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Warmer weather has now arrived in Nyon and the Spring newsletter of Living in Nyon is now out. On it there is a round up of what has been featured on the site for the past three months, there is also exciting news about Nyon's cinema!  If you would like to receive this free newsletter, just susbscribe by registering in the box on the right hand side of this site. Living in Nyon on Facebook Did you know that Living in Nyon now has a Facebook page ? Posts from this site are automatically fed to the page so check it out, click the "like" button and join in the discussions on the site. Events coming up  in Nyon The Funambule is a small but intimate theatre space situated next to the Beau Rivage hotel in Nyon. Along with running theatre, singing  and composition workshops for musical and theatrical students (it has its own in house recording studio), the theatre also runs a full programme of  professional shows ranging from theatrical plays, comedies to musical evenings.  See the Funambule's own website for more details.  Comedy in English The next event at the Funambule  in English  on the agenda, is the one man show  "Caveman"   which will be performed on the 16th April at 20:30 and 17th April at 17:00.  You can buy tickets in advance for this production either online or at  the service desk at Migros. There is a bar at the theatre to have a pre dinner drink.   27th March - Journée Proxité - Family day out and a day to discover Nyon   On Sunday 27th March there are lots of activities organised to discover the local farms and the local heritage buildings.  The full programme of the day can be found here   adn more informantion on the Nyon town website here . Glocals have a Nyon group .  Glocals now has a Nyon social group. The group organises activities and social outings to many of the events that are mentioned on this site. Link here to find out more about the group. Note this is not a Living in Nyon group, this group was formed under the umbrella of Glocals. English Reading Group at Crans près Celigny library Next meeting 14th April from 15:15 to 17:00 The group will be discussing  "The space between us"  by Thrity Umrigar. For more info contact Mally Packham 022 7766084 or email mally.packham@bluewin.ch Volunteers Needed ICV Volunteers are needed for the following conference  " Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction ", this is  a volunteer opportunity taking place from 8-13 May 2011.  Volunteers are need  to fulfill the following responsibilities: 57 Volunteers for Welcoming Services Welcome; provide assistance; oversee the setup of session; prepare bags; liaise between staff etc... 16 Reporters, 2 Editors and 2 Photographers   Write, proofread and/or edit session reports; Document conference events. 4 Translators  Translate documents during the event; Languages: Six U.N. languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian). Click here to view more information about this volunteer opportunity. If you are interested in volunteering for this project, please submit your CV to volunteer@icvolunteers.org and, if you haven't already done so, register for ICVolunteers here .

A quick reminder that the documentary film "Cleveland against Wall Street"  will be shown tonight in English at Nyon cinema at 20:00 .  The director of Visions du Réel film festival will be present at the screening and will be speaking to the director Jean Stephan Bron (from Lausanne) about the making of the movie.  The film’s storyline is about the victims of the subprime crisis in the U.S who fight it out with bankers in a court case. This film has been very successful in Switzerland and audiences have turned out in big numbers.  The cinema in Nyon is now linking up with Vision du Réel to show documentaries throughout the year and not just over the festival period. Photo above from yesterday's Naval Parade in Rolle. More photos of the day coming up on this site.

