The 2011 Chasselas, near Chamoson, Valais, recently bottled and waiting for your this weekend during the wineries open house days
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Much of Switzerland, including the Lake Geneva area, will be taking a four-day Ascension weekend starting Thursday 17 May. Some areas, for example most of canton Valais, are open for business Friday.
The weather forecast is not a springtime ideal, with rain and sun and wind wrapped around chilly temperatures, highs of 20C Friday, 25C Sunday, then dropping back to a high of 17C Monday.
Early Thursday, snow line down to 1,000 metres altitude and danger of frost on the plains.
You’ll need to keep plenty of options handy for entertainent this weekend; be sure to check our popular events page.
Big events this weekend include the winery open house days, Thursday to Saturday, throughout canton Valais, the country’s largest wine-producing region.
The bulk of the vineyards are in the villages that fan out from the Rhone river, nestled below snowy Alpine peaks, so visiting the area is always a beautiful trip.
A couple other suggestions (check the events page for details) are roasted sausages at the Chillon castle, one of Switzerland’s top tourist attractions, Saturday evening, and a stroll along Geneva’s boardwalk to see the exhibit of international cartoons.
Valais wineries open house days, suggestions
- your first step should be to visit the Vins du Valais web site, in English; the practical information page is in French, however
- they published a brochure in 2010, including an English version, which provides very good background material on the canton’s vineyards, wineries, grape varieties and more – available in print in a lot of wineries, but also online, for advance reading
- the same group, which represents wineries in the canton, publishes a useful printed booklet for the Caves Ouvertes days; I picked up mine at a wonderful little boutique and wine bar, Fol’terre, at the western entrance to Fully
- if you have an iPhone, Vins du Valais has an app that will prove useful
- follow our wine tasting tips, for all the cantons, and please make an effort to use public transport rather than driving
Remember that you can always order the wine and have it shipped, a quick and easy solution that virtually all Swiss wineries offer.
Ed. note: I’m also a wine writer and I’ll be writing tasting notes from several of the wineries in Valais over the next three days. You can follow me on my GenevaLunch blog, Among the vines, and on my Swiss wines Facebook page, Ellen’s Wine World.
If you commute or travel by train but need to drive to the station, chances are you can park for free or reserve a parking spot through the Park+Rail programme of Swiss rail company CFF. Check their website, in English, and enter your station to see what your options are. Unfortunately, not all stations are treated equally: some offer a few free spots (Mies for instance), others have spots for sale on a daily, monthly or yearly base (Nyon, Morges and Geneva, with waiting lists) or a parking lot run by a private company, with hourly rates (Geneva, Lausanne). Parking spaces also available for bicycles, indoor or outdoor.
If you live on the French side of the border and commute by bus or tram, call your local city hall, as each town has its own policy.
La Suisse celebrating 100 years on Lake Geneva, in 2010
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Navigation Day Sunday 29 April comes with some of the best deals in ages for travel on Lake Geneva.
The CGN, which owns the fleet of Lake Geneva steamers as well as the Navibus lake commuter fleet, will be offering up to one-third off regular ticket prices for the day, so a day ticket for a CFF half-price card owner will be only CHF20, for example. Children pay CHF10 and first class will be CHF30 instead of CHF90 for the day.
The Simplon will make a Geneva-Lausanne roundtrip excursion, with a stop in Yvoire. The La Suisse steamboat will do the trip from Lausanne to the beautiful Lavaux terraced vineyards, one of CGN’s most popular trips.
The company will have gourmet cruises and for those with a more modest budget the menu for the day is CHF20, children’s dish CHF113.50.
Lake Geneva region has no shortage of things to keep you happy this weekend despite mixed weather
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The weather forecast for the Lake Geneva region, and for the rest of Switzerland, is mixed, with lows of 5C and highs of 12-13C for the next three days, and rain alternating with some sunshine. Take an umbrella if you’re going out. Better yet, take advantage of the many events going on indoors in the region. Top of the pick:
Area gardens are coming to life
Lakeside villages (here, St Prex, canton Vaud) have lovely little gardens tucked away, so if the sun does come out, take a walk!
