Search

Whether you are Father Christmas or simply a normal passenger, from the 11th December if you board a train without  a valid train ticket you will be fined 90 CHF in addition to the price of the ticket itself. This will apply to both long  distance and regional trains. See the CFF website to find out more about this new ruling and the reason why (explanation in English).  On the 11th December the train timetable will also change so keep an eye out for possible new timings for your regular commute.  Don't forget you can always buy a train ticket in advance via a mobile phone  see the options here  and most stations have electronic ticketing machines with the option of following the instructions in English to purchase tickets. CFF have a comprehensive site listing the different options available for "abonnements"  (travel cards) whether you are regular commuter for work or leisure.

The Rowing Club of Nyon and the Nautical Club of Divonne are holding a regatta this weekend on Lake Divonne just over the border in France. Rowing clubs from French speaking Switzerland and France are competing for different prizes in the juniors, seniors and veteran category. On Saturday the lake was calm, but the atmosphere exciting when supporters shouted from the waters edge to encourage their teams. When the sun came out, the colours of the Autumn trees and the rowers on the lake made it a lovely scene. If you want to go see the rowers in action, the regatta continues tomorrow (Sunday) from 09:00 -16:30

Photo above: the famous sunflower field at Paléo - an annual tradition In just over three weeks time (on April 5th), the line up for the Paléo music festival will be revealed. For those of you new to the Nyon area, Paléo is Europe's second biggest outdoor music festival. It takes place just above Nyon and attracts over 230,000  music lovers. You can read more about Paléo here, its history here and its philosophy and values here  . Check the video out at the end of this post to give you a flavour of the festival. You can also read more about the festival through Living in Nyon's previous coverage of the event. Just click on "Music and Film Festivals - Paléo in the sidebar above, scroll down to "older posts" from the past three years with music reviews and interviews. The dates for Paléo this year are from the 19th to the 24th July.  Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 13th April at 12:00. If you want to go to Paléo, put this date down in your diary as tickets sell out very fast on the day!  Caribana tickets are now on sale! The other "not to be missed" music event in the area is Caribana  which is set along the lake side at Crans sur Nyon. This year it takes place from 8- 12 June 2011 .  See previous coverage of Caribana under "Music and Film Festivals" in sidebar above. The line up and tickets are already on sale for some of the nights, these include: 8th June - Justin Nozuka , Texas , Marc Sway   9th June - The Hurts from the UK, Interpol from New York 10th June  - Morcheeba Volunteering at Caribana Fancy being a volunteer at Caribana ? The festival is now recruiting volunteers, young and old to help with a variety of  jobs over the five day event. Volunteering is a good way to meet lots of local people and other nationalities and it is also an opportunity to hear some great music too! See the site  " Wanted - Nous Recherchons des Bénévoles ". " Paléo 2011 - Clip de présentation par paleo

For those readers heading off to the talk on Swiss schooling tonight, a reminder that the closest parking is at La Combe shopping centre. The Perdtemps car park  is approximately a 10 minute walk from the Uni Global Union. Nyon train station is a 5 minute walk from UNI Global Union.  For all parking options in Nyon, see link here UNI Global Union is at 8-10 Avenue Reverdil, 1260, Nyon.   See link and street view here

