A few events coming up in the Nyon area (and further afield) over the next few weeks. Also, don't forget to check out the English column in la La Côte newsaper each Friday. Today's column is a wry look at the street names of this area. Pick up your copy in any newsagent. Green Film Festival - Starts tonight in Nyon - two days of film on the theme of environment, development and North/South relations. This festival is in its fifth year and takes place across fourteen towns across Swiss Romande. This weekend it's Nyons turn. The first film "Il etait un fois .. notre terre", is for young cinema goers. It begins at 16:30 and will be shown in the Salle Communale in Nyon followed by a discussion. See the film festival website for details (click on Nyon on the left hand side) Jazz Evening - Friday 12th March 20:30 down at the 1306 club (the oldest house in Nyon, it was built in 1306). "Soft Winds" with Mario Schneeberger on sax. The best of Charlie Parker, Benny Golson, Fletcher Henderson and more. Patchwork Exhibition Saturday 6th March 17:00 - Opening of the 8th Exhibition of the Patchwork Club of La Côte at the Library in Crans (in the Salle Communale) See previous post about this library. For further information, email beatrice.bernard@sunrise.ch or call 022 368 1418 Photography exhibition New photography exhibition at Focale in Nyon - Bertrand Rey from 7th March -11th April See Focale (More on this site about exhibition after the opening). Spring Brocante Sale in Gex (over the border in France) Friday 19 March - 09:00 to 20:00 Saturday 20 March 09:00 to 17:00 L’Ancienne Ferme, 485 rue de l’Etraz, Gex. Small items of furniture, mirrors, pictures, china, trunks, rugs and antique gifts. English, French, Swiss and Scandinavian influences. Bring a friend and come for chat, coffee and cake. For directions contact Sian Sibley on +33 4 50 41 92 30 email s.sibley@orange.fr Lecture - Webster University - Bellevue Wednesday, March 17th 2010 18:30 – 20:00 The Psychology and Counselling Department of Webster University Geneva presents The 2010 Lecture Series - Moving to Switzerland: how families and children manage transitions Rachel Melville-Thomas - Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist WRS Kids in Mind See Webster university

