Café Agnès is tucked away inside the tropical greenhouse of the Schilliger Garden Centre in Gland. The perfect place to take a break in a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by lush greenery. Where does the name Cafe Agnès come from? It was named after Agnès Schilliger who, along with husband Maurice Schilliger founded the store in 1945. Agnès ran the florist sector of the shop and added a small boutique section dedicated to furniture and decoration in the late 1960s which is a huge source of attraction for visitors to this day. "I have a taste for flowers and I think I have a good artistic sense for decoration. I liked to learn, I liked to discover, I liked to talk with people. As a result, we had lots of good ideas" - Agnès Schilliger You can read more about the history of the Schilliger family in our previous article . Fresh, local, seasonal food. The restaurant provides a food menu as well as daily specials made from local products or homegrown crops that vary depending on the season, choosing local and organic food when possible. In the summer and warmer periods you can relax under the century-old olive trees that provide shade on the terrace that opened in 2020. A wonderful setting for an evening apéro and a chilled glass of local organic wine. Café Agnès itself was created with a focus on authenticity and a celebration of the local dishes and ingredients. Café opening hours: Monday to Friday: 9:00 to 18:30 Saturday 9:00 to 18:00 Kitchen opening hours Monday to Friday: 12:00 to 14:00 Saturday: 12:00 to 14:30 You can book a table over the phone on +41 (0)22 354 44 53 or email any questions to cafeagnes@schilliger.com Private events & catering service Did you know that you can rent  Café Agnès for private and professional events? Schilliger also provides a catering service with their Chef and team offering guests both local and international flavours. A truly unique setting for your event! Part of their funds from events are donated directly back and contribute to charities such as L'environnement Surui - a project of the Aquaverde association which actively participates in the reforestation of the Amazon. Another is  Les enfants du monde  which helps education and health in the most underprivileged countries. La Serre aux Papillons Another event coming up in Schilliger's diary is the Butterfly Greenhouse.   If you are planning on going soon, be sure not to miss it. This year running from July 16th to 10th September 2022. Breathe in the magic and docility of the butterflies! Read more about Living in Nyon's visit last year to the exhibition here . For more information about everything Schilliger Garden Centre has to offer check out their website . Also read our article about their fantastic landscaping services here .

Le Capybara, located in the centre of Nyon has a selection of the finest local products. Now it's time for them to grow and they need our support! It is the independent "vinotheque" located on Rue de la Gare 36, near La Combe Centre. It aims to bring together lovers of "good things" in a pleasant space that allows for the discovery of products such as wines, local beers, spirits and other gastronomic products of quality. Do you know Le Capybara? It first opened its doors over 3 years ago and the owner, Andrea Schubauer graduated as an oenologist in 2010 with 10 plus years experience in the world of wine and fine products. It allowed him to build his network and knowledge of the local organic and bio-dynamic farming world and instil it as a philosophy for Le Capybara . Favouring small producers from the Nyon region and beyond, he highlights the craftsmen, their personalities, and the artists behind each product. He is careful to promote producers who are sensitive to environmental aspects. A crowdfunding campaign If you've been to Le Capybara already, you may have heard Andrea Schubauer speak passionately about the various projects he has in mind but not yet been able to accomplish. He has been busy collecting the necessary authorisations and finally it's time to take the next step! His mission is to revamp the shop and offer a tasting area with tables, a warm, inviting atmosphere, and wine tasting by the glass! He will also create opportunities to meet local winegrowers, Swiss brewers, small distillers; artisans of taste and all of life's good things! This will be a fantastic “after work” location to relax and enjoy good company and fine products. What's the crowdfunding actually funding? Affordable wine by the glass to taste (around 5CHF per glass) Update of the shop's installations - bathrooms, ventilation and floor-leveling and tiling Air conditioning and wall insulation Security doors and storage lockers For the full details and contribution options, have a look here Participating in the crowdfunding will give you a share in the most expensive bottle of Chasselas in the world! You buy a small part of an 18-litre bottle (Melchior) of Chasselas vinified by Domaine La Colombe in Féchy. Once the amount of 12,500 CHF collected, it will become the most expensive Chasselas in the world! An emblem of our Swiss viticulture and a collaboration with the Paccot family . We look forward to seeing Le Capybara expand and offer Nyon a fantastic new wine tasting space! You can follow the Le Capybara on Instagram , Facebook or sign up to the newsletter . Or have a look at their products online here .

