipod) guide of the town in English. The tour takes you through the old town of Morges to discover its history and architcture and it comes with anecdotes too! For more info see Morges Tourism * the fee is normally CHF 5

The snow has definitely arrived in  Nyon and on Wednesday the town saw lots of heavy snowfall. Despite it causing lots of disruption to public transport and to commuters , for others it was just an opportunity to throw snow balls or build snowmen.   "Mobility" cars - not very mobile and going nowhere in Nyon. . For many others, the newly arrived snow means that it's time to hit the ski slopes (many resorts are now open for business).  For skiing options near Nyon and further afield see a previous post here . Many ski resorts are within a day's drive or train ride from Nyon and  Verbier , in the Canton of Valais is one of them. The resort is not only very popular for its expansive pisted terrain, but also for its nightlife and boasts over a million overnight hotel and chalet stays per year, (three out of four of  these during the Winter season). 33% of its visitors are from the UK, 24% from Switzerland 10% from France and 14% rest of the world all coming to experience  "Verbs" (as it affectionately known).    As a high percentage of these visitors of these are Anglophone, it was only a matter of time before an English language station would spring up to cater for their needs, so on January 2011 Mountain Radio Verbier will begin broadcasting  in English to these visitors. The aim of the station is to aimed at the whole Verbier-St-Bernard tourist destination.    Conor Lennon, the founder and director behind the new radio station currently presents and produces the morning show on World Radio Switzerland, (the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s national Anglophone station)  He says; "Listeners will get the latest information on snow conditions and weather, as well as daily events guides and a special music mix. The station will target all tourists who use English as a lingua franca , wherever they are from and will aim to create a bridge between the tourists and the local population, by talking about the rich cultural life of the region.  As for the music mix it will be primarily hits, but catering to the needs of the younger, party crowd, but we will also play some Swiss (English language) tunes to remind them which country they are in!"  Photo above: Party time in "Verbs". Prior to presenting on World Radio Switzerland Conor was Producer for Special Projects at BBC Radio in London . Conor and his family are permanent residents in Lourtier, Val de Bagnes . Mountain Radio Verbier will be able to be heard on the Sateldranse cable network broadcast to skiers in chalets and hotels and listeners can tune in online before they come to the resort. More information on Verbier's summer and winter activities is available on its official website (English section). Check out the webcam of conditions in Verbier here .

On Saturday 28th March, Diccon Bewes will be giving a guided Victorian tour of Geneva. The tour begins at 15:00 (meet at Payot bookshop in Cornavin railway station at 14:30). Diccon is the author of the very successful books   "Swiss Watching" ,  ("a best book of 2010" - Financial Times) and  " Slow Train to Switzerland " Diccon comments on all things Swiss related and will be dressed up in Victorian costume for the tour itself!   Details here For non-English speakers, a simultaneous French translation will be provided by Hadi Barkat . A unique opportunity to discover a new outlook on the city.  This should be an  entertaining stroll! Diccon  will end this tour with a signing of his books in English and in French.  Nyon events -  Win Paléo tickets Other events, tonight (Friday 27th March) there will be Celtic music at the 1306 Club ( ruelle de la poterne in Nyon) starting at 2030. Entry free, hat distributed for the artists at the end of the evening.  Win Paléo tickets The weekly competition to win Paléo tickets has now begun on the festival's website and it continues until the 25th May.  To play, click here  The full Festival line-up will be announced on Tuesday 14 April! Tickets will go on sale at midday on Wednesday 22 April  Photo above - Paléo in 2014