Schilliger Garden Centre in Gland is presenting its Jardins du Monde, a series of specially designed theme gardens that take you from the tropics to the Alps.
They are beautiful to walk through but even better for avid gardeners because a series of how-to sessions are organized for Saturday (08:00-18:00) and Sunday (09:00-17:00).
A bonus is that the center’s enormous hothouse is open to the public this weekend.
Schilliger grows most of its own plants, rather than importing them other climate areas and the greenhouse is a treasure chest worth viewing.
Check ahead for times of guided tours.
Morges Tulip Festival
The annual month-long tulip festival at the Parc de l’Independence in Morges is underway, and it has warmed up enough for the flowers to stand tall. This is a must-see for gardeners and anyone with visiting grannies or small children. A beautiful park, dressed to the nines for spring, on the lakefront in the city centre.
Cinema, a tried and true way to beat the rain
Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon
Nyon is growing in stature in part because of its documentary film festival, Visions du Réel, which kicks off officially Friday night 20 April and runs until 27 April.
The programme is a rich mix, in terms of style and cultures.
The shows are popular, entrance CHF15 or CHF35 for a daily card, with special rates if you want to go all week.
Arvinis, the wine season opener
The new 2011 vintages are out, although some are not yet even bottled, but they are available for sampling this weekend at Arvinis. The wine fair that opens the tasting season attracts some 20,000 people a year and the first two nights showed this year is no exception.
Arvinis runs from 18-23 April and offers wine-lovers 230 stands. The system is simple: you pay CHF30 to enter, are given a glass and you are free to wander around and try what you like. Don’t lose your glass!
Tips from GenevaLunch to make it an enjoyable learning experience
Visiting the Swiss Wine Promotion stand
Gewurtztraminer from Henri Cruchon, a top Morges producer
The guest of honour this year is Swiss Wine Promotion, which has a stand for each of the country’s six wine regions. These wines are to the left, shortly after the entrance.
Ed. note: visit EllensWineWorld on Facebook for wine notes for 25 white wines sampled at Arvinis (currently adding them), including several from the guest of honour; a series of tasting notes for red wines will be published Saturday.
Plan ahead and check the list of wine producers and other exhibitors, then match the ones you want to visit against the map of the stands.
There is still space at some of the special events, which vary in price and length. GenevaLunch editor and Swiss wine specialist Ellen Wallace is giving a class Friday evening, Introduction to wine-tasting, in English (2 spaces left as we publish).
For first-tme visitors, here is a mini-guide to Arvinis:
Transport, parking: Take public transport, to avoid drink/driving problems, but also because there is little parking next to Arvinis. The large public parking area at the entrance to Morges, coming from Geneva, is the best place to leave your car if you do drive.
Fee, tasting glass: CHF30, Visa, Masters credit cards accepted and PostFinance card
Hours: Open from 11:00 Saturday and Sunday, from 16:00 Monday, closes at 22:00 every evening except Sunday, 20:00
Children, animals: Children under age 16 must be accompanied by an adult. No animals allowed.
Ordering wine: This is a commercial wine fair and producers will happily take your orders for delivery later. Many of them ship via the post office, at little or no cost depending on quantity. But the main goal of wine producers at Arvinis is to introduce their wines to you and help you learn about them.
Feel free to ask as many questions as you like and don’t be afraid to show that you’re not an expert.
For those whose French is weak, this is the perfect opportunity to perfect it, but a number of the wine producers speak English – just ask!
Editor’s special invitation to the best Swiss wine deal in town!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Cloudiness Friday moving into rain by Saturday, with chilly temperatures: damp will dominate in all parts of Switzerland this weekend. Only the south side of the Alps is promised a glimmer of sunshine Saturday. Highs of 9C in the Lake Geneva region will slip to a high of only 6C Sunday. The snow line could fall to 1,000 metres late Saturday and Sunday in some areas.
Arvinis on your agenda
One of Switzerland’s biggest wine events, Arvinis, kicks off the tasting season for the new vintages, 18-23 April in Morges. The special guest this year is Swiss Wine Promotion, which works for the cantons’ groups of producers. They will be featuring 60 specialty wines from throughout the country, a great introduction for newcomers (and the rest of us!) to why Swiss wines have such an excellent reputation in the world of winemaking.