Thank you to Lisa-Anne Jepson for providing us with this article! For the upcoming US Midterm elections on Tuesday, 8th November, the presidency is not on the ballot but they are still vitally important. They will elect one-third of the 100 US senators (who serve six-year terms) and all 435 members of the House of Representatives (who serve two-year terms). Unfortunately, voting from abroad is not always easy. Numbering from 6 to 9 million (plus another 2 million military and other federal employees), Americans living abroad vote in disappointingly small numbers. Many potential voters are not aware of how important their votes can be. Those who do try to vote often run up against administrative and logistical barriers, which can vary state by state. To encourage as many US citizens as possible to vote, Democrats Abroad Switzerland is hosting a training session in voter assistance in Nyon at the Fisherman’s Pub, Rue de Rive 37, on Wednesday, 14th September from 18:30 to 20:30 . (Similar events will be held at the Pickwick Pub in Geneva on 7th and 21th September). Please join us at this popular Nyon venue for drinks with a side of training! If you plan to attend you can RSVP at suisse-romande-chair@democratsabroad.ch. You can also download and study the training slide deck from home (though you provide the drinks!).  In advance of live training, this is also a good guide to study Voter Assistance Training 101 Hope to see you there!

Thank you to Roland Schaller from Atelier9 Coworking and Rui Narciso from Ex-Machina Café for a great chat and insights into how you both built up your businesses here in Nyon. Ex-Machina and Atelier9 stand side by side for a reason - together they shifted Nyon dynamics! There are many similarities and interesting synergies between their two origin stories. Ex-Machina opened its doors in March 2017 but before we dive into how it developed, it's interesting to hear how the location was found in the competitive Nyon real estate markets. RUI: "After months of looking for locations and not finding the right one due to the high rental costs, availability, etc. I woke up one morning with the urge to go for a walk around Nyon. As I walked around the town I saw a car parked in front of this building and the door was slightly ajar. I had a look inside and saw a lady in her textile shop...." Needless to say, the place required a lot of imagination and work to get it together. But just like that, through an unexpected opportunity, he found what we now know today as the location of Café Ex-Machina. Atelier9's story was similar. It opened its doors in September 2018. Roland Schaller had been on the lookout for a space that would allow him to develop a coworking concept. He had seen it offered in other places and wanted to bring something similar to Nyon. ROLAND: "I was in contact with the owner and discovered the atelier was not renewing its lease, but there was a lot of competition for the location. One of the other people interested in renting it was Rui! We were lucky enough to get the space but like Rui we had a lot of renovation work cut out for us." Funnily enough, the reason Rui wanted to rent what's now the A9 space was for exactly the same reason. He had realised how many people were coming to the café simply to work and identified a need for a coworking space in town. Somewhere that was informal and relaxed, where people felt good to come and work away from home. RUI: "When I was told that unfortunately I couldn't have the space I was in fact delighted to hear who was getting it instead and what their plans were for it. It was the best of both worlds for me as it was clearly needed but I didn't have to take on the project myself." ROLAND: "And the fact that Ex-Machina was already here encouraged us, as we saw how this previously isolated area of Nyon was slowly starting to get more traffic. Had it not been there we might not have selected this location." RUI: "Finding a name was difficult. I wanted to respect the area and how it used to be where the Roman Forum was. But I also wanted a modern element to it. Ex-Machina was the perfect name because translated from Latin it means "coming out of the machine". It's from a Greek tragedy where they say Deus ex-machina - God steps out of a lift (a machine) and what it means is "opportunities are where you least expect them". I had so many moments where I felt guided on my journey of opening up the café, to me, what it really represented was to stay open minded and trust." ROLAND: "I didn't know that. - Atelier 9 was a simpler process! It was an Atelier located at number 9 :-)" RUI: "The international community were the first to adopt our concepts. They were more willing to try out the new concepts of the café as much as the coworking. For that we are very grateful. They brought a lot of vibrancy to this area in our early days." ROLAND: "It was the same for us. Previously our clientele hiring the desks in the co-working spaces were made up of almost exclusively the international community. Then bit by bit we started to get more Swiss people too. Today we have about 50% of each, which is a great mix. Before settling on their projects however, both Roland and Rui went through a career "re-thinking" phase. What did they step away from and how did they manage it? Stay tuned for our upcoming article on the topic.