The Aula theatre of Nyon will be transformed into a little bit of New York this weekend (29/30/31st August) when the Really Youthful Group (part of Geneva Amateur Operatic Society ) put on "Guys N'Dolls". If you don't know the show, it's a musical comedy set in New York and evolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of a "crap" game. He bets fellow gambler Sky Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl he sees happens to be Miss Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army-type reformer. Needless to say there are complications on the way and as always, great songs, music and dancing. Some of the songs you may recognise from this musical are "Luck be a lady tonight"and "Sit down you're rocking the boat". These productions have a tradition of being performed at the end of the summer holidays. It's a great way to send the audience back to work and school with a "feel good" factor and an opportunity for Anglophones to catch up with other at the bar during the interval. Tickets are available to book online at Theatre in English . There's map on there too of how to get to the theatre. Always allow a few minutes to walk from the car park to the theatre. The photo above is of the cast in rehearsal. Also, there is now a new and updated version of Know-it-all passport out in the bookshops right now. Last time I looked there were two copies in Payot in La Combe Shopping Centre in Nyon (look under the section "Voyage Tourisme"). You can order them if they have run out. This book is jam packed with useful information on Geneva,Vaud and neighbouring France and has categories on renting, accommodation in the area, health issues and well-being to jobs and money matters, shopping, trips out. It's an absolute mine of information and gets better each issue. You might like to take a look at page 599 where the section on Paléo Festival was written by yours truly.

Reviews of films at festival 2009 21st April 2009 Read here   The world at your door for seven days in Nyon24th April  Read here  Films: Cubans in Europe 24th April Read here Films :Plane days and Perestroika26th April Read here  40 years of the festival27th April Read here  Films:Stocks shares mothers and war recipes.28th April Read here   Film: No sex in "Supermom" but a super film28th April Read here  Final two days of the festival

In October 2010, Living in Nyon reader Celia Marsh  wrote about what it is like to live in Divonne in France , (just a few miles from Nyon).  Here is another article, also about living in on Divonne , but this time it comes from long time resident John Burley. John is a "Conseiller Municipal" in the town and here he writes about the activities of the local council, from decisions on whether to build a new primary school, to the state of Divonne's finances, to what to do with the area around the old railway station and how not everything in France is run from Paris.... Lettre d'un élu de Divonne-les Bains. The other day, I saw Celia Marsh's article about living in Divonne-les-Bains on this web site.  As a long-time resident of the station thermale and now Conseiller Municipal, it was a pleasure to read her words.  She got it completely right.  Divonne is a great place to live.  As long as Divonne preserves its wonderfully green environment, the result is there for all to see (and not least the 1000 frontaliers who quite rightly prefer to have the best of both worlds, a Swiss income and a French residence). So it was not difficult to accept the invitation to join Etienne Blanc's team for the municipal elections of 2008.  Fortunately, there are no national political considerations at play in communal deliberations.  The current Conseil Municipal in Divonne is pretty representative of the commune – we have " les vrai divonnais ", from families who have been here for several generations; some more recent arrivals in the area from elsewhere in France or from former French colonies; and les internationaux .  75 Nationalities living in the Commune There are over 75 nationalities living in the commune: eligibility for election to the Conseil Municipal is open to citizens of states members of the European Union, so in addition to the franco-francais, there are several Conseillers from other European countries.  I have British and French nationality.  Having decided to continue to live in Divonne after my retirement, I felt the slogan "no taxation without representation" was for me since I had to be able to vote if I was going to pay French taxes.  I am afraid the gendarme who interviewed me when I applied for French nationality did not appreciate the joke. The lake, the primary school, the tennis courts. Public service is in my genes.  Having spent almost all my professional life in the United Nations where we "think globally" most of the time, I was delighted to be offered the chance to "act locally".  Communal discussions and decisions do directly affect the lives of residents.  In the last few months we have been discussing in the Conseil Municipal: whether or not to build a new primary school to accommodate the requirements of the growing number of young families moving to Divonne (yes); how to develop the area around the beautiful lake so popular to so many people from Vaud, Geneva and the Pays de Gex (some answers: a new horse riding club and a new 4 star hotel); whether to install new tennis courts at the Divonne tennis club (yes); what to offer as cultural events at the much frequented Esplanade du Lac (a highly diversified and international programme); how to support a very active community of over 100 local associations (a new Maison des Associations ); what new shops and restaurants could best complement the incredibly popular Sunday market; and so on. From Street Dance to Brazilian music - A variety of events on offer for Divonne residents. Money is not the headache The biggest headache?  Surprisingly, this is not money.  As a member of the Commission des Finances , I can vouch that Divonne's finances are in good shape.  We have diversified our sources of revenue.  We are slowly but surely weaning ourselves away from financial dependency on the casino (the share of the casino is down from over 80% to less than 25%).  The tax base is solid, and tax-payers are better off in Divonne than elsewhere in the Pays de Gex.  The compensation franco-genevoise – French communes receive back a share of the income tax paid in Geneva by their resident frontaliers – grows each year.  The typical image of France is that everything is run from Paris.  In fact, local authorities in France have considerably more power over local finances than their British equivalents. What to do with the old railway station area? No, the biggest challenge facing Divonne is: what to do with the Quartier de la Gare?  This eyesore in the centre of Divonne has been left untouched for far too long.  There is broad agreement on many things – underground parking, a mixture of low-lying apartment buildings, shops, public services and open green spaces.  But the devil is in the detail: how much of each, how to get the right balance, how to safeguard the environment and what to do with the old railway station.  If all goes well, the plans should be finalized this year, whereupon the commune will launch an international competition for the best design.  Being directly involved in communal affairs is fun and worthwhile.  The Mayor, Etienne Blanc, likes to tease the English from time to time: I hope he doesn't mind the occasional répartie .   Sometimes the meetings become difficult and I get lost, primarily because the French love to talk at 500 words a minute, all at the same time and frequently on tangential issues.  But I am very impressed with the amount of time and effort people are prepared to put, bénévolement , into communal affairs My mother visited Divonne as a very young girl when on holiday in the Jura with her parents some 90 years ago.  According to her diary, she liked it.  Whilst there, she obviously picked up a hereditary disease called "divonnitis".    I hope her son passes the same bug to his children. John Burley, Conseiller Muncipal, Divonne-les-Bains John Burley, British by birth and French by marriage, has lived in Divonne for 23 years. He was educated at a Quaker school in England and at Cambridge University.  Trained as an economist and committed to public service, John spent several years working in Uganda before joining UNDP in New York in the early 1970's.  When he retired from the United Nations in 2004, he was a Director in UNCTAD.  He was invited to join Etienne Blanc's list "Divonne Ensemble" for the municipal elections in March 2008.  An independent member, John is active in several areas of communal life, including finance, economy, tourism and the development of the area around the Lake. He has two daughters and two granddaughters.