GenevaLunch will be provide its regular tips, suggestions and a how-to guide at the start of the fair, where 2,500 wines from around the world are presented at 150 stands. Ellen Wallace’s GenevaLunch wine blog, Among the vines, will feature a series of profiles of Swiss wine producers next week.
A very special offer is one of the best wine deals around: GenevaLunch editor Ellen Wallace, who is also a noted Swiss wine specialist and judge at international wine competitions, will be offering a fun and lively introduction to wine class, in English. The CHF30 entry fee to Arvinis is included in the CHF35 fee for the course, Friday 20 April at 18:00.
And to celebrate her new Facebook wine page that explores the world of Swiss wines, Ellen’s Wine World, your editor is offering a special bottle of Swiss wine to the 20th person to register for the hour-long class. It will leave you with the time and the skills to explore Arvinis Friday evening! Sign up now!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Caribana Festival
near Nyon, which opens the region’s summer music festivals, will feature Charlie Winston 9 June, the group announced Thursday 12 April.
Winston’s name completes the programme; he will head a night on the big stage that includes Keziah Jones and Grand Corps Malade.
Caribana and Rouge FM are running a joint evening 18 May to give an early taste of the festival: at Rouge City, Place Chauderon 18 in Lausanne. Swiss artists who have confirmed their presence: Motherockers, Elkee, Kyasma et Raphelson.Doors open at 18:30 and the concerts start at 20:00.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – GenevaLunch is taking a two-day break from the news for the Easter holiday, celebrated throughout Switzerland and France.
The weather forecast might keep many of us indoors at least part of the time: lows of 2-3C and highs of 7-8C with occasional showers.
Happy holidays from the GenevaLunch team!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Caribana festival in Crans-sur-Nyon may be small compared to Paleo and Montreux, but it has the advantage of serving as a summer music festivals warmup, coming before the others, and more than 30,000 fans are expected at the lively lakefront music festival 6-10 June.
The box office opened the last week of March. Earlybirds who buy tickets online now will save: when half the tickets are sold for a show, their price goes up.
Caribana, now in its 22nd year, is noted for its relaxed atmosphere and fun mix of pop, rock, reggae, blues, funk and electronic music.
The 2012 festival features musicians from Switzerland, but also from throughout Europe and the US. The group Gossip is among the opening night performers, followed later in the week by Lou Reed and Grand Corps Malade. Check the festival website for the complete programme, rich and varied, with many singers performing for the first time in Switzerland on the festial’s three stages.
The last day of the festival, 10 June, is dedicated to children. Caribakids offers music, workshops, a freestyle football show and a big party to dance all afternoon. This year, kids over 12 pay CHF10, with free admission for those under 12.
Ed. note: Free transportation with your ticket on the Nyon public transport system – take advantage of it to reduce traffic jams!
Lake steamer "Lausanne" at the Chateau de Chillon during special runs on Lake Geneva last weekend (photo ©2012 Jean Vernet / CGN)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss weather map 27 March is a dream, as long as you’re not a farmer hoping for some rain for thirsty crops: nothing but sunshine ahead. Average precipitation in February was 25mm (Meteo Swiss map) in most of French-speaking Switzerland.
March figures are not yet out it appears likely they will be even lower for many areas. Temperatures are starting to rise above 20C in some areas during the day, although by Sunday some cloud cover and slightly lower temperatures (2-14C in Geneva) are forecast.
The exceptionally warm weather has prompted the CGN boat company to offer special runs on Lake Geneva for the past three weekends, ahead of the summer season schedule that starts 6 April, Easter weekend.
Last weekend 600 people took the “Lausanne” steamer between Lausanne and the Chateau de Chillon, which passes in front of the Unesco World Heritage site vineyards in Lavaux. And another 1,200 took advantage of the Nyon-Yvoire shuttle runs.
Hiking trails and Lake Geneva have been busy with pleasure-seekers and bicycles are out in force.