Following on from the origin story of Ex-Machina and Atelier9 last week, here is the story about their founders and what led them through a big career change to where they are now.  Many of us experience times where we no longer feel aligned with what we are doing and what makes us happy. It can feel uncomfortable and the big question is always "How do I go about changing?" and even more important "What do I want to do instead?" There are so many POSSIBLE options but which one is the right one? Both Atelier9 and Café Ex-Machina were born out of a huge career change, showing us that it really can be done. Rui Narciso Ex-Machina's founder used to be in finance. "We had a lot of pressure and I was stressed all the time. At some point I noticed I hated what I was doing but I didn't know what I wanted to do next. One day I literally sat myself down, surrounded by post-it notes with all kinds of ideas on it. Bit by bit I started piecing them together." "I wanted to create an area that was people-centric above anything else. And with lights and natural plants! Somewhere people feel good and at home. Then my friends were telling me there was nowhere that served really good coffee, which I agreed with. I thought "I like coffee.... but I know nothing about it!" So I went to study it - first to learn about coffee itself and then to study latté art in London." Roland Schaller The founder of Atelier9 also made a drastic change. "I was a pilot. I used to work for Swissair which then became Swiss and I saw a change in mentality whereby I no longer fit. I didn't feel aligned and I wanted to change entirely. I was already active in Real Estate and my wife is an architect. Launching a coworking space was a great project for us to combine our skills. She does all the interior giving it an urban feel and design and I run the coworking. "We're very close to our people and they are like family to us. Other office space rental places can be very formal and traditional. With us, if people have taken a Globetrotter pass (a desk 10 days over 3 months) when that period is over but they still have 1 or 2 credits, we're going to find a solution with them. In more formal structures that's not done. RUI : "It's the same for us, we really treat everyone here like family. I know almost everybody and I'm always found on the floor talking to people. We had a very clear view of wanting to welcome people as if they were coming to our home, and make them feel like they are home too." Learnings Aside from the client and quality mindset both Roland and Rui share, there were some other common success factors that came up. Supportive family that gave them space to elaborate their project. Ready to give up some financial security for a time. Belief it will work, without really having any tangible "proof" at the start. And - here is a big one Be willing to take a risk! Stay tuned for more stories on their collaboration or what Nyon might still be missing. Maybe it will give some ideas as to what you want to do next. And if you want some career transition support, take a look at B-inspired's website or book an introduction call with Mandy Bronsil.

The Geneva Chronicles. An Illustrated History as told by Allo the Allobrogian and his Horse. Anita Lehmann is the author of this fun and accessible children's history book. When Anita first moved to the area, her son struggled to settle in and adjust. In an attempt to help, Anita tried finding a children's book about Geneva but couldn't find any. So (you guessed it) she wrote one herself! The book is illustrated by Genevan artist Pierre Wazem and published by Bergli Books. The overview: " From Caesar to Voltaire, watchmaking to the Jet D'Eau, Calvin to Frankenstein, this is the entire history of Geneva - all told by an Allobroges and his horse! Delivered as 17 entertaining stories, this fascinating and accessible volume is hilariously illustrated by Genevan cartoonist Pierre Wazem. From the ancient myth of Gargantua to CERN, The Geneva Chronicles packs several millennia into 80 amusing pages. " This wonderful book is a fun and insightful way to familiarise yourself and your children with new surroundings, or some Geneva history in general. It also makes a great gift and is available in both French and English. You can find more information about the book or buy your copy here . Happy Reading! Let us know what you think.

