Parking contingency plan in place with heavy rains forecast
French singer Zaz kicks off Paleo's main stage concerts Tuesday night (photo, ©2011 Laurent Clément)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – It’s music season at the southwestern tip of Lake Geneva, with Paleo opening today, 19 July, and the Fêtes de Genève 21 July.
Paleo is welcoming its fans on the first day with cool (highs of 16C), soggy weather, but that’s unlikely to keep the crowds away: some 230,000 music fans are expected during the six-day festival. Paleo features 195 concerts on six stages and more than 200 stalls. The always popular Village du Monde features the Caribbean this year.
The festival has kept aside 1,500 tickets that will be sold every day: they are available, maximum two per person, online and at Ticket Corner.
There are no ticket sales at the festival itself.
Paleo has been encouraging festival-goers to use public transport, but the advice takes on a practical note Tuesday, with a contingency parking plan in effect due to the forecast for heavy rain. Some of the parking lots near the festival will be closed and cars will be sent to Nyon’s city centre. Extra shuttle buses are planned.
Geneva brings 60 bands to the Jardin Anglais starting Thursday
Geneva warms up to its 10-day lakefront Geneva Festival (Fêtes de Genève) that runs from 4-14 August with the preliminary part of the festival, 21 July to 3 August at the Scène des Clubs, which takes over the Jardin Anglais area. The stage is home to 60 concerts with pop, disco, rock, salsa and reggae. Artists expected include: Gérard Lenorman, The Seatsniffers, Palatimba, the Gibsons Brothers, Patchwork, Jean-Luc Lahaye, Titanic and Kamini.
The big 10-day festival, which pulls in thousands of visitors to Geneva, extends from Baby Plage to the Quai Wilson, with the fireworks in the harbour 13 August as a major attraction, but the fun includes fair rides, concerts and scores of food stalls.
The special guest for 2011 is India.
Tickets for the fireworks are still available; details on the festival web site.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Are you a gas-burning road hog who loves festivals and concerts? You might have to change your ways this summer, with environment and sustainable development the buzz words for Swiss festivals.
Montreux Jazz Festival, keeping an eye on electricity consumption (photo: Odile Meylan)
Montreux Jazz Festival, which runs to 16 July, is the first of the big summer festivals and it provides details about its environmental efforts on its web site. The MJF notes that it’s been given the Green ‘n Clean award from Yourope, which awards festivals that actively work to protect their impact on the environment.
Montreux turns on the lights, turns down the consumption
Two measures the MJF cites are its work with Alpiq to provide very low consumption lighting for Le Jardin and its work with e-covoiturage to reduce the number of cars coming to the festival.
Walk! World’s largest sports event encourages us to use our legs
The giant multicultural, multi-event Gymnaestrada, which has brought 20,000 gymnasts from around the world to Lausanne this week, said loud and clear at the outset that its sustainable charter was being given top priority. Walk to the events, as a starting point, it tells visitors.
Green festivals: a balancing act (photo, Gymnaestrada, 11 July group events)
The event increased the population of Lausanne by 20 percent overnight, creating rubbish and other problems, the organizers notes.
It details its green efforts on a web page, which at the end puts the onus on you and meet to make the charter work: “Help us to make this idea of sustainable development a reality! On a daily basis, travel sensibly, eat healthily, sort your rubbish and switch the lights off after you. From now on, you can support the WG-2011 by calculating your carbon footprint and committing to reduce it!”
Gymnaestrada runs until 16 July.
Paleo pushes festival-goers to reflect on transport
The Paleo Festival in Nyon opens 19 July and it will pull in more than 230,000 people by the time it ends 24 July. Paleo sent out a newsletter Tuesday 12 July about its efforts to push concert-goers in the right direction: greener travel.
The CFF rail company offers 20 percent off to anyone who goes by train, and online car-sharing options work for both Switzerland and France. RouteRank, newly improved, is a great way to find the best options for getting from your place to Paleo, and to find out your environmental impact in the process.