Pollen is starting up; national weather service has daily forecasts
Also out in force, however, are pollen, notably from birch trees. The national weather service this week started offering an improved three-day pollen forecast by region. The service, which was introduced last year, this year takes into account pollen activity in neighbouring countries, which has allowed the service to be refined. Measures are being taken now to improve the service again next year, when the geographic accuracy will be taken from today’s 7km radius down to 2km.
Pollen level Thursday to Saturday this week: high for oak and birch.
Meteo Swiss’s detailed daily pollen reports are offered in French, German and Italian and indicate local pollen counts, but a European forecast site offers a wealth of information in English, some of which is in other languages.
Two French immersion summer camps for kids and teens are both close to Geneva, but in France. In Megève, International Summer Camps offers three hours of French classes in the morning, including a one-hour drama class, fun activities in the afternoon and field trips on week-ends. When not in class, children are mixed with French kids attending the camp to learn English! For campers age 7 to 17, day camp or boarding camp, from one to six weeks. Transfer can be arranged from Geneva airport.
In Châtel, VSF welcomes a small number of foreign children in each group of campers to guarantee total immersion. No classes but a choice of several programs, from astronomy to gastronomy and sports. Three-week boarding camps for kids 6 to 17.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of cross-border (frontalier) workers in Switzerland rose by 11.5 percent from the last quarter of 2010 to the same period in 2011, the federal government announced Monday 5 March. Numbers rose 4 percent in one quarter alone. (full report, Fr)
The Lake Geneva region has more than 87,000 workers living in France, of the total 259,000 cross-border workers, making it the area with the largest numbers, but also the greatest percentage. Basel follows, with 66,000 and Ticino has 55,000.
More than half of the cross-border population works in service industries, outstripping manufacturing and agriculture.
The new numbers follow an announcement by Bern 2 March that it will begin to impose sanctions as part of work related to the free movement of labour in Europe. Employers who abuse workers by paying lower salaries or not respecting work condition norms will be sanctioned, as will anyone who claims to be self-employed without showing adequate proof from his or her country of resident, and anyone who employs them.
A fictive self-employment status, sometimes a ploy used by cross-border workers and their employers means that social security taxes and possibly other taxes are not being paid by the employee, in which case the employer is held responsible for trying to avoid announcing an employee to Swiss tax authorities.
Farewell, icy lakeside decorations!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Temperatures are inching above the 0C line today throughout western Switzerland and by Thursday we can expect highs of 5C, according to MeteoSwiss, the national weather service.
Some areas will have snow10-2cm Tuesday, but the rest of the week will hold sunshine with some occasional cloudiness.
Luxury hotel haunted by its former owner
Location: Château de Coppet
Link out: http://www.meurtresetmysteres.ch
Date: 10 Feb 2012
Start time: 19:30
Oak Hill is a half-day programme designed for students with learning differences such as dyslexia and/or A.D.D. (ADHD).
We will be holding an Open Morning on Tuesday 31st January from 10.00 until 11.00 am.
Come and see a demonstration reading lesson. Ev
Link out: http://www.oakhill.ch
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Start time: 0:00
End time: 0:00
Lausanne-Geneva train traffic to grow 35% in next three years
View from the rails, Lausanne, 20 December 2011
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The additional CHF90 fine that went into effect 11 December for CFF rail travelers taking the train without a ticket has resulted in half a million francs in additional revenue in 10 days, according to Zurich’s NZZ newspaper 21 December. The CFF’s spokesperson Lea Meyer told NZZ that most passengers are nevertheless traveling with tickets: on average one person is fined for every two trains, some 800 fines a day.
The company said when it announced the sharp increase in fines (in addition to the price of the ticket passengers must pay) that the goal was not to bring in income so much as to reduce the inefficiency and high cost of ticket-takers issuing tickets.
Major extensions to Lausanne station moving ahead
In other Swiss rail news, the CFF in the past week acquired three buildings next to the station in Lausanne, as planned, that will the station to add new lines and double the rail capacity between Geneva and Lausanne by 2025.
The CFF told GenevaLunch this week that traffic on the line is expected to see a 35 percent increase by 2015, in just three years, due to the population growth in the region.
