Along with lots of other events going on this weekend, the Bol D'or, Shakespeare at the Chateau of Prangins, "Bike Day" - see previous posts below for more details of these events, it is also the Fête de la Musique in Nyon on Saturday 18th (and also on the 21st), and over the weekend in local towns (on the 19th in Prangins), and in Geneva. As in previous years, there is an enormous variety of music being performed for free, from rock, funk, jazz, folk, classical, country, to alternative rock  and rap in venues right across the town.  For the full programme for Nyon's Fête de la Musique, click here  and for the website click here . For the music fête in Morges click here , for Gland click here , for Rolle click here , for Prangins click here , for Geneva click  here , for Coppet click here . Here is a brief description of what is happening at the different venues in Nyon linked to the map below. Venue 1. The Place du Château, is at the core of the festival with two bars and a Fête de La Musique welcome stand. Venue 2 . Inside Le Temple (the Norman church at the end of Rue du College), this venue is mainly for classical music and the performance of choral work. Venue 3. Place St Martin the central pedestrian area in Nyon, this area is for groups from the Gymnase of Nyon and from the association ADAC  (see below for more info on this association). Venue 4. Down by the lakeside near the Conservatoire the association Nyoncore have a programme of rock bands playing from around 15:00 to 01:00 in the morning.   Venue 5. In Place de Savoie a short distance from Nyon's port, the programme promises "an eclectic programme for a relaxing ambiance by the lake side". Venue 6.  The Usine a Gaz  (Nyon's permanent music venue). From 18:45 onwards there will be four different perfomances beginning at 18:45 starting with the Usine a Gaz's own choir, then followed with music performed by three different rock bands and the whole event will round off with dancing until 04:00 in the morning. Venue 7. Rive-Est (the eastern part of the lake)  This is the venue for the Paléo festival, a chance to promote local bands, some of those who will be performing at Paléo this year.  See you there! ADAC In Place St Martin between 14:30 and 17:30 the association ADAC (the Association of Creative Arts) will be present. This is an opportunity for those interested to find out more about all the different workshops that the association runs from September to June.  Here is an extract from their website  "What we do"  " L’ADAC is a non profit-making association of creative arts. It offers work-shops given by specialised teachers where everyone has an opportunity to explore different forms of art such as music, painting, photography, dancing, etc".  "What we offer" "Our aim is to offer a place where children and adults can pursue an artistic activity, and where each and everyone enjoys what they are doing in accordance with their talents and emotions.  By taking into account their own rhythm, we strive to:-  encourage personnel expression and independence, develop creativity, spontaneity and self-confidence, raise awareness of sharing by interacting artistically, enhance learning by working within a group.  We welcome individuals, who take a private course outside the Association, to participate in one of our workshops. Last but not least: Our Association’s aim is to allow children and adults to develop their artistic qualities regardless of their income.  Our fee policy reflects our philosophy.

There's a new summer bar by the lake in Nyon (Prangins direction) called "La Jetée". This bar is a relaxed place to have a drink, there are even bean bags to lay on and look out at the water! See opening times of this bar in photo below.  A reminder to readers that it's the "Bol d'Or" t his weekend, the annual big yacht race across the lake. The boats leave Geneva at 09:00 on Saturday 14th June and can be usually seen passing Nyon mid-morning. It the weather is good it's a spectacular sight!  See our previous review of   "La Plage" restaurant at the other end (direction Geneva) of the lake, another good place to relax and look out at the water. Away from the lake and up in the pretty village of La Rippe (around 7 kilometres from Nyon), the Auberge de L'Etoile has a lovely, shaded terrace, a café and a la carte restaurant. This place is not only recommended in the Gault-Milau restaurant guide 2014, but Living in Nyon recommends it too! Very friendly service, a varied menu using seasonal produce with beautifully presented food and a "plat de jour" at around 17 CHF. Plus, the "perches and frites" on the menu is 35 CHF. Some other restaurants are now charging up to 42 CHF for this traditional, local meal. Check out their website here (note - the English section does not seem to be functioning at the moment) . This restaurant is part of " Les Locales" an association of businesses which are situated in the "heights" of Nyon.  The association is trying to encourage those who live in Nyon's outlying villages to find out about the local businesses and services in their area. Their website has now launched, with a section in English. Living in Nyon will be featuring more of these businesses in the future. Photos below of the L'étoile retaurant in La Rippe

