Workshops for International Mums in Nyon Tuesday 1st March 13:30 - 15:00 The "Centered Mama Project" is a workshop to help international mums feel more supported and learn ways to integrate and enjoy life here. These workshops are organised by founder Anne Ferguson who says: "I know first-hand how difficult it can be to carry everything - when you're far from home, career, loved ones and dear friends, it can quickly get overwhelming. You probably didn't sign up to be a stay-at-home mum, but you made a decision as a family and here you are. You're proud of how much you've settled here (even if only a little) but you'd like to integrate even more. How do you do that? Now that your kids, your partner and your home are sorted, what's next? Join me and other beautiful, talented mums to explore this question and more. I've welcomed PhD grads, managing directors, architects, teachers, chefs, estate agents, bankers, lawyers, social workers and more at recent Centered Mama Project workshops". Next two workshops Tuesday March 1st 13:30 - 15:00held at Oak Hill School, 31 Chemin de Precossy in Nyon and Thursday March 3rd 9:00 - 10:30 Geneva (Champel) Places are limited, so please RSVP to thecenteredmamaproject@gmail.com, by SMS to 079 751 1496 or directly to the Facebook page to find out more details and venue. Pop Up Collective in Rolle of local Designers Local designers from Nyon and further afield have got together to display and sell their creations including handbags, jewellry, cushions and candles in Rolle in a Pop Up Collective at the Ma Fille boutique at Grande Rue 33, in Rolle. Also, on Thursday the 3rd March there will be a chance to meet the designers from 17:00 to 22:00 at the store. Full details in poster below.

Here is a an eclectic selection of events coming up in the Nyon and Geneva area. Free writing workshops for teenagers offered by the Geneva Writers' Group. See poster below. Dates of workshops are: Feb 6th, March 5th, April 9th, May 14th, June 11th. Click here for more details Note - registration is now open for the Geneva Writers' Conference which will take place from the 18-20 March. Click here for more detailsMusic events coming up in NyonThursday 21 January at 22:00 Indie/ Folk Music from Canada at the Parenthèse with bands Twin Bandit and David Vertesi. See video below. Friday 22nd January at 20:30Los Ratones (Cuban music band) will be playing at the 1306 club . Details here Sunday 24th January at 17:00 Classical music at the Conservatoire de l'Ouest Vaudois Details in poster below or click here Saturday 23rd January 21:30 Rock at the Usine a Gaz with the Chikitas. Free entry - see video below

There will be a juggling performance/show this weekend at the Elastique Citrique (the acrobatic/circus skill school) in Nyon. Photos here. The school is at la Caserne, 11 Rue des Marchandises, Nyon. This can be found very near to Place Perdtemps car park (look out for the red building!) The performance will take place on 19:00 on Saturday the 30th and at 17:00 on Sunday the 31st January. Tickets - reservations here. Tickets can be collected 30 minutes before the start of the performance.

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

If you are looking to buy books for Christmas presents there are several book shops in the Nyon area that stock books in both English and French (listed below). Plus, a short review of two recently published books on the towns of Montreux and Vevey. Bookshops in Nyon The Nyon branch of Payot in La Combe shopping centre has a decent sized selection of English books with a regular turnover of new stock. They also have a pretty quick book ordering system. Note: this shop also stocks the book Living Along Lac Léman (the Living in Nyon book). Also, if you missed the Diccon Bewes Living in Nyon event in mid-November, Diccon will be back in Nyon at Payot on Friday 11th December from 15:00 -16:30 to sign copies of his book "Around Switzerland in 80 Maps”. Two other shops in Nyon that stock books (children’s books only) are: "The Reading Duck" in Grand Rue in the centre of the old town. This shop carries a variety of French and English books including children’s games, bricolage items etc. Brand new to the area is "Editions Limonade" in Rue de la Colombiére 3 in Nyon. This shop opened just last week, currently their books on sale are in French only, however these lovely illustrated books would make great gifts for children who are learning the French language. Photo above - Newly opened "Editions Limonade" in Nyon. In Rolle there are two bookshops: A Travers Les Mots in Grand Rue 63, this shop stocks both French and English books. and La Libraire du Château in Grand Rue 10, which has a small collection of English books, and cards for sale. If you want to know a bit more about the Montreux and Vevey region, there are two self-published books covering the area that might be useful for newcomers. The first, “Montreux Riviera Switzerland” written by author Farrol Kahn, is a mixture of historical facts and local information, from a brief history of the confectionery company Nestlé in Vevey, anecdotes about Claude Nobbs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, to behind-the-scenes in some of the region’s five-star hotels. This hard back book is printed in colour and includes many advertorials of local businesses. There is a website linked to the book, with overhead shots of the area provided by Montreux Riviera Tourism, but the site itself has no further information about the area. "Welcome to the Swiss Riviera" by Valeria C. Harlay is written by an author who lives in the region and although the book is printed in black and white, it provides a friendly and personal expat perspective to the area. Particularly useful is the list of local activities and clubs for toddlers, older kids and adults, details on schools, pharmacies in the area, plus facts about the surrounding villages, Swiss customs etc. A newly updated version of the book is due for publication in 2016. There is currently no website linked to the book but there is an active and regularly updated My Swiss Riviera Facebook page with postings of current events and useful contacts.