The company had 25,000 travelers a day on the line in 2000 and it has already doubled to 50,000 daily this year. By 2025 it will reach 100,000 a day.
270 pointsetta plants were needed to create Schilliger's 3-metre high red Christmas tree in Gland
(Correction: Claudio Carollo below) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – January sales are now on, but many people are still on holiday, so why not combine great prices and extra time with family and friends – and take along a special gift. We’re leaving some of our Christmas shopping suggestions here because special offers are making several of them more affordable.
Poinsettas
Just the thing for Granny or for the office. The spectacular 3 metre high poinsetta tree at Schilliger Garden Centre in Gland and the huge collection of multi-hued poinsettas, the traditional Christmas plant, won’t fail to inspire. Note: Schilliger is open one last Sunday before Christmas, 18 December, from 09:00-17:00. While you’re there – all clothes are 20 percent off right now and they have beautiful scarves, caps, gloves starting at CHF20, to put under your Christmas tree.
Chateau de Chillon all year, for kids
The castle, Switzerland’s most visited tourist attraction, has a children’s club, membership CHF20 and that includes free entry all year, a great way to stay focused on chivalry, dungeons and crenellations year-round.
Dipping into fitness, affordably
We aren’t going to think about the diet or getting in shape until after the holidays, are we? But how nice to then have a pass, 50 percent off, to a number of wellness and beauty centres in the Lake Geneva region, so you can sample them and decide what fits best. Body Pass works like the well-known restaurant passes and is a nice gift for anyone you know who is likely to have post-holiday panic (not just women, of course). Special offer: if you buy three you get CHF10 off, so maybe your staff would enjoy these. CHF80, valid from now until 31 December 2012.
Meanwhile, don’t forget the port and cheese
Jim’s British Market carries wonderful UK cheeses such as Stilton, in case you know someone who would enjoy a change from Swiss and French cheeses. Great news for Brits and other expats in the area: Jim’s is opening a shop soon in Gland; stay tuned to their web site for the date. This is also a good place to order Christmas hams and turkeys. Note: the shop closed Saturday 24 December at noon, for three weeks.
If you’re buying Stilton, there are two excellent choices to accompany it, and you can find both at Cave SA in Gland, one of the best high quality wine shops in the La Cote area, where you’ll get very good advice about what to buy. Try a bottle of Port (Graham’s 30-year-old Tawny is CHF102, Dow’s 10 year old is CHF32.20) or go one step further and buy the special 6-pack festive season “meditation” bottles, a mix of extraordinary wines, 10 percent off, CHF242.10. Maurice Zufferey’s Malvoisie Grain Noble, part of the box, is beautiful with stilton.
Extraordinary chocolate by anyone’s standards
A new chocolate boutique has opened at 39, Route de Saint-Cergue, Nyon, and even in the land of marvelous chocolate, it stands out as something special: Claudio Corallo, named after the Italian agronomist founder who lives with his family on the tiny volcanic archipelago of São Tomé e Príncipe where they raise extraordinary coffee beans and cocoa, using descendents of the first plants to arrive in Africa – but no point in spoiling the story for you. The shop is open limited hours, note. Lisa V, a GenevaLunch fan, contacted us to correct our text on the boutique: “This shop is a result of his passion for authentic, high quality chocolate and is only open part time because he also a regular daytime job.” Lisa, who read about his shop here, adds that “his chocolate is really good, unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before!” Phone or write first to ask when you can stop by (mostly evenings): +41 22 556 7686, suisse@claudiocorallo.com (Promeco Af S.a.r.l.).
A great way to try new salons, spas and hairdressers, the Body Pass card 2012 gives you a 50 percent discount on your first visit to a large number of wellness and beauty professionals. You can test treatments at more than 100 partners institutes throughout the Lake Geneva area, including one location in Saint-Julien. Cost: CHF80 on the website (English and French) or at Fnac in Geneva and Lausanne. It’s valid from 1 November to 31 December 2012 and the price stays the same regardless of the date of purchase. Gift passes are an option. Note: good only for the first visit to each participating business, although if you have a new pass the following year you can visit again for 50 percent off.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – GenevaLunch editor Ellen Wallace was named “Unsung hero” by the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce at its first Business Awards Wednesday 30 November in Geneva for her work in developing an online news source in English for the Lake Geneva region and Switzerland. GenevaLunch, staffed by volunteers, will soon hit the 3 million pages viewed mark, with 1 million of those in 2011.