This next film review comes from New Zealand writer Emma Johnson. Emma says this film is "strangely moving".  This film is set in Lithuania. The "father" in this film is widely known as the father of the mafia due to his criminal exploits, he also lives with his eleven children and his purpose is to become the oldest father in Europe and to have as many children as he can. Tevas (Father), Marat Sargsyan   Next screening today Sunday 21 April, Capitole 2 at  18:00. Link the buy tickets online for this film here . Marat Sargsyan's documentary, (Fathe r), provides an intimate portrait of Vidas Zenonas Antonovas within the context of the relatively vast realm of his family in the Lithuanian countryside. While he is more widely known as 'the father of the mafia' due to his criminal exploits, which include extortion and highjacking a plane, this film explores another aspect of his identity - that of the patriarch of a large family, which he and his wife are determined to expand. Longevity and progeniture ! It is Vidas's day-to-day life that is intriguing, a domestic and pastoral world far removed from his previous one of crime. This everyday living sits somewhere between the ordinary and extraordinary, due to the unusual domestic circumstances. Vidas lives with his eleven children and his purpose (or perhaps obsession is a better word) is to become the oldest father in Europe and to have as many children as he can. He tells the director that he hopes to outdo his grandfather, who had 18 kids. The opening shot of the film shows Vidas washing his new born son. This is an apt introduction as it is this juxtaposition of youth and possibility against age that we see throughout the documentary. The energy of the children running around the house, fighting and playing highlights both his age and his play against time. One of the children remark, 'He's not a criminal anymore, he's old'. 'And muscular' another one adds. Yet his move away from crime and towards longevity through progeniture make him a rebel nonetheless – one who challenges time and age. This is further seen in the intimate shots of Vidas exercising and shadow boxing alone, keeping himself in shape in a small room which he locks, so that he can enjoy moments of respite from all the children who seek him out regularly. 'Men can still have babies at 100', Vidas explains, 'if they look after their bodies well'. A world unto itself A whole private world is contained within the family, which Sargsyan opens up to us and invites us into via intriguing episodes and events that follow both seasonal and familiar rhythms. Vidas reenacts one his arrests by having his children play the authorities, instructing them to capture him and say 'Eat soil bandit'. While archival footage of his arrests and time in prison are interspersed through the film and provide the necessary contrast that renders his current life so interesting, this familial reenactment provides depth and ties in his history to his current way of life in a way that the other footage does not. It is strangely moving. is intimate and inviting due to Sargsyan's ability to capture such a private world – from Vidas as Father Christmas bringing presents to the kids, to the family bathing in the river or sleeping in the numerous beds throughout the house, or all the children lining up to get hot chocolate and yoghurt. This familiarity allows us to appreciate that Vidas's evolution from father of a crime family to the father of a his own enormous family and highlights how life does not often turn out how one might expect.     Photo - writer Emma Johnson.

Visions du Réel – Screening in Gland for the first time. You can't miss them, walking, driving or cycling in Gland, on the Avenue du Mont-Blanc, from the autoroute to the lake road, or on the Route de Begnins (the road that passes the post office from the 'Denner' round-about to the Gare), there are many bright, lively, red and white posters publicising Visions du Réel à Gland. Take a walk down the Grand-Rue and you will see the cheerful and creatively decorated window for 'Echos du Réel' at number 47 the shop of Mme. Hemberger, 'Passion Cadeau', in competition for the 'Concours de Vitrines' with other shops in Nyon. Look closely at the left side of the window and you'll recognise the 'trademark' of a famous actor who is well known around the world, and lived in Switzerland. Fourteen films from different categories will be screened in Gland during the film festival. Screenings are in the evening during the week. There is free parking and cycle stands at the Théâtre, with directions that get you there with ease regardless of where you are coming from in Gland or other towns or villages. For many people in Gland, this is a chance to attend important films at the large and professional Théâtre de Grand-Champ that is well known in the region for the shows, concerts and films that are held there. Gland welcomes Visions du Réel to the annual cultural calendar and encourages everyone to participate and enjoy the entertaining and educational films from around the world that are being shown Trish Thalman Tonight (20 April) in Gland, the film "My love, Don't Cross that River" by Moyoung Jin at 20:00 Jo Byeongman is 98, his wife Kang Gyeyeol is 89. When they met she was just fourteen. 35 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren later, not a day has gone by when they have not been in love, made each other laugh. But death is looking them in the face. Living in Nyon's comment on this film. This is also a love story as well as a documentary. Best to take a handkerchief along, there are some moving and sad scenes. Yet, some of them seem overly staged, while others are a true reflection of their life -  scenes of the children and grandchildren arguing over their parents, the angst of the the wife watching her husband while he is treated in hospital. There are some scenes that perhaps the director could and should have left out. Scenes that robbed the 98 year old husband of his dignity.  Nevertheless, the film has become a successful independent film in its own country and is an interesting window on the world of modern and traditional South Korean life, filmed over 15 months in mountain village in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province.    Click here for info and tickets