Latest news - April 1st Caribana first night Wed 9 June now sold out! (this is not an April fool's joke) Comfort at Caribana The Caribana music festival, due to take place at Crans sur Nyon from 9-13 June, has revealed its full line up of performers for the five day music fest by the lake. On the agenda are Deep Purple, Madness, Hell's Kitchen, Sum 41, Micky Green, Faithless, Yodelice, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Sean Paul, Mama Rosin* Polar, Thomas Dybdahl, Neil Halstead and many more bands and singers, plus a special guest still to be announced. A still lake by the Caribana pitch last week This year Caribana celebrates its 20th birthday and to mark the big occasion, the organisers have decided to put the emphasis on comfort for the festival goers. There will be fewer tickets sold to provide more space on the pitch; there will be a series of "unplugged" concerts within a quiet area called Scène de la Plage, right on the lake side; and the concerts on the different stages will be timed so each group's music doesn't run over and clash with the other bands on other stages. Also there will be more seating near the food stalls to allow festival goers to enjoy the different food in comfort. Caribana last year, music amongst the trees and by the lake. Caribakids day Sunday the 13th is Caribakids day (from 13.00-18.00), where there will be lots of activities for children including a quiet corner for them to listen to stories read by volunteers from the library at Crans. There will be a workshop for children held inside a yurt, including an opportunity for them to make music. As ever there will be a boum (dance/disco) for the children and face painting, bouncy castle, climbing wall and a mass release of balloons. Caribana on iPhone New to Caribana this year is the availability of the programme on an iPhone app. Also, ticket holders will be able to use regional public transport free of charge to and from the festival from the Wednesday to the Saturday (including the NStCM train) Buses to Geneva and Lausanne will be available for a special price of 10 chf per journey. Environment Around half of the buses that will bring in the sponsors and artists to the festival will operate on natural gas. This year as in the last two years, there will be a deposit of CHF 2 on the gobelets (the drinking containers) when purchasing beers/drinks etc. This is to encourage less rubbish in the ground and to enable the containers to be recycled. It promises to be a fabulous festival, more details on the daily line up will be posted here on Living in Nyon nearer the time. Tickets are now on sale . The Caribana website has details of all the ticket outlets, and you can also buy them online. Tickets don't sell out as fast as they do for the Paléo music festival but they do sell out, so don't leave it too late! * Living in Nyon has been following Mama Rosin since they first played in Nyon many years ago in the small venue in the old town called Club 1306. See previous post. They are superb live! Check them out. News from Nyon's film festival - Lou Reed coming to Nyon Latest news from Visions du Réel is that the singer (and now film maker) Lou Reed will be coming to Nyon to present his first film called "Red Shirley" for its world premiere. (note there are still a few places left for the talk by Mr Perret director of Visions du Réel on 6th April here in Nyon, see post below) This is what VDR's press release says about the film. When Lou Reed, the singer of the group “Velvet Underground” and author of the albums Berlin and Transformer, stood behind a camera for the first time at the age of 68, one might have thought he would seek to probe the world of music. Not at all. His first documentary film will focus on something else: the face and the narrative of his cousin, on the eve of her 100th birthday. Sitting next to her, sometimes even kneeling, whispering his questions close to her ear, Lou Reed, assisted by Ralph Gibson, records the story of an incredible destiny. Often showing amazement, like a child, at the events Shirley has lived through, laughing at her quirky, frank or irritated replies, frequently asking her to repeat just to make sure, he films an affectionate and moving portrait, interspersed with some photographs. While Shirley’s narrative first touches on the ordeal of two world wars and the disappearance of her family “whom Hitler took care of”, it takes an unexpected turn. We learn that she left Poland on her own in 1938 at the age of 19 years, with only two suitcases and a few dollars in her pocket to travel to Montreal – where in six months she learnt not French but the mandolin before finally slipping off illegally to New York, buried under the goods on a truck. There she was to become a dressmaker and to lead the workers’ demands hence her nickname Red Shirley, which gave the film its title. An extraordinary figure of women’s emancipation, captured in all her authenticity. The film will be shown on Tuesday, April 20 at 20:30 at the Théâtre de Marens.

If you have recently arrived in Switzerland, you may not know that you don't need to head off to Brazil to be part of Carnival. There are parades and mini carnivals taking place all over the country. Some are well known such as the Fastnacht in Basel, or carnival in Lucerne, however the small village of Broc (near Gruyères just an hour from Nyon) put on a splendid show this weekend, with little children and adults taking part. The town of Nyon doesn't hold a carnival (there is so much going on the rest of the year) but if you are heading off to a ski resort or thermal baths for a weekend check there isn't a carnival parade planned in that area for the next few weeks. The photos below give you a flavour of what to expect, and the Smilebox at the end of this has even more photos. It takes a few seconds to load and provides a bit of a colour and music to these cold winter days. Make a Smilebox slideshow