Photo above taken at the Bol D'or in 2007. This famous yacht race will take place this year from the 15 -15 June 2012 News - Living in Nyon was featured in the 10 May issue of the Swiss magazine l'Hebdo in a four page article called "Les Expatriés, Absurdes Boucs Emissaires" . In it, the article discussed the continued growth of the Lac Léman region and the attraction of the area to the many multinationals that have chosen to base themselves here.  It also discussed the subsequent problems and difficulties that have arisen because of this growth (shortage of housing, high rents etc ). It questions the value of bringing in any more expatriates to the area, particularly when some of them don't attempt to integrate or speak French.  The magazine then interviews a variety of individuals on their thoughts on the subject from the Mayor of Nyon, Daniel Rossellat to Nir Ofek from Glocals, to the Living in Nyon editor.  The editor gave her views and you can read them, and those of the others in terviewd in the article here  A selection of events  coming up in the Region Tonight Friday 19 May, it's the last ever concert of the hip hop slam group "Trip In" in their current form. They will perform in the Usine a Gaz from 21:30 onwards (doors open at 21:00)  Details here Morgan Cars in Nyon Approx 25 English Morgan cars will be in and around Nyon between the 25 the and 27th May in an event called NyonMog   organised by the Swiss Morgan Owners Group Also next weekend 26 and 27 May it's " Caves Ouvertes in Vaud"!  Over 300 wineries and  caves will be open to members of the public to taste and buy wine. See site here. Photo Exhibition Focale, the photography association based in Nyon has a new exhibition called "Neptune - Squats 2002 -2012" by Julien Gregorio.  The exhibition will run from 6 May -17 June and can be seen in Focale's gallery just near the château of Nyon. See details here on the Focale website Swing Jazz  There's Swing Jazz at the 1306 Club on Friday 25 May at the 1306 Club from 20:30 onwards. More details here Tourist office now open by lake   Nyon Tourist office has now opened its summer pavilion. This is siutated next to the ferry embarcation point on the lake side to cater for the thousands of tourists who visit the area in the summer months. It will be open seven days a week from 10:00-16:00 in May June and September and from 10:00- 18:00 in July and August.  For all tourist and other local events coming up in the area see the list here on the Nyon tourist website Further afield - Beer Festival next weekend in Vevey     Beer festival - Fri 25 May to Mon 28 May  This beer festival will take place at the market square in Vevey at Vevey "Beach". Wide range of beers, concerts and more. For more information - see site here.

On the 9th, 10th and 12th May, over 120 students of COV (the Conservatoire of West Vaud) will perform "Marco Polo and the Princess of China". This is a family friendly opera, at just one hour and quarter long, it's a great introduction for all ages to the world of opera, live orchestral music, fabulous costumes and scenery. Living in Nyon recently spoke to Anastase Démétriadès, the director of the school who said; "This is a massive opportunity for all the students to get together and perform. The youngest member is 6 years old, there are adult students too, three choirs involved, 45 in the orchestra alone, it's a big event! It is also a good opportunity to see the work of this prestigious music school". Photo below - The COV orchestra in rehearsal Living in Nyon has 12 free tickets on offer for this event . 2 pairs for the performance in Morges on Saturday 9th May, 2 pairs for the performance in Nyon on Sunday 10th May, and 2 pairs for the performance in Aubonne on Tuesday 12th May. To be in with a chance with winning, email info@livinginnyon.com by Sunday 3rd May, title the email "Marco Polo" and state which venue you would like tickets for ( Nyon, Morges or Aubonne) For more details of the concert and and to purchase tickets see here (click on the word "representations" to buy tickets online)

Whether it is at Paléo , Caribana ,  the Usine a Gaz , Javal or Longirock, Nyon residents are very lucky to have a rich seam of music festivals and venues on their doorstep.  Two years ago, Living in Nyon spotted a Geneva based band called Mama Rosin perform at the small 1306 club in the old town in Nyon (so called because the house the club is situated in, dates back to 1306) . We wrote here on this site about what a great concert it was, and then again when the group performed at Paléo and Caribana ( see " two bands to watch out for "). Living in Nyon is delighted  to  discover that  the band will be performing on "Later with Jools Holland" on the TV channel BBC2 on Friday 1st October. This prestigious programme showcases  many new bands and familiar names in all music genres and is shown around the world. Mama Rosin are not the first band to have been discovered here in Nyon, many others have started off in a small way in local venues or at summer festivals and have gone on to bigger things, so next time you attend a music concert here in the area, keep an eye out for upcoming singers and groups, as you never know where they will end up!

Nyon town centre was entertained on Saturday lunchtime by the street entertainers from Paléo. These "wasps" have been whizzing through the Paleo site all week and today were whizzing (buzzing?) through the Saturday market entertaining the public.< The TV "Monde" actors inside a TV set and in costumes, provided lots of fun too. They commented on and homed in variuos members of the crowd at Paléo and in town for their and the crowd's amusement! Living in Nyon has been a victim of their comments more than once this week! Snuck away behind the scenes the Paléo volunteers continue to work away. Below are the team sorting through the evironmentally friendly Ecocups Not only are these one of Paléo success storys in the festivals strive to be as environmentally friendly as possible but the cups (particularly with the Paléo logo on -not all of them have them) seem to becoming collectors items!