Another busy weekend ahead in the Nyon area, from the cows coming down from the hills in St-Cergue, to the wine and autumn fairs in Nyon, to a flute festival at the Conservatoire, to a play in English in Commugny about Shakespeare's Women. Take your pick! Désalpe This Saturday, it's the "Désalpe" in the village of St-Cergue above Nyon. If you are new to Switzerland, the Désalpe ceremony is definitely worth a visit! This ceremony involves cows being brought down from their high summer pastures to the lower ground for the winter. The cows are decorated with flowery headdresses by the farmers and paraded through the village to the delight of the visitors. There are usually lots of other side events going on in the village: Swiss flag throwing, Alpenhorn music, food stalls etc. This year there will also be an art exhibition in the St-Cergue tourist office by local artist Rita Mancesti . Rita has created 18 paintings which were inspired by the Désalpe in 2014 (see painting above). You can meet the artist and chat to her about her work on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October between 09:00 and 16:00. Note - The first herd of cows arrives in the village at 08:30 and the very last by 12:30. It's best to get up early to see the parade in full!  Parking can sometimes be tricky as it's a popular event, it's sometimes easier to take the little red train from Nyon. Check times here Autumn Fair It's the Autumn fair in Nyon on Saturday all day long in the centre of town, stalls, food, autumn produce, music and more. Flute Festival There will be an all day flute festival at the Conservatoire of Nyon. Click here for more details. Commugny - Play - Shakespeare's Women  Saturday 3rd October 19:00 Salle Communale de Commugny ‘Shakespeare’s Women’ – a one-act play performed by the professional Theatre of Eternal Values, followed by a South Indian meal. A portrayal of some of the women in the Bard’s plays: How were they treated? How did they allow themselves to be treated? A thought provoking evening – has anything changed? Tickets and details here Wine Fair Last but not least, it's the Fête de la Vigne in Nyon on Friday 2nd (from 17:00) and on Saturday the 3rd from 10:00. Wine tasting at 11:00 grape picking at 15:00 amongst many other activities. Full programme here

Sunday pm. Hot news from Nyon! Daniel Rossellat has squeezed through to win the local Nyon municipaux elections by just 2 votes. Voter turnout was 36% and there were three recounts to double check the result.More commentary and feedback Monday evening /Tues am.

Introduction. So why do I like it here so much? Well I love living here for many reasons. There is almost everything you need for day to day living with banks, supermarkets, butchers, bakers, restaurants and cafés all in the pedestrianised centre, and a Saturday market in the old town. On a cultural level there are plenty of museums, and music venues to be found. With its two fabulous music festivals, Caribana in June, and Paleo in July (just on the outskirts of the town) and its superb documentary film festival in Spring, makes Nyon a very good place to be. The local council keep the town looking good and the gardens and public areas have constantly changing displays of flowers. The views from many parts of the town over the lake (particularly from the castle), are spectacular. The ferries that go over to the other side of the lake to France, sail past some stunning scenery. The main line station has trains that can take you to Geneva in 15 minutes and to the airport in 24. The small red train takes you through the countryside above Nyon into the Jura mountains and there are many surrounding villages near Nyon which form part of the "route du vignoble", a wine trail that goes though pretty wine making villages. Julius Caesar knew what he was doing.   This site was created on the 20th May 2008. It will be updated regularly with new information and photos. If you have just moved here and want to know more detailed information I can provide a "welcome service". This includes meeting you and providing information, talking to a friendly face over lunch or coffee and help to get you started. Contact me via the email link on the sidebar.