Who needs the sea when you have Lac Léman? Not only was there a windsurfer on the lake today in Nyon, but a wakeboarder too, both taking advantage of the strong breezes and glorious sun after the torrential downpours of yesterday. Folk queuing for the ferry got a fabulous view of these watersports enthusiasts weaving in and out between the jetty and the boats, then whizzing by on the waves with the backdrop of the town behind them. Let's hope the weather stays fine for the Jval Rock Festival . It starts this Thursday 14th August and goes on until the 16th. I have it on good authority that there are fabulous views to be had up from the venue which is on a private vineyard in Serreaux-Dessus just above Begnins. The festival's philosophy is to promote Swiss and French Music and this year there is a three day programme from Rock to Electro Pop to Jazz. One of the bands Mobile in Motion originates from Nyon so it's a good chance to hear local music. The festival started four years ago when two brothers (who live on the wine estate), invited their friends and a few bands to come and play. Such was its success they repeated it the following year. Now in its fourth year, the festival has its own website and has navettes organised from Gland to take music lovers up to the venue. Check out the programme for the full listing of bands. I have never been before but plan to this year as it looks great. Photo below from last year's festival (courtesy of Jval) As there are just 400 tickets available for each night the festival will never become too big as space is limited by the area. Gaeten Fragnière who is part of the Javal team says; "The size means we will never lose our soul and we can keep it intimate". The age range of festival goers starts at around 18 -60, a healthy mix indeed. Why "Jval?" Well if you say it out loud it sounds like "horse" (cheval in French), a name that the organisers thought would be easy to remember! Also You may have seen signs around town advertising a festival called F.A.R . This means "Festival des arts vivants" (festival of living arts). The festival gets under way today the 13th until the 23rd August with a full programme of artists who will perform theatre, music comedy, dance. in venues around the town. The Usine a Gaz is decorated up to welcome them. More on this festival in a next post.

From the Elastique Citrique to Circus Space and beyond.... Lili Parson, a Nyon native has joined the troupe of the Royal Opera House's latest co-production- a modern version of Monteverdi's Orfeo , one of the first operas ever made. Part of the Elastique Citrique , Nyon's circus school since she was 5, training, performing and teaching there until last year, she left for London in August to join the National Center for Circus Arts (aka Circus Space) with the aim of becoming a professional circus artist. She is currently doing a year's preparation course before auditioning for several Circus schools across Europe and the world (Brussels, Stockholm, Quebec, London...). Although she has already had some pretty impressive experiences, performing this year in Denmark at the European youth circus festival, and participating in 2013 in Labo'Cirque, a three week program aiming to give a near-professional experience to promising young Swiss circus artists through the creation of a show, the Orfeo performance is of another scale. Produced by the Royal Opera and the Roundhouse, this daring new version of Orfeo uses an English translation of the original text, is performed on the circular stage of the Roundhouse and features a collaboration with the East London Dance Company . Lili is one of 14 young artists from dance or circus backgrounds chosen by the Company to support the singers throughout the play in a series of acro-dance pieces, giving the Opera a grounded and embodied bonus. Although Lili's main discipline is the Cyr Wheel- a huge ring in which she turns and performs acrobatics ( you can see her in action here ) she is a multi-talented artist and has been taking dancing and theatre classes as part of her year at Circus Space. She auditioned alongside some 30 people and was chosen to perform in this great experience! The rehearsals- a whole day a week since the end of October, and some more intense work over the Christmas holidays- were added to her already full schedule of training and getting ready for the Circus auditions at the end of the year, a pretty spectacular achievement! Orfeo started on the 13 th of January, to appraising critics acclaiming the freshness and directness of the production. The Royal Opera has decided to offer a free live streaming of Wednesdays the 21st's performance, on its website. The Opera will begin at 20:30 Swiss time, at this location. You can read a review of the Opera here . You can catch a glimpse of Lili in this sneak-peak video.