Living in Nyon is linking up with Nyon Tourism and Ecole-Club Migros for a fun fondue evening on the 7th February. This event has been organised for recently expatriates to the Nyon region. It's a great opportunity to learn how to make your own fondue and find out about the customs and traditions of fondue making. There's an opportunity for some wine tasting on the night and you can find out more about living in the Nyon area. It's also a great chance to meet new people at the same time!  The event will take place in the wine cellar of Nyon's castle at 19:30 and it is offered at a discounted price of 15 chf.  Full details below, please note, space is limited at this event so please register by sending an email to cnp at bluewin.ch before January 15th, first come, first served!

"Another successful Paléo", was the summing up of this year's festival at Sunday's press conference. Jacques Monnier the festival's programmer, announced that on the whole they were pleased with the quality of the music on offer and this year they found the sound was particularly good in the "Chapiteau".  Some bands proved to be very popular with the public, Two Door Cinema Club , Foals , Crosby Stills and Nash , My Heart belongs to Celia Winter , Filewile etc and they were pleased that the music of Hugues Dufray crossed generations (echoed by  Jonas's post from Thursday )  Meanwhile over in the Village du Monde the Mohatella Queens and Mozulart were also big hits.  Daniel Rossellat the festival director said that the festival had evolved over the years and now had a winning formula which worked. When talking about the Village du Monde-Afrique Australe area, Rossellat  recounted his experience of seeing Nelsons Mandela's cell on Robben Island in South Africa. "For the first 17 years (out of 27) when Mandela was incarcerated the cell was so dark and small he couldn0t see outside and he didn't even know what the seasons were." Rosselllat said; " to come out of  that and still forgive is an amazing and incredible thing"  and shows what a wonderful person he is and he went on to say how he met many similar people on his travels. "Here at Paléo we hope we have given a small glimpse of  the wonderful spirit that is in the African people". There were questions from the press on the implementation of the new smoking laws inside the tents and the fact that the laws were being flouted. Rossellat said they had decided to take a "softly softly" approach this year as many of the public were unaware of the rules at rock festivals. As to why at Paléo bags aren't checked at the  entry gates for bottles, cameras etc (as in other festivals ), Rossellat said "We like to think as Paléo as a small town " when you visit a town you aren't checked when you walk around the town so we don't do that here either, it keeps the atmosphere friendly. In fact our security people are there for security and welcome - the two things go hand in hand.  Below is Jonas's final report from Saturday's night at Paléo.  Photos throughout this post are from Saturday and Sunday's final day.  Dates for your diary: Paléo next year is on  The line up is announced on April and tickets go on sale at  and The theme for the Village du Monde will be music from the Caribbean. As the end of the festival approaches and that the lack of sleep builds up, we can be grateful for another wonderful evening. Thanks to the weather, which spared us rain, and to some really good musicians, Saturday night was another great success. As I’m involved a lot in the circus, it was normal for me to go and watch some of the shows at the Ruche, the area devoted to street performance and circus. I went to watch la cie les Arrosés. They’re three jugglers and acrobats, and they do quite a few impressive things. Their show was interesting, not so as such as as a means of getting to find out new tricks to do. The cie les Arrosés are typically street performers, with a rather “trash” repertoire, with jokes that made adults and children laugh alike, though not really for the same reasons… It’s interesting to see how adults react to hearing sometimes quite crude jokes in front of a show full of small children, sometimes not really knowing what to do. It was fast-paced and full of energy, and I had a good laugh watching them. I then watched the last five minutes of Mozuluart (a mix between Mozart and Zulu), a band whose idea was to mix Mozart’s music with Zulu music. It works, and quite well too, African rythms and singing giving Mozart a refreshing burst of energy. The layout of the band is three Africans, who sing, play percussions and dance, with a pianist (on a grand piano), and a string quartet. It was quite funny to see them playing again in one of the strange brown structures in the village du Monde a bit later on, reduced to the three singers and the pianist playing on a keyboard balanced on his knees… Mozuluart It was then off to the main stage for the best concert of the evening, John Butler and his wonderful mind-blowing guitar. The Australian guitar player is a genius, playing the guitar like a god. He made sounds come out of his guitar that you would never think was possible and playing beautiful but extremely complicated melodies. Switching between banjo, guitar and another strangely shaped guitar I don’t know the name of, he subjugated the whole crowd with his talent. Another memorable moment of the concert was when the drummer told everybody to turn round and face the Jura, then jump round and start dancing like mad. It was quite a sight to see a few thousand people showing their backside to the musicians, with their hands up in the air! Da silva, a French singer was playing under the chapiteau, so I went to have a look. Some of his songs were quite good, even thought his voice rather irritated me, and the violinist was excellent. It lacked (according to me) some accordion and some more wind instruments (saxophone, or more clarinet, we could barely hear the man playing the clarinet and the trumpet ), in a configuration which was too rock for that sort of music. Later on, it was time for Paolo Nutini to jazz up Paleo with his fresh pop-rock. The 23 year old singer was right up to the (sometimes) difficult and intimidating task of playing on the Grande Scène in front of about 30’000 people. But he managed extremely well, and delivered a concert where everybody danced to the sound of his highly energetic melodies. Even if Jacques Ductronc does not figure in my favourite singers, and that I rather dislike the man himself, I went to see a bit of his concert, listening to some of his now cult songs, sometimes even discovering that a song I knew was actually by him… His show was rather strange, involving at one point an extremely tall man and a dwarf lady, for some reason that I didn’t understand… As always, the evening finished by the fires, before a short visit to the Pl’Asse, the off festival, where a DJ was mixing gipsy and balkanic music with quite some success.