If you are interested in photography, the Swiss Press and the World Press Photo exhibitions currently showing at the Château de Prangins, are definitely worth a visit. These two exhibitions feature the outstanding Swiss press photographs of 2014 and photos from the World Press Photo 15 competition. The photo in the poster below (from the International section of the Swiss exhibition), was taken by Jean Revillard from L'Hebdo magazine. It is from a series of photos featuring people with electro sensitivity. They purportedly experience physical symptoms when exposed to electro magnetic fields. In order to get rid of any excess charge they "ground themselves". To recover, they withdraw to places far from electromagnetic fields caused by WiFi networks aerials and transformers such as the wilderness of the French departments of Drôme or Hautes Alpes. The following photo below was taken by Yvain Genevay. He won Swiss Press Photographer of the Year and in 2014  documented the story of a family of Syrian refugees currently living in Domodossola. His photos were published in Le Matin Dimanche Also in the Swiss News section, there is an interesting photo of Federal Councillor Johann Schneider Amman leaving the World Economic Forum in Davos in a Cougar T-399 helicopter. You can just see his face through the window of the helicopter. In the background the setting winter sun illuminates the facade of the new luxury hotel Intercontinental which is nicknamed the "golden egg". The Swiss Press Photo exhibition is from the 6th November until the 31st January 2016.   Details here The World Press Photo exhibition is only on display until the 29th November. Details here Note: the c afé/restaurant of the château  serves Sunday brunches from 11:00-15:00 and the shop in the museum has some interesting items on sale, some of them would make some great Christmas gifts. Paléo Poster revealed for 2016  Next year's Paléo poster has now been revealed to the public and it is already receiving some commentary on social media on how the fish on the poster reflects the fish/ the perch on Nyon's own flag. Whether this is intentional or not, who knows?! The poster was designed by Ana Lourenço and Boris Jordan, two 22 year old second-year students in visual communication.  Both students train in a workshop at the Geneva-based agency BaseDesign at the city’s School of Art & Design A note for your diaries: Paléo will take place from the 19th -14th July 2016

This weekend Swiss cycling champion Fabien Cancellera comes to Nyon. Cancellera won a silver medal in the road race in the Olympics in Beijing and the gold medal for the Indoor time trial. On Sunday he will be taking part in the circular road race which starts in Nyon and goes up Genolier and back to Nyon (16.5 km). If you want to see him he will be leaving from le Rive area of Nyon (near the Sultan restaurant) at midday. He and others will be cycling the route 11 times (a total of 184:00 Km). Races in other categories (women, under 23s etc) are also taking part on Saturday and Sunday, take a look at the site for further details under " Guide Technique".

The following review of Territore de la Liberté is by film student Fanny Leyvraz - This film will be shown today Weds 30 April at the Salle Communale  at 12:00. Reservations here  “Territory of Freedom” directed by Alexander Kuznetsov is a joyful, humanist depiction of how life goes in the Stolby nature reserve, with its traditional Russian culture. A place where men, women and children all singing together and living life simply to the fullest. This is a second movie for the Russian director, after having made a film called “Territory of Love”, this time he addresses a more political and contemporary theme, “Territory of Freedom”.   The nature reserve has been the target of violence, as it has been on previous revolutionary periods and there are some heated debates about it.   Many  “isbas” (little ascetic cabins in the reserve, where anyone is welcome to come and go) burned down, but as one of the old wise men tells us, the Stolbysts will continue to rebuild them, and will keep on living in the stopped-in-time forests and mountains of Siberia. Freedom and community Cooking, drinking, singing and cutting wood and most importantly climbing the summits are the main activities in this unrefined-by-mankind place. Everyone is part of the same community; needless to say, the simple and direct interactions of these people can make some of us technological-social-maniacs envious. When the time for midnight baths in frozen water arrives, everyone goes, not only the strong old men, but also the young women. Laughter, stories of the ancients, serious discussions about life and freedom, and moments of grace are all part of the everyday life in the nature reserve. Using skillfully close-ups, and very mobile shots for the nature reserve part where the Russians act and talk freely, and countering them with fixated scenes from the city, where the people are restrained by the military, contained in a limited space, Alexander Kuznetsov manages to give us an authentic vision of the Russian people, without their politics, just with their cultural rites, their recklessness and slight folly of being alive. Some scenes with a little girl and her alpinist father are just delightful. And the snow, ever-present, and yet discreet, dresses the landscape with a soft sugary coat, making dreamlike pictures of a place where the industrial society hasn’t yet set foot.