Living in Nyon spoke to expatriate Sandra Wilmer who moved to Rolle in July 2009. Sandra, originally from Johannesburg in South Africa, tells us why she loves living in Rolle. "Rolle is a magical and charming town. Even though it has a population of just *5,000 people, it has everything one needs to go about one's daily business, with a butcher, baker etc. Rolle has the most beautiful waterfront that is set away from the road, making it a quiet place to go for a stroll. The Chateau is a working chateau, there are administrational offices that are run from within the building. There are also exhibitions held in a gallery space in the castle and a wonderful market at Christmas too. Art Exhibition held inside the Chateau Rolle is peaceful which I love even though it is still very close to the other towns of Nyon and Morges. Lausanne, Coppet and Geneva are a short drive or train ride away. We have wonderful wineries on our doorstep and we are within walking distance to Mont sur Rolle. We often go to Fechy for wine tasting, lunch in St Prex or Perroy, which is just around the corner from us. There is an international feel to the place due to the A1 Business centre, but there are still many Swiss people here, although you don’t hear as much English spoken as in our neighbouring towns. I have always found everyone to be friendly and when I try to speak French, people are very helpful and patient. We often take our bicycles in the summer and just ride around the apple orchards and vineyards and we stop to pick apples that have fallen on the ground, there are also opportunities to pick grapes in the Autumn season too. There is a local gym in Rolle and a beautiful conference centre along the lake side. The local Rolle Green Bus travels around the town regularly and picks up people at designated spots and takes them to the train station in a very timely fashion so it's all very convenient. The train station is very clean too and very accessible to most everywhere. If there was just one thing I wish for, that would be that were more trains from Rolle, the frequency could be improved. We have a very well known fish restaurant called Café du Port which has an excellent reputation. There are many other nice restaurants too. Rolle also has a shop called the Tournesol (sunflower) which is an organic food store and there is also a market on Tuesday and Friday mornings, with fresh produce, pasta, cheese, meat, olives, fish, flowers all on sale. However my favourite shop of all has to be La Boîte à Thé which is a very special shop indeed. You can sip tea or drink coffee at the back of the store, while looking through all the photos of the owner’s travels. The owner Ursula Selig, sources many products while she is travelling in other countries and there are teas and interesting products for sale from all over the world in this shop. I have spent hours here as it is so peaceful and interesting too! Rolle also has a ferry dock, and the ferries cross over the lake to the main towns and villages in the summer. All in all, I think Rolle is a very special little place and I love living here." Editor's note: Rolle is also home to Le Rosey the prestigious international boarding school (said to be one of the most expensive schools in the world) See previous post about the A1 business centre in Rolle * The population of Rolle (December 2009) was 5,686 The official website of Rolle also incudes the communes of Allaman, Bursinel, Bursins, Burtigny, Dully, Essertines, Gilly, Luins, Mont-sur-Rolle, Perroy, Rolle, Tartegnin and Vinzel. Rolle also has a tourist office in the centre of the town which has its own website Rolle High Street