On December 13th there will be changes to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) rail timetable. Although some of the new train times will only alter some rail journeys by a few minutes on the Nyon/Geneva and Nyon/ Lausanne routings, there will be significant changes to other routes such as the Nyon/ Neuchâtel route which will involve a change of trains in Morges or Lausanne. Under the current train Nyon/ Geneva schedule, the early morning commuting trains of 07:43, 07:53 08:13 will alter on the 13th December to 07:45, 07:55, 08:15 Don't miss your flight! For those taking an early morning flight out of Geneva airport, passengers need to be aware of the new train times to ensure they do not miss their flight. For example, the current early morning direct airport trains from Nyon are at 04:56, 05:23, 05:41, 06:01 and 06:30, whereas from the 13th December they will alter to 04:25, 05:25, 05:55, 06:15 and *06:25 (*for this train, change in Geneva) There will be changes to train times across the entire country with some routes benefitting from shorter journeys and others with longer ones. Click here for the SBB online timetable to check all the new times. The timetable is English and it lists all the connecting tram and bus connections to onward destinations. New December Podcast - Learn the Local Language for Money Lisa from Know-it-all passport and Catherine from Living in Nyon have teamed up again to produce a December podcast for their readers. Do you know what some of the Swiss French terms are for coins? Would you like to know the Swiss equivalent of an American buck, dime or British “quid”? In the December podcast of Living in the Know, Lisa teaches Catherine some of the local language around money, useful information to have at your hand when shopping at local markets. Lisa also provides some tips on two big Christmas markets in the area, Catherine talks about Christmas trees and places to buy them. They both touch on local English-speaking church services that are scheduled over the December period and suggests some fun places to celebrate New Year’s Eve. There will be a full list of activities and events going on over the holiday period on the Events Calendar of Know it All and on Living in Nyon. https://soundcloud.com/living-in-nyon/living-in-the-know-at-dec

Nyon pulled out all the stops on Thursday to welcome Guy Parmelin, the new elected member of the Federal Cabinet. Mr Parmelin (who lives in Bursins) arrived by train in Nyon in the afternoon. There was a an official welcoming ceremony to greet him with a military parade and a fanfare band, there was even a military flypast to coincide with his arrival, however due to the heavy fog around, all the crowd heard was the sound of the jet engines and noise of the planes above! As Mr Parmelin walked through the town to the castle, members of the public followed him through the streets to the Place du Château. There were "pain surprises" on offer and wine and snacks laid on for the waiting crowd. Mayor Daniel Rossellat explained that this event had been arranged with very little time for organisation, however as the town in now known as the "Town of Festivals" it had demonstrated that it could definitely organise a party at very short notice. Below - a photo essay of the event. All photos C. Nelson-Pollard

As the weather has now turned on the chilly side, how about warming up and heading off to the World's First Fondue Festival which will take place in the village of Tartegnin (near Rolle) on Saturday the 21st November? This is a one of a kind event that will eventually yield the world's first fondue champion! The competition will allow participants to show off their culinary skills. Alongside the main competition, visitors can enjoy local entertainment and take part in workshops honouring local flavours and traditions. Full details here Ice Rink Open in Nyon The outdoor ice rink in Nyon has now opened! Full details and opening times here