Les Hivernales,  the first of the five official Nyon festivals kicks off this Thursday the 18th February. This festival, which began a few years ago as a small weekend event taking place in just a couple of venues, has now grown into a four day festival with live music being played in eleven venues around the town (see map below). On Thursday there will be electropop and rock music music with bands Alice Roosevelt playing at the Parenthese, Antipods at the Cactus Jack bar, and Alphastate at the Quai 23. On Friday at the Salle Communale there is music from U.S hip-hop band Onyx, Peel and Greem, and The Geek X VRV (both bands from France), and the evening ends with DJ Ngoc Lan. At the Usine a Gaz Puts Marie, The Animem, The Mondrians and the Burning Beggars are all on the line up. There are many more bands playing on Saturday and Sunday at both large and smaller venues around the town. To check the music out, just click on the links of each band under the  Programmation section here . There is also a handy flyer with all festival  timings here . Here's a short promotional video shot at the Bar St-Jean  in Nyon which will be one of the venues at the festival. The woollen hats shown at the start of this clip are now an annual festival tradition as they have been knitted each year by volunteers to raise money for the event. The video then goes on to show a small selection of bands playing at Les Hivernales 2016.

Event this weekend, "The Pink Ribbon Trail". To celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, ESCA (the English speaking cancer association)has organised a day of guided walks in the nature reserve of *Jussy this Sunday October 4th. Walks start at different times of the day (see below) and are suitable for children too so the whole family can go! In the company of two experienced naturalist guides you can learn more about the environment, there are guided walks for adults and children (cost: 10chf per person), and light refreshments all day, plus a quiz to test how much you really know about healthy living and the natural world of Switzerland. Full details on the ESCA website http://www.cancersupport/ . The trail is organised by "A Different View". * Although Jussy is not in the Nyon area, this is a worthwhile event that Living in Nyon is happy to promote, and its always good to discover other cantons of this beautiful country! Jussy is situated at the north-east corner of Geneva Canton and eleven kilometres from the city centre.The village of Jussy rises to an altitude of 473 metres with the highest spot in the canton being the hamlet of Monniaz at 516 metres above sea-level. The commune of Jussy is an ancient episcopal mandate which was historically closely linked to the city of Geneva and subsequently to the Geneva Republic. Lying as it does well beyond the city limits it has preserved to this day its agricultural character, largely due to the 20 farms and vineyards still in operation, and also possesses an extensive wooded area, much of which is a protected nature reserve. Inhabitants of the village call themselves “Jusserands” and enjoy a lively social scene, marked by the village band, the famous “pig derby” and the annual half marathon. Professionally, Jussy is the home commune of the famous Horticultural Training Centre of Lullier with its highly reputed agricultural engineering school, an association which underlines Jussy’s rural identity. The village welcomes the numerous walkers who enjoy the countryside of this corner of Geneva canton, and is firmly focused on respect for the environment and the preservation of its natural beauty for future generations.