On Sunday there will be a guided tour of the Arboretum in Aubonne at 14:00 and the theme will be "Forests from the West coast of the U.S.A." The walk will be guided by M.Sylvain Meier (forester). Rendezvous at 13:45 at L'Arbe'space at the welcome centre of the Arboretum. Duration of walk two hours, wear sensible walking shoes! See website for more details. Also on Sunday at 17:00 there will be a classical concert at the Salle Cortot (Villa Thomas) at the Conservatoire on the lake side, performed by "Le Parnasse Francois". French classical music from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Whether you are just starting your Christmas shopping, or looking for last minute gifts, a reminder that there will be late night shopping in Nyon u ntil 22:00 on Wednesday 19th and Friday 21 December. There will be free local buses provided on these evenings for those who want to avoid driving into the town.

There's an English comedy night  tomorow Tuesday 22nd February at the Uptown Geneva,   with Funny Laundry presenting  a double-bill of world class comedy showcasing the bright young talent of Tom Deacon (who has just been announced as the presenter for a new UK BBC Radio 1 Sunday evening show starting soon), and Craig Hill the "camp comic" from Scotland. Seating is not numbered and the show starts at 20:30 - doors open at 19:30.  Plenty of tickets available on the door at 35 CHF (concessions 30 CHF). Uptown Geneva is on 2 Rue de la Servette, 1201 Geneva - a two minute walk from Cornavin Station. For further information visit Funny Laundry.

Living in Nyon would like to wish all its readers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will be back in 2016, with more news, local information, interviews and articles. Below is a snapshot of Nyon and surrounding region in photos taken in 2015.  All photos C. Nelson-Pollard Photo below: A wintry morning commute from Nyon Photo below: A decorated Easter fountain below the Maitre Jacques statue in Nyon Photo below: The Gardens at the Chateau de Vullierens Photo below: Inside the brand new library at the Jan Michalski foundation in Montricher Photo below: Blue skies in Nyon Photo below: Lovely weather for ducks Photo below: The magnificent magnolia tree in full bloom by the lake Photo below: Interviewing at Visions du Réel 2015 Photo below: Caribana 2015 Photo below: Member of the public sketching the Joan Baez concert at Paléo 2 Photos below: Nature in Nyon Photo below: "Picnic on the grass" day at the Château de Prangins Photo below: Member of a Guggenmusiker band at the Fondue Festival in Tartegnin Photo below: A warm December day by the lake