Film Festival begins tonight with a free film for the public at the Théâtre du Marens The bright red boards advertising Visions du Réel are now up around the town and everything is in place for another six day film festival (bar any natural disasters - unfortunately last year's festival was affected by the volcanic eruption in Iceland resulting in many cancelled flights for industry professionals and film fans) . New director brings festival closer to Nyon  This year the festival has a new director -  Mr Luciano Barisone at its helm, he comes to Nyon's Visions du Réel  having previously been director of the "Festival dei Popoli"  film festival in Florence in Italy. With a new director comes new innovations: one of these is that this year the festival has been brought closer to the centre of Nyon. Instead of the hub of the festival being at the Usine a Gaz near the lake, all the main activities will now be focussed around Place du Réel (the Salle Communale). This will be the central point and main box office   - the other two box offices will be at the Théàtre du Marens and at the Usine a Gaz. There will also be a restaurant and bar at the Place du Réel. During the festival tickets can be bought in advance either on line or at the box office (in previous years, ticket purchasing was only possible a few hours before each film). Festival continues thoughout the year The other new innovation is that Visions du Réel won't be just a festival for 6 days only, it will continue in some form by showing monthly screenings of documentaries at the Capitole cinema in Nyon throughout the year.  As in previous years there are hundreds of films available for the public to see, workshops with a tribute to a particular film maker, "Premier Pas", (first short films by self taught film makers or film school graduates and their films premiered for the first time in Switzerland). There are international films on offer, short and long films. Many films are entered into different categories of competition and the winners are announced on the final evening of the festival. Swiss films Under the "Helvetique category"  there are various films set in Switzerland, one of these will be shown for the "Avant Premiere", for the general public (free entry) at the Théâtre de Marens, at 19:30 on Wednesday 6th April . This film will be "Le Combat des Reines" -  "The Battle of the Queens"   See festival description below.  One of the most reputed gatherings in the western Alps is the “Battle of the Queens,” when pregnant cows instinctually fight it out to see who will become leader of the herd and defend the pasture. Using precise cinematographic devices, this film relishes in telling the tale of an excited and anxious world centred around one of these competitions Another film in the Helvetique Swiss category is L’Autre Versant de Gstaad - The other side of Gstaad shown on Friday 8th April at 19:30 and  repeated on Sunday at 22:30  at the Capitole 1 cinema. Film description below by Visions du Réel - The village of Gstaad is a famous ski destination. It consists of a series of chalets surrounded by an almost pristine Alpine landscape; for years it had been a refuge for famous people who adored joining the mountain dwellers and basking in anonymity. This notoriety brought tourism in its wake and, consequently, ruined that image, which the locals still recall nostalgically. Focus on Colombia  Amongst the hundreds of films on offer, this year there will be a special focus on the country of Colombia. Living in Nyon spoke to Mr Barisone a couple of weeks ago who said; "it's an exciting time in Colombian film making right now, there is more government  funding available enabling some superb films to be made. For this reason Visions du Réel has invited 12 delegates from Colombia to Nyon to attend the festival. There will be screenings of films and  a round table discussion". Photo below : Visions du Réel  - from the film "Apaporis" (one of the  "Colombia Focus" films) There will be much more on  Visions du Réel on this site over the festival period including reviews of films.

