Over 50 people turned up for the New Year's Swim in the lake today, the 8th January. Even though there were ice formations around the lake after the recent Bise wind, it didn't stop these hardy souls donning fancy dress and taking a dip in the cold waters. At the end of the swim, they then soaked in a hot outdoor jacuzzi and drank champagne! There was a fun atmosphere on the day, with vin chaud and soup on offer to the onlookers. img_4530

The Swiss Moving Company - A local removal company with storage facilities Are you planning on moving to, or from the Nyon and Vaud region in 2017 ? Or have you already unpacked your boxes and settled in the area, but now need the services of a cleaning company, a concierge service or simply a handyman to help assemble your furniture? If so, then the Swiss Moving Company (based in Gland near Nyon) can help you. The company has over 20 years of experience in relocating personnel and individuals across the world and manages nearly 800 international moves a year. With the in-house expertise of its employees, the company can find the best deal for individual requirements, whether it’s an international or local  move. They can help with customs control, import/ export questions, and give tips and advice to help the moving process. In addition to moving people, SMC is experienced in moving everything from pets to fine art (and boats! see photo below) and it can also provide storage facilities for customers. If you want a free quotation for a move or to use any of the company’s other services, call SMC’S managing partner and sales director Jimmy Bruzzese on  +41 21 807 26 86 or  +41 21 807 26 86. He speaks English and can help you with any enquiry you may have.

The Three Kings (galette des rois ) parade on Friday 6th January 2017 will begin at 18:00 at the place du Midi (opposite the La Combe shopping centre) in Nyon. This parade is fun for all the family, it winds through the town and ends up at the Place du Château where a big galette/ cake (baked by local bakers) is served up to the town’s citizens. Wrap up warm (although there is usually vin chaud on offer for adults at the end of the parade)! Photos below from a previous year’s “galette des rois” event. On Sunday 8th January there will be a Lake Swim Party in Nyon organised by the bains3jetees association.  The party begins at 13:00 and  the lake swim at 14:00. If you are brave enough to join the other swimmers in the water (and swim in a fancy dress costume!) then registration is required. Click here to register. A glass of champagne followed by a bowl of hot soup will be on offer for the swimmers and the sauna made available for them until 16:00. For those who prefer just to watch the event there will be a pancake stall and vin chaud to purchase on the day.

Happy New Year to Living in Nyon readers!  If you are in the process of tidying up after the Christmas holidays and you need to throw out different kinds of rubbish/garbage and you are not sure where to take it, look in your mail box for a brown envelope with the words "Déchets 2017" on it. This envelope has been distributed to all Nyon households. There are two brochures in the envelope, one includes a map showing  Nyon divided into two sections - the North Sector and the South Sector. On the map you will see the location of Nyon déchèteries (waste collection points), the eco-points in the different sectors and the location of the déchetèrie for organic produce. There are also dates for 2017 for the collection of household items that can left outside or in a communal area. Christmas trees  will be collected on Wednesday 4th and 11th January 2017. The second brochure entitled "ABECEDAIRE" has a comprehensive list of what you can throw out and where and which items can be returned to the point of sale. For example, did you know that ink cartridges, coffee capsules, paints solvents, radios, stereo units and many other items can all be returned to the store that you bought them from for the retailer to recycle? If you have mistakenly already thrown out the brown envelope containing the recycling information... !  you can view most of the information online here (note, the 2017 brochure is not online yet) but the 2016 is and has most of the information you need, the only difference will be the dates of collection for this year. If in doubt, the big new recycling centre in Nyon accepts many items, read about this new centre and how it works in a previous Living in Nyon article here There is also a free help line to call 0800 451 452 if you have any questions on recycling. It is open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 08:30 - 11:30 and 14:00 -16:30.