On Wednesday 5th June, the lake side around Crans près Céligny will be rocking to the sound of Motor Head and Skunk Anansie, two of the headline acts playing on the first night at the 2013 Caribana festival. Photo above: Skunk Anansie  - courtesy Caribana Festival This festival first began 23 years ago when a group of friends headed by Tony Lerch  (now director of the festival) organised a small  musical event at the port of Crans. That first free event  focussed on tropical and Caribbean music, since then the festival has evolved into one of festivals in Swiss Romandie playing a variety of genres of music from rock, to reggae, folk, indie soul, grunge, blues and more. Living in Nyon spoke to Tony Lerch  to find out how the festival manages to attract the major names in the rock and pop industry to play at the lake side venue.  Photo above: Tony Lerch - Director of Caribana Music Festival A "Welcome Programme"  from sailing to wine tasting - A mini-holiday for the artistes “Having a stunning setting helps. It’s pretty special, the artists love it. We also give them the opportunity to discover more of the area before they go on stage.  The bands and singers receive a “Welcome Programme” when they arrive here with a list of activities available to them. We offer a sailing trip on the lake, that in itself is beautiful. We sail past some interesting sights on the way, we point out the UEFA building, Michael Schumacher’s house, the Chateau of Prangins, Ernesto Bertorelli’s house ( the 2003 America's Cup winner) . Not only is a boat trip impressive but with the backdrop of the Alps and Mont Blanc behind them, it’s a pretty cool way to warm up the artists before they go on stage! If they don’t want to go sailing, they are given the option of cycling or walking in the vineyards with a chance to visit a local wine cellar. The only thing we ask them not to do is to participate in any risky sports, or swim too long in the lake and catch cold. We want them to stay safe be in good shape to play on the stage that night. Jim Kerr and filets de perche I think the artists love it, it’s a sort of mini-holiday for them because although it’s a big named festival, it still remains very intimate. They can walk along the side of the lake and mix with the public if they want to. There was an occasion a few years ago when Jim Kerr of “Simple Minds” chose not to eat at the artiste’s restaurant but to wander down to the port and have “filets de perches” there. Brian Ferry came back to visit and ate at a restaurant that he remembered when he played here. Photo above: First night at Caribana 2011 - C. Nelson-Pollard Having said that our very position right next to the lake means that it’s not that easy for the roadies. We have a bizarre shaped ground for a festival, and it’s not ideal for shifting stuff around. In addition it’s a very narrow path to carry gear down from the trucks to the stage, and the roadies have to carry and transport everything by hand. These days most rock festivals have automatic loading equipment. Some of the bands comment on this and say it’s like playing at rock festival from many years ago. Although it obviously makes it tricky for logistical purposes, it also add to the atmosphere, everyone lends a hand to get the show on stage. Imagine Dragons to play - Robbie Williams, the one that got away. In addition to the setting, word of mouth helps to attract some of the big named bands: they hear about its reputation and want to come along. We are proud that we often identify bands at the start of their career just before they take off and we manage to book them early on. We are really pleased that  “Imagine Dragons” are playing with us on Saturday night this year - they have recently become a huge hit.  There have been musicians that we identified and we booked early on that became so massive in the following months they simply became too expensive for us to take. A case in point is Robbie Williams, we booked him in October 1997 for the following year’s Caribana. He then released  “Angels” which went on to become massive, his album skyrocketed and he was in great demand. We could no longer afford him which was a great shame.  It was the same kind of story with “The Corrs”. Having said that, there have been quite a few names who have played here first as a relatively unknown on one of the smaller stages and they went on to  do bigger things, such as Faceless, Charlie Winston, and Nelly Furtado who we did book early on in their careers. The bands and artists on the smaller stages here at Caribana are always definitely worth going to see - they too may go on to greater success and you will have had the chance to see them close up at Caribana. 32,000 spectators in 2010 As to Tony Lerch’s own favourite type of music? “Well it’s no secret  that I am a big fan of  The Police, and I really like reggae, but I’m interested in all kinds of music. We have had some great nights with big and small artists over the past 20 or so years. We peaked at 32,000 spectators back in 2010 and since then have levelled out at around 30,000. The financial crisis has affected us and other festivals a bit, tickets aren’t selling as fast as they used to. All festival organisers are finding times as bit tougher. I think there are many, many festivals over Switzerland over the summer so competition is keen between us all, but conversely this means it’s good for the general public. They get to have a big choice of where they can go and spend their money.   I am glad they are still choosing Caribana! Photo above: Caribana 2012  - C. Nelson-Pollard Volunteers welcome! Like many festivals in Switzerland, Caribana depends on the good will and enthusiasm of its volunteers on site and on the committee which works throughout the year  to help run such a big event. “There isn’t anyone on the committee who is paid to do the job including me - we all do it for the love of the festival. We value our volunteers enormously, it’s getting a little bit harder to take on young volunteers between the ages of 16 and 18 due to new laws that have been implemented in Switzerland, but if anyone is interested in volunteering on site here, even if their French isn’t that great, we will happily consider them for a future festival. Putting the area on the map Back when we first started the festival, very few people used to know about the grounds that we use here at Caribana, just  the local residents - now we have really put it on  the map. We also keep evolving: this year the Sunday is for teenagers, with "Caribateens" . We saw that other towns were offering events for teenagers but there wasn’t much in this area, so we came up with the idea of a day dedicated to them.  This year we have other changes on the grounds for the public: there will be steps down onto the beachside, and there’s more. We look  forward to another good year and thankfully the weather is  now improving and looking very promising for another great festival. At the time of publishing there were still tickets available for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Saturday is sold out). Click here for more info . if you are not able to go, Living in Nyon will be reporting from the festival each day, on the bands, the new changes on the site, the atmosphere, and of course, the music!  Photo above: Party Time at Caribana 2012 - C. Nelson-Pollard