There aren't many places you can get a cup of coffee or tea for 1 Swiss Franc, browse through English books and look at art at the same time. But in Crans-Près Céligny you can. This is because the public library (in the salle communale in the centre of the village) has a whole section of English books that are available to borrow. Above the library there is a spacious gallery which is open to the public where artists can show their work and hold "vernissages". The library has been offering this service since 1974 when the library was first opened and founded by Denise Meier. Artists and photographers who show their work vary from those starting out on their career, to that of the famous Nyon artist Jean Knechtli , to current exhibitor Claude-André Depallens. Photos below: Art from Monseiur Depallens, watercolours of the roofs of St Prex Art painted on the old wooden boards used for cooking Vacherin Mont D'or cheese The artist Krystyna Dislich works as a volunteer at the library and is in charge of the English section and says: "We try to keep up to date with the latest books and a new book is added to the collection each month (this month's addition is " The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer)." There are a considerable amount of English speaking people in the village here and we are catering to a need, we have a cosy reading area for children and kids books in English. We also have an English reading group that meets to discuss books too. For the exhibition space, artists can show their work for around 4-5 weeks, each time there is a new exhibition we inform everyone on our mailing list, so the villagers get the chance to meet others at the vernissage and it's a good social gathering. Membership of the library is just 20 chf for residents of Crans, 30 chf for those from other communes. Opening times are Monday 19:30 -21:00 Wednesday 14:00-15:30 Friday 14:00-16:00 and Saturday 10:00 -12:00 The Library also accepts gifts of books too to add to their collection. If you would like to donate any or have any questions about the library contact either Krystina Dislich (she speaks fluent English) or head librarian Agnes de Boer. Living in Crans. The Village of Crans -Près Céligny is just a few miles from Nyon and has some lovely old buildings, a small supermarket, post office, butcher, restaurants and a chateau. It also plays host to the Caribana festival down by the lake in June. The village has its own site with more information (in French) from when the recycling and rubbish will be collected, to the opening times of its public buildings and offices. Note: There will be a Troc de Jouets on 31st October in the Salle Communale from 11:00 -15:00 (whats a troc? see previous post with explanation) Items on sale such as ski wear, bikes, books and DVDs and and baby equipment. For more information click on "Troc de Jouets" on the village page on "plus d'infos ici" More on living in this village in in a future post. The butcher's shop in the village