We all know and love the Nyon tourist office. A brilliant resource for when we need ideas for activities to do in the region. But what have they been up to behind the scenes this year? Well, two big developments took place in 2022. L'Échappée Jurassienne Nyon has joined 10 other Swiss communes to become the final arrival point for an 18-day hike that covers 352km all around the scenic, cultural, and gastronomic highlights of this region. This project had been in the making since 2020 but was only finalised this year, after facing delays due to, yes you guessed it... COVID! Our upcoming article next week features more on L'Échappée Jurassienne and on the hikes and the areas it includes. Mountain bike central! In a big collaboration effort with Morges Région Tourisme  and Vallée de Joux, as well as the local hoteliers of La Côte - a promotion campaign focused on Mountainbiking trails was launched. The departure point is Marchairuz and the routes were developed with the Swiss Mountainbiking team. Video clips to increase awareness were created and shown in the Swiss German area with the support of Vaud Promotion. And more from 2022 Networking events for the local hoteliers were held to develop the region. Guided tours were promoted as a reminder of activities available in the area. The continuous promotion of the popular Museum Pass. A "Swiss" evening organised during the Visions du Réel 2022. The ongoing promotion of winter activities. The tourist office receive about 25'000 enquiries each year! Their website is a great resource for discovering the Nyon region and the Nyon:Guide App showcases all the beautiful hikes in the region. Thank you to the team, keep up the great work. We look forward to experiencing many more of the activities made available to us! Read more about the Nyon tourist office here .

L'Échappée Jurassienne is an itinerant hike that starts in the city of art and history, Dole in the French Jura and then travels more than 350 km to finish in Nyon. This hike covers a total distance of 352km with a positive elevation of 10,800 meters and a negative elevation of 11,400 meters. This great roaming adventure includes twenty stages OR in one go - that's 18 days of hiking! Embark on the hike and discover Switzerland by visiting not only the breathtaking scenery but all the local cultures and gastronomy on offer. L'échappée jurassienne is a collaboration between 11 communes, with Nyon joining in June of 2022 and providing the final arrival point in Switzerland. There is a second arrival point in Saint Claude in France. The itinerary of the great sites of the Franco-Swiss Jura begins in the town of art and history of Dole in the French Jura. It crosses the Pays de Dole and its immense forest of Chaux before joining the Jura vineyards and passing through the two UNESCO saltworks of Arc-et-Senans and Salins-les-Bains. In the Vineyard, remote areas, small wine-growing villages, and great tastings of Wines and Comtés are on the program. The "Jura Escape" covers two Most Beautiful Villages in France: Château-Chalon and Baume-les-Messieurs before reaching Lons-le-Saunier. After crossing the first plateau, the first lake appears: Lac de Chalain, then the great sites follow one another, the Hérisson waterfalls, the plateau of 4 lakes, the Pic de l'Aigle, the Langouette and la Saine… The arrival in the Haut-Jura Regional Natural Park marks the transition between the Pays des lacs and the Haut-Jura with inhabited mountains and wild and preserved nature. Finally, the hike takes you from Foncine-le-Haut and Lake Bellefontaine to the Station des Rousses on the same route as the pedestrian GTJ. This is where the Échappée Jurassienne offers you two arrivals with very different landscapes. They also offer 3-day packages which you can book. A great option for when people come and visit us, to show them the beauty of our area without having to spend hours planning a route. Just follow the well thought out 3-day exploration trip take your guests on a 3-day adventure. The last 3 stages of the trail is from Les Rousses to Nyon via the top of La Dôle and the Toblerone trail. Start in Les Rousses, go to the summit of La Dôle (1677 m.) and admire one of the most beautiful panoramas of Lake Geneva and Mont-Blanc. Then head to the village of St-Cergue for a well deserved rest and stay in one of the available accommodation options. The next day's hike is in the forest around the meandering Toblerone trail in the majestic Bois de Chêne. During the last and third stage you can admire and visit the magnificent Château de Prangins and finish your beautiful hike in Nyon. Enjoy the shores of the lake, restaurants serving traditional perch fillets, the castle of Nyon and Nyon's three museums! You can find all the practical information and more ideas on their site L’Échappée Jurassienne or keep up to date on their Facebook or Instagram pages. You can also find out more about the people running the tourist office in our previous article here and what they have been up to recently here . Happy hiking!