The above photo was taken from the terrace of the château of Nyon just a couple of weeks ago. The snow has now melted but it is forecast to return tomorrow. So Nyon may just have a "white Christmas" this year and Bing Crosby won't have to dream any more... Wherever you will be on Christmas day, Living in Nyon wishes you Seasons Greetings and a very Merry Christmas! We will be back next week with an end of the year update and news on articles planned for 2011

A reminder to readers that tonight (Tuesday 19 June) it's the English movie night at the cinema of Nyon. The film to be schown is  " My Week with Marilyn ". The film portrays the making of the 1957 film "The Prince and the Showgirl", and stars Marilyn Monroe (Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Branagh).  The film starts at 20:30 See the cinema website here . There are two outdoor theatre performances on the calendar this week and both are taking place in the courtyards of  local chateaux. Firstly in the wonderful setting of the Château de Prangins -  "Macbeth" will be performed in English on Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 June 2012 at 20:00. Sadly this will be the last of the series of professional English-language theatre performances brought to the Geneva area by Howard Productions.  See here for ticket availability . All tickets are CHF 40 and seats are not numbered,  - first come, first served!    Meanwhile over at the Chateau of Coppet from the 18th to 24th June, there will be a performance of "Autour de Madame de Stael". Read more about the life of this fascinating woman in this Wikipedia entry (in English) here.    Ticket info on site here  You can also find out more about her in this interview on Léman Bleu TV here below (in French).

If you are heading off to Paléo and at some point during the evening you want to get away from the noise of the stages and the busyness of the crowds, one place you could head off to is La Ruche area. Jonas, Living in Nyon's on site Paléo writer has already talked about this area in a previous post here . La Ruche is dedicated to street theatre so it's not completely quiet, but it has more of a laid back and family feel to than the rest of the main Paléo grounds, and this year it has created a theme of a giant sitting room with lampshades and armchairs and an area with music and djs playing chilled music amongst a lot of old Bakelite and vintage radios. There is a small bar with tables here too. Note: Children under the age of 12 are admitted free to the festival, provided they are accompanied by an adult. There is also a dedicated play area for them called Miélmelo (just past La Ruche) a non smoking/ non drinking area with entertainment provided by volunteers and the area is open until 22:00. See here The food area next to the entrance to La Ruche is dedicated to Swiss food, Malakoffs, Raclette etc and this can be a little less hectic than the food zone in the Latin Quarter (one of the main food sections). Some of the food areas in the Village du Monde can be a little quieter depending what time you eat. Queues tend to be at their longest before concerts start and after they have finished on the Grande Scène/ Main stage. If you want to eat in style, sit down and be served at at table, there are six restaurants on site where you can do this. Full details here.