The prize was one of five at the first annual awards by the business organization.
The other awards:
Company of the year: Withers LLP
Most Promising Business/Entrepreneur: Avaloq UK
Excellence in Customer Service award: La Cote International School, Gland
Corporate Social Responsibility: HSBC Private Bank
Some 150 people attended the awards dinner, including British Ambassador to Switzerland Sarah Gillett.
GenevaLunch has a strong commitment to high-quality journalism and is staffed by a core group of seven regular contributors and a number of other occasional contributors (see About GenevaLunch) who share a wealth of international journalism experience. Nearly 100,000 pages are viewed a month (November 2011). The news service provides not only daily news but an ongoing historical record of life in the region, in English.
The mission of the annual Business Awards is to recognize the achievements of companies who have made an outstanding contribution towards bilateral trade and investment between the UK and Switzerland, the BSCC notes. They are organized by the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Lloyds TSB Private Banking.
Ed. note: the awards dinner gave us the opportunity to talk to a number of businesses about their work and we’ll be adding them in the next few days to our resources section, which we are currently updating. Be sure to check back!
So Money Productions video about GenevaLunch, made for the BSCC Business Awards
Winners include 16-year-old Vaud musical prodigy Mélodie Zhao
Mélodie Zhao, Leenaards Foundation scholarship winner
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Leenaards Foundation has given CHF500,000 in prizes and scholarships to encourage artists in the region. One of the winners is 16-year-old Mélodie Zhao of Saint Prex, who last summer became the youngest ever person to receive a master’s degree in music from the Geneva Conservatory.
She will use her CHF50,000 scholarship to pursue private studies with Pascal Devoyon and other renowned professors around the world. Zhao began playing piano at age 3, gave her first concert at age 5 and began performing with orchestras at age 9. She will join post-graduate piano classes at the University of Arts in Berlin and post-grad classes in orchestra conducting, in Geneva in addition to training with mentors such as Devoyon.
The foundation was created in 1980 by a Belgian couple, Antoine and Rosy Leenaards, who made their fortune then retired to Switzerland. Their only son and heir died at age 58 and the couple created the foundation in his memory with CHF230,000. By the time Antoine died 15 years later he left a fortune worth CHF325 million to the foundation, which annually gives awards to encourage the cultural life of the region.
Three prizes worth CHF30,000 each, in recognition of a career, were given Tuesday evening to:Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker, André Corboz, architectural and urban historian, and Jean Scheurer, painter.
Eight scholarships worth CHF50,000 each were awarded to young people at a crucial point at the start of their careers, to help them continue developing. This year’s winners, in addition to Zhao:
Antoinette Dennefeld, mezzo-soprano, Douna Loup, writer, Sylvie Neeman Romascano, writer and editor, Mélodie Zhao, pianist, Frédéric Cordier, artist, Guy-François Leuenberger, pianist-composer, Michael Rampa, painter and Adrien Rovero, industrial designer.
Zhao is young, but she has already made a name for herself; her most recent concert at Victoria Hall in Geneva 12 October in commemoration of the 200th birthday of Liszt, was sold out and she has recently completed a new recording, her second: Douze Etudes d’exécution transcendante de Liszt (Claves label). Her first recording at age 13: the 24 Etudes de Chopin. The Leenaards Foundation notes that her new “interprétation is recognized for its perfect virtuosity and profound musicality”.
Background, “Prodigy M Zhao gives rare Chopin complete Etudes concert”, GenevaLunch 28 February 2010
Tourists and cell phone cameras capture the jet d'eau in Geneva 22 November
Keeping the dog safe from the leaves, canton Vaud, lakefront, 3 November
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Expect rain this weekend around Lake Geneva, with gentle temperatures of 11-13C and autumn colours remaining unless the rainfall becomes too heavy.