The temperature has been in the late 30's in Nyon over the past few days and looks set to stay like this until Wednesday. The outdoor pool and the lake have been the place to be to cool off! Despite the soaring temperatures, the webmaster at Living in Nyon has been inside his office, tweaking the look of the site and making it much easier to read on a mobile phone. He has also introduced a weekly update feature, just register your name on the right hand side and you will receive a summary of the posts of that week (in addition to the quarterly newsletter). Alternatively, "like" us on Facebook to keep updated. We are now on Instagram too! The Living in Nyon column in English continues in La Côte newspaper throughout the summer, it is published on a Thursday and usually can be found on the back page of the first section. Even if you can't read much French, it's still worth picking up a copy of the paper, subscribing to it and reading it online to find out what's happening in your village or town. The comprehensive "agenda" section in the paper is worth looking at, and the flash updates sent to your smart phone give you the latest news. Swiss Insurance Questions and Beautiful Photos of Nyon to Purchase Living in Nyon couldn't exist without the support of its advertisers and we are delighted to announce two new advertisers: Generali and Christophe Fraser. Generali is an insurance company based right in the centre of Nyon - the company itself has around 2,000 employees in its headquarters in Adliswil and Nyon and has insurance agencies across the whole of Switzerland. If you are looking to renew any of your insurance policies or would like to take out any new policies, whether these are for savings, mortgage, pensions or other financial products, then email bertrandjean.daemers@generali.com Tel 078 638 9806. Bertrand will be happy to meet with you to answer your questions. Christophe Fraser  is a Nyon based photographer who produces original black and white gelatine silver prints of the area along with other styles of photographs. These works of art would look great on a wall in a private home or boardroom or make an ideal gift. Take a look at more of his work here Photo above "Harbour" - copyright Christophe Fraser. Photo below, the photographer Thank you too to our existing advertisers. Falaque Number One on Trip Advisor in Nyon The restaurant Falaque will remain open for most of the summer (apart from a short break between July 20th and August 2nd). Falaque have built up a reputation for providing healthy and delicious food which you can eat in, take away or get delivered to your door and they have also been rated Number One on Trip Advisor out of all the restaurants in Nyon! Ecole Moser in the heart of Nyon Looking for a school in Nyon for your child? The Ecole Moser is a day school (from 08:00 to 17:00) and takes pupils from primary school to the Swiss Maturité with a French-English Bi-lingual Academic Programme. The school was founded in 1961 and covers the Lake Geneva area (and a large community in Berlin). The school services the educational needs of a growing international and multilingual community.  Open to pupils aged 7 to 18 years old, from all backgrounds and religions, it is a non-religious school that promotes tolerance and mutual respect. Musical Tuition in Nyon and Morges If you are looking for musical tuition for you or your children, then look no further than the Conservatoire of West Vaud . The Nyon branch is set in a lovely building on the lake side in Nyon, holds regular classical and jazz concerts for the public. The school is running special summer musical tuition courses from the 15th to 21st August. From Pilates to Zumba to Swimming Classes and Health Consultations Clinique La Lignière in Gland is set in some lovely countryside, has an outpatient health centre with swimming pool, gym classes in Zumba, Pilates, classes in Nordic Walking and much more. It also has doctors on hand for consultation on a variety of health issues. The Clinique can be visited from 10:00 to 20:30. You can read more about t he clinic here (in English)

On Wednesday the council gardeners were out and about pruning the trees, lulling folk to thinking Spring was on its way. On Thursday the snow came back with a vengeance, and fell all over Nyon. There were some very pretty sights to be seen around town when the snow stopped and the sun came out.

The February "Living in the Know podcast" is now out!  This monthly podcast is a joint collaboration between  Know-it-all Passport and Living in Nyon. On this podcast Lisa gives you insider tips on bargain shopping and eating out in the Geneva and Lausanne area. Catherine contributes her insider tip about a consumer product comparison magazine. Lisa explain the different meanings of the verb “claquer” in French. There is a full list of activities and events on the Events Calendar  of Know-it-all

The local shops in Nyon are decorated with hearts and roses ready for Valentine's day tomorrow but did you know that Nyon has a true romantic Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story of its own? Back at the start of the 19th Century there was a jealousy between folk that lived in the upper part of Nyon and those that lived by the lake. In 1842 a girl called Catherine worked at an inn called La Couronne which was near the lake. She fell in love with a boy called Laurent who not only came from a wealthy up town family, but he was also son of the Mayor. Needless to say this relationship was frowned upon and marriage was out of the question between a wealthy "uptowner" and a poorer "downtowner". However, enterprising Catherine had saved a bit of money and after many protracted negotiations she persuaded the authorities to sell her an old pub (now called La Croix Verte) This was in the centre of the town, so presumably neutral terrority. Unlike Romeo and Juliet there is no tragedy to this story, there were no deaths involved. The starcrossed lovers got to marry, they went on to run the pub together and lived happily ever after and the business went on to be a success as it is today. This story is a somewhat shortened version, if you want to read it in full (in French) look under "Accès et Divers" under the Croix Verte website. Delicious Valentine gifts and chocolate for sale in the shop Chocolaté in La Combe Centre in Nyon (photos below).

“Les girons des Jeunesses” are games that are organised each year by young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Four big events of this take place in the canton and this year from the 10th to the 14th August the "giron du pied" will be held in the village of Montricher (north of Aubonne towards the Lac de Joux). This event in Montricher is a good opportunity to see a local event and  a Swiss tradition. There will be hockey matches, football matches, Swiss wrestling (on Sunday 14th). This year, the theme of this giron is the United Kingdom and there will be a  "Buckingham Palace", a "Piccadilly Circus" and a "Tower Bridge" all in the foot of the Jura!  On Saturday 13th you can drink a beer while listening the bagpipes or drink a cup of tea in the “salon de thé”. Full details and programme here