Single Life in Nyon Being more in the "mother hen" category rather than the "spring chicken" one, I am not too knowledgeable on what the social life is like for a single person in living in Nyon. However I do know there are bars and clubs that people go to meet, such as: New (added 6th March 2009) New bar in old town in Grand Rue 22b with live rock music called La Parenthese .This place used to be called Chez Odette. Website still under construction. Les Brasseurs a pub (micro brewery) in the centre of town that also serves food. Try their "flammenkueche" sort of a cross betwen a thin pizza and a quiche. Their hamburgers are good too. Popular with a young crowd at the weekend. Differenciels (see my favourites, cafés and restaurants) Quai 23 a bar near the lake that serves pasta and pizzas. (No website, this link is to the tourist board site with details) The Fisherman's Pub seems to attract the expats and the sports fans to watch matches on their widescreen TV. Usine à Gaz is a club with live music almost every weekend from rock to reggae to rap. "L'After" A Nightclub near the lake (I've never been, so can't report back on this place) There is also a social singles networking club called Glocals with its own website. This is for the whole of the Lake Geneva area. It was launched a while ago and seems to be successful as they organise lots of events and parties throughout the year with some events in Nyon.

On Sunday 11th May it is "Mother's Day" in Switzerland. If you are looking for  present ideas, it's worth visiting the small but interesting shop down at the Rive in Nyon called "Continents Apart". This shops sells handmade jewellery, much of it made by Deborah Willis, the owner of the shop. Deborah travels to Asia to source original stones and jewellery items, and returns to Switzerland and reworks it to create one-off pieces, necklaces, bracelets etc. She also imports beautiful, brightly coloured necklaces made out of   vegetable ivory . These are created by two families living in Ecuador, the sale of these necklaces helps to fund the education of their children. Prices for the necklaces and other goods in the shop are very reasonable and the shop is open at the weekend including Sunday! Continents Apart is at Rue de Rive  48  in Nyon. Tel 022 361 -6700 Photos below - gift ideas Earrings and rings Necklaces made out of vegetable ivory Vegetable ivory in its original form (husk in photo below) Suede bags for sale  More jewellry  The shop down at the Rive in Nyon (just around the corner from the very popular Italian ice cream shop)  Jardins en Fête On Friday 10th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th May, the Jardins en Fête gardening and flower show will be held in the grounds of at the Château de Coppet.  There are lots of lovely gardens on show, and in competition. The event is also host to garden designers, garden retailers and lots more, see website here . There will be food and refreshments served at the fête.  Opening times Friday 10:00 to 19:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:00.   See articles and photos here from a previous year  on Living in Nyon.

Did you know that every month Nyon tourist office publishes an agenda which lists most events going on in the area, including Gland, Rolle and Morges? The agenda is broken down into various categories Animations Conferences Cours/Atelier (courses and workshops) Excursions and Visits Expositions (Exhibitions) Marchés/Trocs (Market and Second hand markets) Music Sport Theatre/ Cinema I often feature some of the events that are on this agenda on Living in Nyon, but there are so many small and large ones going on, it's impossible to list them all here. The agenda also covers surrounding villages too it's worth checking it to see what's going on in your village. Two events I have picked out at random from this months agenda are a Springtime walk on the 25th March accompanied by a guide in the Bois du Chenes. This a lovely woodland area near Vich. This walk is particularly aimed at families, children grandparents etc and leaves at 14:00 For more details Asgip Tel: 022 364 40 71 The other event listed is a course called "The Art of writing a Song" on the 5th March which will be held at the Funambule theatre (by the lakeside in Nyon) Tel: 022 361 7034 Both of the above as I understand it will be in French (but I will update this if I discover English is also spoken) The agenda can be found either in the tourist office (in the metal rack near the entrance, the colour of the agenda changes each month) The agenda is also published in La Cote newspaper.