Living in Nyon would like to wish all its readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. For those looking for ideas on what to do for New Year's Eve, click here for a list of various events around the area - from the traditional "burning" of the Cathedral tower in Lausanne, (check out the town's light festival too!) to seeing the New Year in, cruising on a CGN boat . For details of what's happening in Geneva,  click here In Nyon itself there will be a "Rock Stars" dance (Indie/Pop/Rock ) on the 31st December at the Usine a Gaz from 22:00 to 06:00. Fancy dress competition for the best dressed rock star!  Tickets CHF 25 now on sale online (cheaper if you buy early-bird tickets). A reminder that there will be late night shopping in Nyon from the 21st-23rd December. The vin chaud served at the SIC "mini chalet" in the centre of town (in front of the Caroll shop) is very good and a real winter warmer! We will be back in January 2017 with more news, interviews and articles . A reminder - if you would like a weekly update of Living in Nyon news, just sign up in the box on the right hand side of this site. Photos below - taken around the town this week in Nyon

Nyon has a new brewery! Cap'taine Mousse , an artisanal brewery, opened just a few weeks ago in Route de Champ Colin 2c (very near the Emil Frey garage). Living in Nyon went to meet the two brewers, brothers Jérôme and Manu Bachelard to find out more about the beer and the concept behind it. A Beer to appeal to both genders Jérôme explains; "We started with the idea of brewing our own beer because we got fed up of drinking commercial beer - we found it to be flat, bland and boring". Manu agrees, "Our aim was create a light beer that would appeal to both men and women. There is a growing interest amongst the public in artisanal beer, and although only 3% of the Swiss actually drink it, that percentage is predicted to rise. Photo above - Brothers and brewers - Jérôme and Manu Bachelard Manu continues: "We started with this small dream but then we became more serious about it. We dedicated one evening a week from our day jobs to discuss a possible project; we spent time tasting other beers and working out what we wanted to create; and we concluded this would be something which was a mixture between an IPA and a lager. We knew there was a gap in the market for something different. We also knew our skills complimented each other to start up in business: I trained at the  Ecole hôtelière in Lausanne  whilst Jérôme has an MBA and used to have a directorial position at the CHUV hospital". Cap'taine Mousse - A play on words Jerome explains: "After trial and error we finally came up with the taste we were aiming for (Ed's note, this beer is indeed delicious: light, fresh yet fruity), so we took the plunge and produced our first batch of Cap'taine Mousse beer. It was important to us to have "Nyon" on the label as we are from this area. The Cap'taine Mousse name is not only an homage to the lake and the boats and skippers that sail on it, but is also a play on words. "Mousse" is French for ship's apprentice, but it also means the froth or head on the top of a beer, so it was a perfect combination. There is another play with words as we have "Brassins Lémanique" written on the label, playing with the word "brasserie" and the "bassins" of the lake. We opened our brewery in Nyon just a few weeks ago. We have a permanent point of sale there, where customers can visit and buy just one beer, barrels of 20 litres, or even borrow taps for private parties (from which guests serve themselves from the tap)! Our beer was served at the Nyon fan zone during the 2016 EURO Cup and went down very well so we knew we were on to a winner. It would be great if we could also sell to some our beer to the many summer music festivals". Free beer for crowd-funders! Cap'taine Mousse is expanding and offering great crowd funding benefits for those that want to be a privileged member of the Cap'taine Mousse community; for an investment of just CHF 250, members get a free beer each time they visit the brewery itself, ( every day the brewery is open if they want!). They get 10% discount on beer to take away and can even get free beers on tap for their birthday.  See membership details here Editor's note - this CHF 250 membership to the Cap'taine Mousse community would make a great Christmas present for someone. For those who would just simply like to taste the beer, it is currently being sold in various pubs in the Nyon region: the Bar Le Saint Jean, Hôtel de l'Ange (see  previous article here about this friendly Nyon  bar), the Café Vaudois in Nyon, the Restaurant de la Plage in Nyon and the L'Ecusson Vaudois in Eysins. It is also available in various sales outlets: in Landi and the Alimentation in Eysins, the Epicerie in Prangins or online here For other sales outlets in Lausanne and Morges,  see here Percentage of future profits to go to charity One day the Cap'taine Mousse team hopes to have its own pub. In the meantime it is concentrating on getting the first steps right and brewing a great drink. For Jérôme and Manu it's very important to have a shared goal which is not just about making money: future plans for the business include giving a certain percentage of the profits towards various charitable projects in Africa. "Some investors originally wanted us to form a company so they could buy shares in it, but we turned this idea down as we want to be able to give something back to certain selected charitable projects. We even wrote it into our original constitution when we started the whole business. We are now both working on Cap'taine Mousse full time, we have given up our permanent jobs to do this so it has to work - but so far, so good. Here's a short video (in French) about the Bachelard brothers and their Cap'taine Mousse beer, and the crowd funding opportunities available.  You can spot some of the local scenery in the film too!