Flowers, sculptures and wine festival in Morges, The Sound of Music in English at the theatre, Classical music at the Conservatoire. Living in Nyon talk/future films in Nyon, parking in Nyon, late local shopping hours and thankyou to a reader in Neuchatel. Finally, if Shakespeare were alive today would he be on Facebook? (see sidebar) An eclectic mix of events and news for you below. Tulip festival in Morges - Morges High Street with flags out The Tulip festival in Morges has now begun and will continue until May 16th. Over 200,000 tulips have been planted in the Parc de l'Indépendance near the edge of the lake and when they finally come into bloom there will be a spectacular display of flowers, (blooming is a little late this year due to the cold Autumn). However there are also daffodils, hyacinth and crocusses too and they should be coming into flower very soon (if they are not already). This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the festival and there are many special events organised over the following weekends. This year there will also be 15 sculptures in the park in an exhibition organised by the International Symposium of Sculpture.Tulip festival brief round up below, see the site for full detailsPark keepers preparing for the festival This weekend 10 to 11 April Weekend for families Bouncy castles, Clown puppets, Captive flights in hot air balloon, climbing wall, bicycle race, 17 and 18 April Swiss Weekend Orchestra, Accordions, carriage rides, raclettes, 23, 24 and 25th April Turkish weekend and International children's festival Processions, result of contest of giant tulips, folk dancing, shadow theatre, workshops for children Turkish food. 1st and 2nd May Dutch Day Bike rides guided tour on bicycle, Circus Klomp, Songs from Holland 8th and 9th May 80 potters in the Tulips Ceramic artists on site in the park, pottery demonstrations and pots for sale. Brass band music etc 15th and 16th May Medieval animations Reconstruction of craftsmen from the 15th Century. Stringed instrument maker Boat parade 16 May Note, each year in a different town along the lake there is a Naval parade of all the "Belle Epoque" boats from the CGN company. This year it is the turn of Morges and on Sunday 16th May from 13:30 to 15:00 there will be a naval choreography which will be visible from the quays at 14:15. It's quite spectacular and worth a visit. Wine fair Also in Morges on the 14-19 April it's the Arvinis wine fair which is open to the public, lots of stands and tasting of local wines, this year the "guest of honour" wine at the fair is Californian wine. Sound of Music The hills or rather the Theatre du Léman in Geneva will come alive with the sound of music in a couple of weeks with the GAOS production in English of The Sound of Music on 23, 24 and 25 April. If this show is one of your favourite things, then check it out on the GAOS website Classical Music Concert Bach and Handel will be played by Georges Kiss at a clavecin Sunday afternoon recital at the Conservatioire of Nyon on Sunday 18th April at 17:00 Living in Nyon - Documentary Film talk Thankyou to all who came to the last Living in Nyon event on Tuesday night. Mr Jean Perret and Madame Gabriela Bussmann (Director and Deputy Director) of Nyon's upcoming documentary film festival Visions du Réel gave a very interesting talk about the festival to a full house of Living in Nyon readers. They explained all about the festival, the logistics of choosing films amongst the 2,000 submitted. Mr Perret talked about the diversity of the films the aim of the festival and what is on the agenda for this year. Madame Bussmann talked about the market and pitching of films, she explained that this festival is rated highly in the documentary film world and how film makers come from all over the world to Nyon. The event was held in a new venue down by the lake, a perfect setting for a glass of wine and a chat and an interesting discussion. Watch this space for another Living in Nyon event! A short round of some news items taken and translated from La Côte newspaper Park prettily please From next Monday drivers who park their car in the Place Perdtemps car park will have to park in the designated parking areas. Those who have been sneaking their car into other parking places such as on the grass will find these areas blocked off, and if they discover a sign at the entrance saying "Car park full" it will mean just that and drivers will have to look elsewhere and not try to park illegally. Those who do, will be fined. Late shopping hours Discussions are under way at the moment between Nyon council and the commercial organisations to come to an agreement to enable the shops in central Nyon to open until 19:00 from Monday to Friday and until 18:00 on Saturday. Nothing is decided yet but when it is, this site will keep you posted! There are also seperate ongoing discussions as whether to install CCTV cameras around the town. New art installations by the castle until the 10th October There are some new shapes on the ground near the chateau, one is called "Formations" by Adriana Stadler and the sculpture hanging near the castle is called "Collier de la Comtesse" (the countesse's necklace) by Roland Heini. Thankyou very much to the reader who is moving to (or has moved to?) Neuchatel and contacted me with a very nice email after a visit to Nyon. Many apologies as I seem to have lost your email (amongst the many I receive) I was going to reply but your email seems to have disappeared into cyber space. So if you would like to send an email again then that would be great and I can reply!