After the recent production of videos made in Lausanne and Geneva to the backing track of "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, it was only a matter of time before Nyon produced its own film. Here it is below, you may recognise some familiar faces and places, from the Roman columns, to the man who sells roasted chestnuts in the street in autumn, to staff from the tourist office (see if you can spot those who were at the Living in Nyon "Fun Fondue" for newcomers last week!). Even the statue of Julius Caesar (the founder of Nyon and Living in Nyon's Tweet avatar) makes an appearance!

There are two opportunities this week for jazz lovers to attend concerts in Nyon.   The first is an apéro, an after work drink on Thursday 27th  February in the atmospheric cave (cellar) of Nyon's château. Doors open at 17:00, music at 18:30.   The "Two Monkeys"  jazz duo are on the line up. Just 5 CHF per entry.   See site for more details  and for other events in this "cave". Photo above: The cave/ cellar of Nyon's château The second event is a jazz evening on Friday 28th February in the equally atmospheric 1306 club in the old town in Nyon.   The club holds occasional music events throughout the year. Entry to these events is free however a hat for a contribution to the  performers will be  passed around on the night.  The concert on the 28th will be "Duo Jazz plays Sidney Bechet". Concert starts at 20.30.  More details, check site here.  Photo above: Duo Jazz - courtesy 1306 Club.

Living in Nyon will be at Visions du Réel over the next seven days and will be reviewing and recommending films shown at the festival. Film review - Visions du Réel 2016  - "Like Dew in the Sun"  Screening Sunday 17th at 16:30 and Monday 18th at 11:45 at the Salle Communale. Tickets here The family in the photograph below are the ancestors of the filmmaker Peter Entell who emigrated from Ukraine to the U.S at the beginning of the 20th century. There is a haunting look in the family’s eyes, and a sadness that over a century later Entell shows still continues in the lives of many Ukrainians today. Entell travels to the country to find the village where his grandparents were from and in so doing discovers more than a family history, he finds himself in the middle of a battlefield and in a war zone. The film opens with the sight and ear blasting sound of armaments being fired, followed by the cheering of soldiers. Immediately we are abruptly and shockingly transported straight into modern day Ukraine, to the potholed roads, to the run-down apartment blocks and to the image of a woman crying over dead bodies lying on the ground. The sombre music sets the scene. Entells asks a soldier “There is so much suffering here, so much fighting, so many conflicts here in Ukraine - why?". The soldier sighs deeply, he has no answer. A father in Kiev talks to his sons after they visit a shrine for citizens who have been killed in the conflict, and he laments "unfortunately son, the terror continues”. Entell passes security check points, he films soldiers in their daily lives preparing for battle, and that battle. A story of the current conflict emerges. In the hunt for his relatives, Entell continues to travel around the country, he delves into archives, and with some help and an interpreter, he painstakingly goes through the files of the Jewish people who fled from the Ukraine in 1814. A few years ago, Jean Perret, the previous director of Vision due Réel said that for one week the world comes to Nyon through the medium of film. In Like Dew in the Sun we are indeed thrown in to another world of the lives of the people on Entell's journey, from the modest home of a gold-toothed woman serving tea as her husband tells stories of the war in his childhood, to the harrowing scenes of soldiers today being captured and the fear in their eyes as they await their fate. We see lovely limestone rocks and cliffs in Bakhtchyssarai, a city in central Crimea, sunflower fields en route, beautiful blues and turquoises of the wooden homes in small villages, and bright traditional costumes on the local women. The women sing but the world we see most of is darkness, fighting, sadness and conflict. The soldier at the start of the film tells the filmmaker "It's important to know your history and relatives". Sadly the history that the filmmaker discovers is a tragic one but an important story that needs telling. A powerful and moving film.