Here are details of upcoming English speaking church services in the Nyon, Lausanne and Geneva area over the Christmas period.  Links to each church above the illustrations. Note: if you intend going to the Holy Trinity Christmas Eve  9 lessons and carols serice at 17:30 the Cathedral in Geneva, best to get there early if you can! This is a very popular service and the cathedral can fill up quickly. La Côte Anglican Church in Gingins Westlake Church Nyon Westlake Church Lausanne Holy Trinity Geneva

There will be a Marché du Noel in Nyon from the 17th to 24th December 11:00 - 21:00 (11:00 - 18:00 on Sunday) with "chalets" selling artisanal products in the centre of town in Place Bel Air. There will also be late night shoppin g in the town until 21:00 on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd December and some small shops will be open in the town on Sunday 18th December from 11:00-18:00. Note: local buses will be free to ride on the late night shopping dates - save the hassle of driving and finding a place to park! Below are a few Living in Nyon suggestions for gifts that can be bought locally in the Nyon region. More present suggestions coming up in the next few posts. The first present idea is the book "How to be Swiss - An instruction manual" by Diccon Bewes and Michael Meister .  This is a fun little book, an "eight step programme" on mastering the art of being Swiss. A perfect stocking filler with illustrations, jokes and tongue-in-cheek observations. The book can be found at Payot in Nyon's La Combe shopping centre. Note: Payot have a very fast ordering system for books that are not on their shelves, once ordered the shop will send you an SMS to say the book is ready to be collected. Illustration above - Michael Meister The second Christmas shopping suggestion is to head off to the Boîte à Thé in Nyon in Rue Perdtemps 30. This tea shop not only serves delicious teas but sells a wide range of teas and other related products. Check out the pretty boxes to contain tea, the tea pots and the range of Yoshico cotton pearl jewellry from Japan. Note: this shop will also have a stand at the Christmas market this year. There are lots of gift ideas at Catambo in Rue Perdtemps 3, this shop always has a great window display (photo below) and sells products from around the world for all ages. Home gifts, candles, jewellry, clothing, gifts for children. Finally, the Château of Prangins has a good little museum shop with a selection of Swiss and other interesting gifts including a wide variety of "änglaspel" rotary candle holders, these would make good stocking fillers. Note: you do not have to pay to go into the museum to enter the shop as it in in the entrance (although the current Swiss press photo exhibition is definitely worth a visit).

Good news for Star Wars fans, the film Rogue One - A Star Wars Story will be shown in English at the Nyon Capitole Cinema on  Wednesday 14th December, Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th at 18.15 and Monday 19th at 20:45 (as part of the "Monday movies" in English series). Tickets can be bought online in advance . Note - the days are written in German on the online booking site, but the date also appears beside it so can be easily understood. Click on VO3D "VO" (which means "original version").