From St Cergue to Chamonix The snowdrops are out, yet the snow is still in great condition, so what are the best options for skiing from Nyon, both nearby and up to 90 minutes drive away? St Cergue Nyon's own "ski-hill" is at St Cergue which is easily accessible via the red NStCM train from the centre of town. The two slopes are open all day Saturday and Sunday, and Tuesday to Friday afternoon. However, arguably the best way to enjoy skiing at St Cergue is to finish work early and try the night skiing from 7-10 pm on Tuesday to Saturday. You can combine this with a fondue at one of six participating restaurants. See their website for more info A little bit further on and worthy of a full day is to ski at La Dole. Accessible by car or by the red train and a bus connection (take either the 07.56 or 08.56 trains from Nyon), La Dole has a chairlift and 8 button tows. It is also connected through to the French resort of Les Jouvencelles. Take your passport! See La Dole website Options less than a 90 minute drive away Further afield there are many options within less than 90 minutes drive from Nyon. Heading east around the lake past Lausanne, there are a range of options including Leysin, Villars, Verbier and les Portes du Soleil. For families, Villars is a good option. Park either at the free car park on the left hand side on entering the town, and take the gondola onto the slopes, or alternatively, park in the underground carpark in the centre of Villars opposite the train station and take the train upto Bretaye. Take plenty of coins for the underground carpark - you will need CHF12 for 6 hours. Bretaye is the centre of the ski area from where the slopes radiate out. There is a flat area for beginners, a ski rental shop and several restaurants. Villars website Champery Across the other side of the Rhone valley, and opposite the Dents du Midi mountain range there is the village of Champery. It is part of the vast Portes du Soleil resort which has 650km of slopes. Set off from Nyon at 8.15 and you could be pulling up at the carpark in front of the cablecar by 9.30. Pack your passport as the best skiing is arguably over the border in France on the slopes of Avoriaz and Chatel. Whilst there are plenty of blue slopes, there are also unpisted and steep slopes - including the downhill course at Avoriaz and the infamous "Wall" which is the Swiss side of the border on the way home (though there is no embarrassment in taking the chairlift down if you don't fancy the moguls). There are also plenty of typical Savoyard restaurants, including several nice ones in the Les Lindarets "goat village" above Montiond. Portes du Soleil website Both Villars and Champery are also accessible by train from Nyon. Take the train to Brig and change in Aigle. There are mountain trains that connect to Villars and Champery, as well as Leysin and Les Diablerets. Les Contamines Heading west from Nyon around Geneva and down to Chamonix, another great option for families and those who prefer to ski on blue and red runs is Les Contamines. Turn off the motorway at St Gervais and in the town turn left to Les Contamines. This is a resort that is "off the beaten track", with wide open slopes situated above the tree line. It is situated in the snow shadow of Mont Blanc and so often has good snow. Drive through the village. If there is no car park space by the first gondola station you come to, drive further up the valley and there is a larger car park and a second gondola that will take you up the mountain. Les Contamines website Les Grands Montets at Chamonix A final recommendation for those who like steep slopes is Les Grands Montets at Chamonix. Drive to Chamonix, then carry on up towards the head of the valley to Argentière where the Grands Montets cable car is on the right hand side just off the main road. Be prepared to share the cable car with ski-mountaineers complete with ice axes and other high altitude equipment. Pay an extra fee and you can join them and take a cablecar upto 3300m and enjoy some off piste skiing through mountain wilderness and up close to a glacier. All less than 90 minutes from Nyon. Chamonix website A few other tips. Most of the larger resorts allow you to buy your lift pass on the internet. You will need to have a "hands free" ski pass. Several resorts also offer a loyalty scheme. Collect points every time you ski and you will be able to get either a discount or eventually a free day skiing.

As if we didn't know it already, Nyon is a fantastic place to live and even more proof of that comes in the form of a gold award given to it by Bilan magazine. The survey looked at 30 towns in Swiss Romandie with a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants.It concluded that for many reasons Nyon was one of the most active and economically dynamic. The town of Montreux was awarded the silver medal and Ecublens bronze. You can read the full report here in Bilan magazine and also on Nyon's own town website.

New brochure out on Vaud in English The Bureau Cantonal pour l'intégration des étrangers et la prévention du racisme (the Cantonal represtentative responsible for the integration of foreigners and prevention of racism) has now produced its "Bienvenue dans le Canton de Vaud " brochure in English. This brochure includes some very good information, from useful contacts for advice and information, to information on health insurance to housing to financial matters to administrative formalities. Living in Nyon has 20 copies of this brochure, at the next Living in Nyon event (talk above) there will be some available. Alternatively you can download the brochure as a pdf file from their site here

For those of you who can't wait for all the great local summer music festivals to begin, there is a festival going on in Nyon this weekend called Les Hivernales which should keep you going until the weather warms up. Various venues in the town have linked up together for two nights, Friday 12th and Saturday 13th Feb to create this mini music festival. The venues involved are The Usine a Gaz, La Parenthese, Le Cactus Jack, The Fishermen's Pub, the l'After night club and le Sky and also the associations of the Bains des Trois Jetées. The price of entry to the festival for one night is CHF 25 and this will enable you to move between venues to check out all the music. See the site for details of the bands playing each night (under programme). There was an interesting article in La Côte newspaper this week about how many groups and societies in this region have a presence on Facebook, from the Paléo fans (8,500 members), to the Gymnase of Morges (1113 members) to the nautical society of Nyon (39 members). Living in Nyon has recently started a presence on Facebook and also has a Nyon group on Mamicafé (see side bar). Visions du Réel the documentary film festival that takes place in Nyon in Spring, has announced that the video films of Tracey Emin will be shown at the festival for the first time in their entirety in collaboration with the Bern Kunstmuseum. There will be an evening of debates alongside the projections.