The politician is Paddy Ashdown who will be speaking on Tuesday, June 2nd at 19:30 about his autobiography, "A Fortunate Life", highlighting aspects of his varied career as former Royal Marine officer, British party political leader and as someone who held the post of UN High Representative in Bosnia from 2002-2006. See Executives International for details. The king is Cymbeline, the protagonist in one of Shakespeare's lesser known comedies. This play will be performed in the courtyard of the château by Howard Productions from the 18-20 of June. The courtyard is a lovely venue for theatre productions, a perfect way to spend a summer's evening. Don't forget that Caribana the first of the summer music festivals is only a couple of weeks away on the 10-14 June . See previous post for more info on this festival. There are still tickets available for the 11th when Editors & Travis will be playing, and the 12th (Stress & UB 40). This lake side setting in Crans is an idyllic place for music concerts, if you've never been before I thoroughly recommend you to give it a try.

Skatepark inaugurated, La Roulotte opens, La Jetée Bar Opens on the "beach", Balcony Bar at Base Nyon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang -musical in English, CGN ferries start Spring schedule, Open Days at Tennis Club and at Music Conservatory, There is a lot on the agenda this month in the Nyon area and many outdoor venues are opening up now that the warmer weather has arrived. Here is a selection of news and events coming up over the next few weeks. Skatepark in Nyon inaugurated on the 16th April.   The skatepark in Nyon has been open since last December, however there will be an official opening on the Saturday 16th April from 10:00 onwards with skateboarding demonstrations and a skate contest at 13:00 (register on the day). There will also be a design competition. The winner will have their own design printed on to a skate board in a limited edition produced by Boarders Park in Nyon.  The skatepark is at the eastern end of the car park at the the swimming pool in Colovray. Note the outdoor swimming pool itself will open on the 4th May. If you want to buy a season pass for the swimming pool this year you can now buy this online. Click here La Roulotte opens for the season  La Roulotte , the café created out of an old railway carriage and parked outside the railway station for the summer season is due to open on Sunday the 10th April from 15:00 onwards. The band Pelicans of Death will perform and there will be a "balloon" workshop. The Jetée Lounge Bar on the "beach" is now open in Nyon. This bar is situated on the western end of the lake side in Nyon. Also, the Balcony Bar at the Base Nyon hotel will open on the 21st April from 17:00 to 22:00 - More info on this coming up on Living in Nyon. Musical in English   Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the latest musical to be performed by  GAOS  on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th of April at the Casino theatre in Carouge.  Details in poster below -  Book tickets here  Synopsis  - Eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts saves an old race car from a scrap dealer, and restores it forhis children Jeremy and Jemima. They soon discover the car has magical properties, including the ability to float and take flight. But evil Baron Bomburst from Vulgaria wants the car or its inventor. A beach outing becomes a wild adventure, batty Grandpa is kidnapped, the rescue trip to Vulgaria sees the children enticed away by the Childcatcher. With the help of the magical car and lovely Truly Scrumptious, Potts and family defeat the baron, his child-hating wife and cohorts, with lots of laughs, catchy music and dancing on the way. Ferries start Spring Schedule The CGN ferries start their Spring schedule on the 17th April.  Want to know about a little known boat journey that leaves from a private dock or find out about the salsa boats on the lake? Then listen to the Living in the Know April Podcast.  Open Days at Music Conservatory and Tennis Club Also on Sunday the 17th April, it's Open Day at Nyon Tennis Club . This is an ideal opportunity to discover more about the club and its facilities. Note -  article coming up shortly about the tennis club here on Living in Nyon. On Saturday the 23rd April it's Open Day at the Conservatoire de L'ouest Vaudois . Discover more about this music academy that is situated right along Nyon lake side.

There are lots of events coming up this weekend in the Nyon area to celebrate the Easter period. On Saturday the 19th and Sunday 20th from  10:00 -17:00 the Moulin de Chiblins (the agricultural museum on the road to Gingins) has a full family programme of events lined up. There will with sheep, rabbits, performing dogs, workshops for children, a chocolatier and other food stands at the Moulin along with decorated eggs on display. This was a successful event last year and extra parking will be provided for visitors this year. In Nyon, also on Saturday and Sunday, the Easter market will take place at the Rive (down by the lake) with local and artisanal products on sale. At the S alle de la Colombiere there will be a Decorated Egg exhibition see posters below. More events coming up soon on this site!