St Prex Classics, small is beautiful but also gentler on the environment
A late summer festival, the newly renamed St Prex Classics, takes another approach to the environment by keeping things manageable: 10 concerts over two weekends in intimate surroundings in the lakeside old town (Vieux Bourg) of St Prex (two are in Morges, this year only). The concert, now in its fifth year, runs from 16-28 August.
The world according to Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Runners in this weekend’s Geneva Marathon won’t get overheated, with highs of 15-16C and some rain Saturday, with more rain predicted on Sunday, says MeteoSwiss.
At least they won’t be sneezing from the pollen count, which is relatively low.
The Alps will generally have more sunshine and warmer temperatures, but the snowline will remain at about 1,600 metres until Tuesday, when it rises to 2,000m.
Update 2, 22:45 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Years of arguing and debate over the need for the Lake Geneva region to rapidly develop its train service were brought to a close Monday 21 December with a framework agreement signed by the federal and cantonal governments and the CFF rail company. The agreement acknowledges that the Geneva-Lausanne area is one of the fastest-growing in Switzerland and states the intent of the signing parties to develop a rail network and service that match the rapidly changing need for public transport in the area.
Third and possibly fourth rail line planned
The two cantons have agreed to put up CHF312 million in pre-financing for several projects, designed to speed up the project. The 20-year plan, to 2030, will increase the frequency of trains to one every 15 minutes between Lausanne and Geneva. The number of seats will double by 2020. Several congestion points are targeted: Mies in Vaud and Chambésy in Geneva plus the freight passing line between Nyon and Coppet. The three-phase plan calls for the main lines and RER regional system to be improved first, then the third rail line between Renens and Allaman to be built during a second phase, when the system will also be extended in the area west of Geneva. Main train stations will be modernized.
The third phase will involve building a fourth rail line and improving public transport access to Geneva’s airport.
Swiss news weekly L’Hebdo magazine 2 April publishes a feature article on expatriates in the Lake Geneva region. GenevaLunch, a partner of l’Hebdo brings you the English version in three parts.
French version © 2009 l’Hebdo
English version © 2009 GenevaLunch (may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission.
By Julie Zaugg and Mehdi Atmani
They have their own schools, media and even neighbourhoods where they live. But who are these expatriates? Spotlight on this comfortably well-off and discreet community that lives side by side with the Swiss, without really mixing with them.
The Expats are among us
“Bonjour, hello – can I help you?” smiles the saleswoman in a children’s clothing shop. At the Chavannes-de-Bogis shopping centre English is ever-present, from the supermarket checkout to the self-service restaurant. Sometimes a word or two of German surfaces, or Swedish or Hindi. Not surprsing: we’re in the middle of a stretch that runs from Versoix to Nyon, which houses the largest concentration of expats in Switzerland.
Little is known about this population, despite the large number of these workers who come to Switzerland for several years, sent by companies and international organizations. L’Hebdo takes a closer look.
How many of them are there?
There are no precise figures for this population because expats melt into the group of holders of B permits, renewable residence permits for non-European Union members. But there are an estimated 100,000 in French-speaking Switzerland – nearly the same size as the population of Lausanne. In Geneva alone there are 65,000 expats, some 40,000 of whom work for international organizations, with their families.
GenevaLunch will continue the article Friday afternoon 3 April.
Fresh snow, Valais, Switzerland 12 February 2009
Updated 21:15 Lake Geneva area, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Snow fell steadily throughout all of western Switzerland, including Geneva, early 12 February. Traffic was clogged throughout the Lake Geneva region, and in much of the area the secondary roads were closed. Trains from Chatelard in Switzerland towards Mont Blanc (Montroc-la-Planet) in France have been stopped until 15 February due to the danger of avalanches.
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A storm named Quinten roared through France and western Switzerland early Tuesday 10 February, with gusts of up to 150kph. Worst hit has been western Jura (MeteoSwiss map). Early morning traffic around Lausanne was a victim: with trees falling onto and blocking the cantonal road between Morges and Lausanne, as well as Lutry and Lausanne, cars were sent to the autoroute, which quickly became saturated, reports 24 Heures.