Sunday afternoon classical concerts by the lake The Conservatoire of Nyon opens a new year of Sunday afternoon classical concerts at their lovely building by the lake. The next concert is Sunday 28th February 2010 at 17:00 with a performance by the Quatuor Terpsycordes (see their site to find out more about them, it has asection in English) They will be playing Haydn and Beethoven. See details of concert under événements Fondue Demonstration Tues 23 February - " Time out for Women" 19:45-21:45 in Nyon Costs: CHF10 - refreshments and fondue demo incl. Rue Juste Olivier 6, 1260 ( in Westlake Church building ) RSVP: register with Ann Lloyd annlloyd7@gmail.com by Friday 19thFeb Usine a Gaz celebrates birthday On the 28th February the Usine a Gaz will be celebrating its 15th birthday with a series of concerts over three days, all with free entry. See the site for the full programmeSki instructor If you need ski instructors in this area who speaks English , the Ski School of La Dole has instructors who speak several languages see site or call 022 3601414

Caribana the music festival taking place on 9-13 June at Crans près Celigny (just on the outskirts of Nyon) have just announced today, that British rock/ska group Madness will be performing on the Saturday night at the festival. With hits such as "One Step Beyond", "Our House" and " My Girl" it should be a fun night by the lake! Also on the billing on the big stage on the same night is Jamaican star Sean Paul. Other local events Last few days of lakeside ice rink in Nyon as it closes on Sunday 28th February. Children's theatrical production on Wednesday afternoon 24th February at the Usine a Gaz for children up to 10 years old. Phillippe Campiche with "Ouh la la les loups!" Story telling with a harp (in French). Sports clubs in the area Want to practise your favourite sport in the area but don't know where to start looking to find out about the local sports clubs and associations? Then help is at hand, as there is a comprehensive booklet listing all the clubs and associations in the 47 communes of Nyon. From badminton in Arzier, to martial arts in Begnins, to ultimate frisbee in Nyon, they are all in a booklet provided by Nyon council called "Et si je faisais du sport!". This can be picked up from Nyon tourist office. It lists sports by each commune and has the details of the person to contact in each club.

Amongst the many questions we get here on Living in Nyon, two of the most frequent (after housing and schooling!) are, how can I meet other expatriates and Swiss people in the Nyon area, and where can I learn French ? From time to time, Living in Nyon organises events for its readers to meet each other (photo above taken from Living in Nyon "Swiss Politics" talk), but in between those times there is an alternative possibility and that is the organisation called Le Café Vivant. Le Cafe Vivant operates in French and English in the Arc Lémanique (Geneva to Lausanne) and offers a "social and cultural integration experience" for expats within French speaking Switzerland. They create links and meetings between locals and internationals, Anglophones and Francophones. Running fun "welcome and an introduction to Switzerland" events, they help Anglophones to immerse themselves into the local language through cultural and society workshops. French language programmes such as “Play Français – Sing Français – Cook Français – Dance Français” are designed to "stimulate all the senses" through sharing and interacting. They also help in integration and in understanding local cultural issues and daily life situations. Le Café Vivant is run by Concetta Avolio, she has experienced immigration and expatriation herself and has also worked in corporate and event management. See the site for more information. Le Café Vivant has various workshops coming up in November andDecember and next year, click on the link to the pdf filesfor more details. “A Gospel Experience for You “– Anglophones & Francophones – November 2010. This workshop is for Anglophones and Francophones and will be on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November. For further information see this pdf file Other workshops coming up in November in December are “Play, Sing, Cook, Dance Français” see pdf file here and also a Mamma Mia musical workshop (note: this is in Geneva) from January to March see pdf file