Caribana Festival has released part of its line up for 2017. The festival which will take place from 7-11 June is the first of the regional summer music festivals in the lovely lakeside setting of Crans-près-Céligny just on the outskirts of Nyon. Part of the line-up has just been revealed. Rag N'Bone Man will perform on Weds 7th June, Foreigner and Roger Hodgson  (formerly of Supertramp) on Thursday 8th June, Kungs on Friday 9th, Ira May and L.E.J on Saturday 10th and Alvaro Soler on 11th June. Tickets are already on sale and Caribana is offering a Christmas package which includes a Christmas priced ticket, and a "three goodies" Caribana collector pack (bags, hoodies, beach towels, T-shirts, etc, subject to availability). Full details here. See a selection of music videos below. Photo above - courtesy Caribana. Rag N'Bone Man

Completing and submitting a tax return can be a complicated business at the best of times and completing a tax return as a foreigner living in Switzerland can sometimes be even more daunting.  Each individual canton and municipalities levy their own taxes and there are many other circumstances which individuals need to be aware of when paying their Swiss taxes. As the tax year ends in Switzerland on the 31st December and a tax form must usually be filed within three months after the end of the tax period, then readers might like to engage in the services of a financial advisory firm to guide them in completing their tax return. My Project  has an expert tax department for complex Swiss conditions and it partners with international tax specialists (U.S, British and other English-language countries). Their branch in neighbouring France also provides expertise and legal rights to help frontaliers with their fiscal declaration. An obvious link to the tax declaration is the question of optimising your taxes. There are various measures that can be taken to reduce your taxes considerably and if you are a homeowner it might be a good idea to look into your mortgage situation. MyProject's specialists will give you free advice on how to proceed. Although the tax year ends 31st December, most measures to reduce your taxes will have to be submit by the 20th. My Project is a consultancy with over 150 expert staff. It answers customer questions on all aspects of finance, from tax to insurance, and provides professional, private advice.  My Project  is certified with FINMA ( click here  to find out more about this financial regulatory board). If you would like advice on optimising and completing your tax form or any other finance question, contact Finn Toennessen, the International Community Executive at My Project: finn.toennessen @ myproject.pro. Finn speaks fluent English. He  is the representative for the whole Lake Geneva region and neighbouring France . Finn will assess which of the company's experts will best be able to advise you.

Brand new Montessori school opens in Nyon. Offers after school care until 18:30  Open Days - Saturday 10th and 17th December from 09:00 -12:00 The "Petite Prairie", in the northern area of Nyon is developing fast. Many new apartments have recently been built and are now almost fully occupied. With a grocery store, café, pharmacy, gym, a frozen food outlet all on site and the Porte de Nyon shopping area directly opposite, new residents are well catered for. To complete the picture, a  brand new Montessori school  catering for 3-6 year olds will open in the area on 9th January 2017 . The school itself is in a pedestrianised car free zone (there is parking for parents very close by). The school is ideally situated for parents to drop children off at school and be on the A1 motorway within minutes . It’s also convenient for those using public transport, with a bus stop very near the school, and buses departing for and arriving from Nyon railway station on a regular basis. Once the nearby Reposoir (the new sports complex, school and large park) is completed this will give Nyon a new centre of gravity. The school itself is bright, modern, spacious and fully equipped (see photos below) and completely new. The Montessori method of teaching has, however, been around since Maria Montessori  opened her first classroom in Rome in 1907. Click here to read more about the Montessori pedagogy. See bottom of page to watch a video on Montessori. The Nyon school’s staff consists of one French speaking teacher and one English speaking teacher, both of whom have Montessori diplomas from the Association Montessori Internationale and many years of teaching experience in the Montessori environment. The school offers half-day and full-day programmes from Monday to Friday throughout the school year. The school will follow the vacation dates of the Canton of Vaud and as boon for working parents, it will also offer an option for care of children after regular school hours (16:00 -18:30). The school has a flexible approach to school lunches: children can either bring in their own meals or choose a food option from the school’s own caterer. There will be two open days at the school in 2016 - Saturday 10th and 17th December from 09:00 -12:00 For further information on the school click here  or send an email to contact@secretofchildhood.ch The address of the school is: Allée de la Petite Prairie 14, 1260 Nyon   Google map link here Montessori Guide from Montessori Guide on Vimeo .