Have you heard about The Lost Food Project (TLFP) Switzerland? Many thanks to Cherie Fuehr for sharing the information about The Lost Food Project with us.  "We are a non-profit global organisation that rescues and redistributes quality, nutritious food and other essential non-food items that would otherwise go to waste. TLFP’s goal is to work towards zero hunger, zero food waste and zero carbon to help protect people and the planet. The holiday spirit is all about giving. What better way to spread some cheer than by giving back?  We are currently recruiting volunteers for the following: •Food Rescue Drivers to help with our donor partner Migros. Most typically, this involves picking up food at a central location, sorting and delivering it to our warehouse or our charity partner food bank in Nyon. A vehicle is required. Interested? Please contact info@thelostfoodproject.ch for more information. Can't volunteer right now? Follow us on Facebook & Instagram to stay in the loop about events, initiatives, and more from TLFP."

Living in Nyon is organising a visit to the Hublot Manufacture site for our readers on Tuesday 21st of February 2023. A chance to get an inside look into this Swiss Watchmaker's offices in Nyon. So, will you join us? We are offering you, our lovely readers, an opportunity to join us on a tour of the site. The maximum capacity is 15 people and the official tour is in French. It is a great opportunity to practise your French in a fun and unique setting and one of us will be on hand to help translate if need be. Sign up below to save your spot! Hublot headquarters is an emblematic company and building in our region. This Swiss luxury watchmaker was founded in 1980 and was acquired in 2008 by the brand LVMH. Their watches are created with a mix of passion and innovation, allowing them to consistently think outside the box and reinvent their products. Hublot were the first to dare to combine gold and rubber. Read more about their magnificent craftsmanship on their website . About the visit Date: Tuesday 21st February 2023 Time: 13:30 Duration: Up to two hours Maximum participants: 15 Cost: Free but reservation is mandatory Address: Chemin De La Vuarpilliere 33 · 1260 Nyon Sign up to this great event here! If it is fully booked, you will be asked if you want to join the waiting list. We will then notify you on a first come first serve basis if a space become available. We look forward to seeing some of you there!

The Living in Nyon team wishes you all a magical Christmas this year and our very best wishes for the new year!   Dear readers, As another year draws to a close we would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families the very best for the holiday season. May you bask in the Christmas magic our region has to offer, whether at the Christmas markets , on the slopes or in the cosiness of the mountain chalets sipping a hot chocolate. The Living in Nyon would like to thank you for your continued engagement over not just this year but also all the years before. After a successful joint event held with the CVCI held in May on networking, we're excited to inform you we will be holding a few more opportunities for us to meet in 2023. We're starting with the Hublot company  visit  in February, tickets are sold out but please get in touch with us on Livinginnyon@gmail.com if you would like to get on the waiting list. We sign off for the holidays and we'll be back with new articles as of the 9th of January. May 2023 be filled with joy, health and full of successes! Warm regards, Seema, Sophie, Myrta, Alex, Mandy

It's been a year since war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. 1 minute of silence will be held Friday 24th at 9:00 Nyon Municipality joins the action launched by the "Union des villes suisses" to express its solidarity with the victims of this conflict, in particular those who have found refuge in Switzerland. The population is invited to hold a minute's silence on Friday 24th at 09:00. The bells of the Protestant temple and the Catholic church will ring from 8:55 a.m. to 9 a.m. The minute of silence will begin immediately after. Currently, the city of Nyon has 127 Ukrainian refugees with an S permit, the vast majority of whom are women and children. This legal status of “person to be protected” entitles them to temporary residence in Switzerland. To mark the occasion Inna Chernychuk who fled to Switzerland, tells us her personal story. She briefly recounts her experience since the war broke out. Read her story here .