The Swiss school holiday calendar is posted well in advance by school authorities, and shows the staggered school breaks by canton. Cross it with the French school holiday calendar to avoid traffic and tourist jams, especially for the February snow weeks and Easter vacation.
Fall, Christmas and summer school holidays all happen at the same time in France. But for the two-week winter and spring breaks France is then divided into three zones, each with different dates, so do check the school holiday calendar. The Jura and Alps areas are located in zone A. In winter and spring, one vacation week is shared by two zones, and roads and slopes can then become very crowded. The school calendar can be printed.
If you live in Pays de Gex, finding arts and crafts materials can be very challenging, especially since the only store selling a wide range of do-it-yourself products has a name not related to the field: Bureau Center in Cessy (select “Vos magasins” to access the store information). It offers scrapbooking materials, paper, canvas and paints, magnets and a boxes ready to be decorated. It has a child activity corner with pencils, playdough, games and books. The materials are not sold on Bureau Center’s Internet shop; you’ll have to go to the store itself to make your choice.
Picard, the high quality frozen food store, and every French mom’s best friend, delivers its soups, vegetables, fish, meat, fruits, cakes and much more right to your front door for €5, if you live in France. The website is in French but it’s quite easy to navigate thanks to its pictures. My favorites: appetizers, fish and uncooked veggies, all the fresh herbs and cakes. Free recipes will fuel your creativity. Go to “La Boutique”, open a free account and allow a couple of days for the delivery if you place your order at 20:00 like I did.
The Know-it-all Passport book, which comes out every two years, provides a substantial collection of addresses and information about where to find things in the Lake Geneva region. It’s now part of a larger offer, with the web site providing information and calendars for activities, events, and local businesses, with companies invited to submit their own information.
The book began life as a guide for mothers in the area, written by Lisa Cirieco, who grew up in Geneva in an American family. It has been expanded over the years and a special strength, also reflected on the web site, is some of the smaller community groups and activities that are hard to find elsewhere.
The English Forum is Switzerland’s largest social network, with forums/discussions on numerous topics.
Use the search engine to find what you’re after. A strength is that it is active in all parts of Switzerland, although this can make it harder to find information for a particular region until you’re used to using the site.
The site is managed by a company based in Sweden. It added news, thelocal.ch, in 2011: this is part of a chain, based at the same company in Sweden, managed by a business staff rather than an experienced independent editorial team.
The Swiss government provides two useful brochures for people working here who are considering relocating or retiring elsewhere. Both are in pdf format and can be downloaded:
Social Security in Switzerland, January 2010 update
Leaving Switzerland and Moving to an EU or EFTA country
Additional information is available from the Swiss-EU Liaison Office.
Geneva-based Laura Moser makes beautiful classic cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more, but her specialty is custom designed cakes.
All ingredients are fresh, not frozen.
Most items need to be ordered in advance but a limited number of baked goods can be ordered with 24 hours notice.
The Swiss postal service, La Poste, bissued the Basel Carnival commemorative stamp 5 January 2009. You can order them online, in English. Great for collectors, or even as easy gifts for non-philatelists: these are particularly charming stamps. Background story on GenevaLunch
Finding a home in Switzerland has never been easy, and the tight housing market in the Lake Geneva region makes it even more difficult. A web site that can might help you is Homes.ch, which has existed for some years, but owner Simon Allen has been adding new functions and marketing it more strongly. The site gives some idea of price trends and allows people to place free multi-lingual advertisements.
The Swiss Ornithological Institute has just made life easier for anyone who wonders what that bird is, on Lake Geneva or up in the woods or out in the garden. It has published, in five languages, the Swiss Bird Guide, for CHF38, available online from the institute’s shop. The book features:
- 500 colour photos, 256 pages, 105 x 18cm
- Information of species exclusively in form of symbols, pictograms an graphics
- Including CD with pictures and birc call (for Windows and Mac)
- Introduction and bird names in 5 languages
The Swiss government has issued a booklet (2 February 2009) for dog owners that details their responsibilities, part of a series of measures to ensure that dogs are trained and treated properly. Linked to this, the government is developing what will become an obligatory course for all owners of dogs.
Playgroup Programme has regular structured playgroups in English, as well as literacy classes, in Ferney Voltaire, for international families from around the Lake Geneva area. The programmes are run by volunteers, for children from six months to 10 years. Worth noting: volunteers ‘ children are taken first for the literacy classes because of the high demand for the limited places.
STEP is a practical approach to raising children, used for over 30 years in North America, and internationally in four languages. The focus is on learning new parenting skills to achieve several objectives: understand the goals of your child’s misbehaviour, encourage your child and yourself, listen and talk with your child, give choices and set appropriate limits, develop meaningful consequences, help children cooperate. Telephone +41 22 361 6958 or contact Sarah.Keyser@stepinfo.ch for workshop details. Next series starts in January 2009.
Rex Express ships animals for you from Switzerland to just about anywhere, and the online service, in English, is easy to use.
List of resources for the Zurich area includes English-speaking vets.
Horseback riding centers in the French-speaking cantons in Switzerland. Listing is in French.
Geneva-based English-language group interested in turtles and tortoises. They hold regular meetings and activities.
Near Zurich. This is no ordinary kennel. Website is in German only.
List of resources for kennels and breeders accross Switzerland.
Horseback riding and equestrian lessons, canton of Geneva, French-language website.
Open every day of the year, the Zoo de la Garenne, in Le Vaud, near Gland, is dedicated to European indigenous species and endangered species. Open to all, the zoo also welcomes students 6 to 18 with their teachers and adult groups to a variety of workshops. Website is in French.
International summer camps for children age 7-18. English-language options available in the Geneva region.
English language online store sells clothes and other products for babies and children. Based in Apples, VD, Switzerland.
English-language resource for parents in Switzerland based in Zurich.
Toy store and bookshop in Gland and Geneva. Also organises activities for children in French and English.
Suicide prevention unit for 15 to 25 year-olds. It includes a hospital unit and outpatient centre to allow patients to continue school and work while receiving treatment.
English-language genealogy site for people looking for their Swiss ancestors. Includes travel tips and information about Switzerland.
Swiss English-language bi-monthly parenting journal.
Your guide to jugglers, clowns, puppeteers and other relevant information for children’s birthday parties in the Geneva region.