Tickets to festivals as Christmas presents. Volunteers required. The town of Nyon is reinforcing its slogan and image as the "The Town of Festivals" as it has recently launched a new marketing campaign and teamed up with Nyon Tourism to spread the message. In addition to a new promotional video (see end of this post), there will be cross-promotion of the image on various websites and marketing materials such as bags, postcards, and posters will be produced with the festival slogan. Some of the festivals are offering special ticket prices and gift vouchers at this time of year which are a great idea for Christmas presents. Also, several of the festivals such as Visions du Réel and Caribana are looking for volunteers to help in 2016. Volunteers receive various privileges according to the guidelines of each festival. A reminder that the five festivals are: Les Hivernales Festival, the 7th edition of the winter rock festival which will take place in various venues across the town from the 18th - 21st February 2016. Visions du Réel, the (47th edition) of the documentary film festival which will take place in Nyon from the 15th to 23rd April 2016 Note: Gift vouchers are now available for the festival, for either a day pass (40 CHF instead of 45 CHF or a festival pass for 160 CHF instead of 180 CHF). The festival is also looking for volunteers to help at the festival, click here for more details. Caribana Festival, (26th edition) of the rock festival by the lakeside which will take place from the 1st to the 5th June 2016 Note: Caribana have already announced that Brit band "The Kooks" will play on Thursday 2nd June. Tickets are already on sale, and at this time of the year there is a special winter price of 65 CHF per adult ticket. The price of tickets goes up nearer to the time of the festival. The festival is also looking for volunteers for next year. Click here Paléo, the 41st edition of one of Europe's biggest rock festivals which will take place near Nyon from the 19th to the 24th July 2016. Special Christmas vouchers for a week's festival pass are now available at the Paléo Shop (online passes have now sold out). Far ° festival des arts vivants Nyon, the 32nd edition of the Living Arts Festival which will take place in various venues around Nyon from the 10th to the 20th August 2016. New Video Below

Photos below from the world's first Fondue Festival which took place in Tartegnin last Saturday. The event was a great success and attracted thousands of visitors. You can read Living in Nyon's observations about the day in Thursday's (26th November) English column in La Côte newspaper. The Living in Nyon column is published every Thursday throughout the year. Pick up a copy in the news stands and check it out! More local events and news coming up on this site shortly. Photo above: Left to right - Happy fondue festivalers, Willem and André Photos below: Scenes around Tartegnin Musicians from the Guggenmusik band that played at the fondue festival

A reminder to all readers of the upcoming Living in Nyon evening with Diccon Bewes. Diccon recently launched his latest book "Around Switzerland in 80 Maps" at the Houses of Parliament in London. He will then be in Nyon on Tuesday 10th November at 19:30 to present and talk about his book. This is the first that Diccon will be holding in Swiss Romandie. These talks are very popular so reserve your place soon! Full details below. About the book. A map can be decorative or informative, or both, and can reveal geography or history, or both. In fact, it is the perfect pictorial way to explain and entertain. And this collection is no exception. From the circular Swiss island of 1480 to a vision of a Greater Switzerland with 40 cantons, via the oldest map of Lake Geneva. Image above - Hitz Typography Map of Switzerland Diccon is also the author of "Swiss Watching" and "Slow Train to Switzerland”) His talk will be in English and the book (in both English and French editions) will be for sale (cash only) on the evening. Talk from 19:30 to 20:30 Doors open 19:00 at the *Ferme du Manoir in Nyon at the Place du Château. Entry - 15 CHF includes a glass of wine after the event in the cave of the Château de Nyon Reservations required, cash payment to be made on the evening. Email - info@livinginnyon.com and write "80 Maps" in subject headline. Please state the names of all those attending. Image above - Gotthard Bahn Poster *The Ferme du Manoir is very near to the château of Nyon and a short walk to the railway station. Nearby parking at La Duche car park or Place Perdtemps

Spectre, the latest James Bond movie is currently being shown in English at the Capitole Cinema in Nyon at 20:30 until Tuesday 17th November 2015. Note: Did you know that an Aston Martin DB10 (one of the latest cars that is driven by Bond in the film) was presented to the press and public a couple of weeks ago at the Aston Martin garage in Nyon? See article here (in French) Booker Prize winner in Montricher Sunday, 22nd November at 15:00 Conversation with Eleanor Catton Eleanor Catton has won numerous literary prizes both for her debut novel, The Rehearsal (2010), and for her second novel, The Luminaries, including the prestigious 2013 Man Booker Prize. The author will be in conversation with Lisbeth Koutchoumoff, journalist at Le Temps at the Jan Michalski Foundation in Montricher Entrance CHF 10 Reservation required: Email: Conference-ECatton@fondation.janmichalski.ch Photo above - Eleanor Catton courtesy Jan Michalski foundation There will be a "full moon" fondue by the lake side in Nyon on Saturday 21 November at 19:00. The event is organised byL'Association des Bains des 3 jetées Reservations required