Canton Valais will be spared much of the rain, with warm foehn winds blowing hard and raising temperatures to 18-19C.
The weekend kicks off the November-December pre-holidays boom in events in the region.
The Leman Expat Fair is a popular introduction to the area for newcomers with information about local services for old hands as well. Lausanne has an arts and crafts fair and its Scottish Church is holding its pre-Christmas bazaar. Schilliger Garden Centre is open extra hours with its magnificent Christmas displays.
Check out the complete editor’s selection of events in the region on the GenevaLunch events page!
It’s also the start of the glamorous charity events season, with the big Geneva Charity Ball kicking things off 18 November. The high-octane event is selling tickets to the public; this year’s recipients are Clair Bois, Paidos, SOS Children’s Villages and The World Youth Education Trust.
Swiss pumpkins
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Welcome to November weather a couple days early, with chilly days and nights forecast in the Lake Geneva region this weekend: highs of 11-14C and lows of 7-11C, with Sunday night slightly more clement than Friday and Saturday nights, according to Meteo Swiss.
The 12,000 people registered for the Lausanne Marathon will be keeping warm Sunday, so drivers should be aware that the lake road is closed from 07:30 to 17:00 Sunday, between Lausanne and La-Tour-de-Peilz while the race takes place. Public transport will continue to operate in the area.
Lausanne is also host to a pumpkin carving fair Sunday, or, if you’re getting fired up about Christmas, the notable Schilliger Garden Centre Christmas markets are open Saturday, two of the many events that are listed as a regular feature of GenevaLunch.
Saturday night reminder: turn your clocks back one hour as we move off summer time, also known as daylight savings time.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss police and gendarme training school in Savatan has signed an agreement with the French national Gendarmerie to boost mutual training and continuing education projects. One of the key goals will be to improve cross-border collaboration, increasingly important given growing policing problems in urban France and the Lake Geneva region that require rapid responses, say canton Vaud police, who are closely involved in the project.
Theft and violent crime in the Lake Geneva region, often with the criminals coming from French urban areas, has increased in recent years.
New police academy projects will focus on improving joint work methods and greater use of technology.
Will also create more secondary school places
ISLL, new international school, opens in Morges, September 2011
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two schools, one new and one expanding, will significantly ease the pressure on the local English language and bilingual primary school offer starting in September. The continually growing international population in the Lake Geneva region has resulted in a worsening of what was already a shortage of places in schools where English is one of the teaching languages.
Morges school finds a home, thanks to regional development agency and town of Morges
The LLIS (Lake Leman International School) opens at La Gottaz in Morges 12 September, with kindergarten starting at age 3 to grade 5 (ages 9-11) opening during the first year, as well as a multi-lingual crèche or daycare centre for children from age 3 months. The school is planning to open a secondary school for the 2012-2013 academic year, with International Baccalaureate (IB) preparation.
It can take several years for a school to receive IB accreditation, but the new school, opening in its first year with seven classes, is basing its education programme on the IB, particularly for language learning, it says.
Finding a location for the school, especially given high rents in the Lake Geneva region, was not easy, but the Vaud Economic Development Agency and the town of Morges worked with the school, which is in a commercial complex next to the BAM regional train line and the A1 autoroute exit for Morges Ouest.
Anna Kaeser, who has several years experience in education in the UK and Switzerland, is the director of the school and a group of investors is working with management to ensure the financial viability of the school.
International schools also attract local Swiss famililes in part because they often offer a full-day programme, unlike Swiss state schools. The new LLIS will be open from 08:00 to 17:00, including the lunch hour, with a lunch service. The Cap Canaille crèche is located in the same building and is open from 06:30 to 18:30, five days a week, year round.
La Chataigneraie, part of the Int’l School of Geneva, adds 500 new students this September
New primary school at La Chataignerai, Founex
The oldest international schools in the world and a founding school of the IB programme, the International School of Geneva, has had waiting lists for several years.
This September it increases its intake dramatically at La Chataigneraie, its canton Vaud campus in Founex, thanks to a major construction programme. The school, with four campuses, had more than 4,000 students in September 2010.
Atrium in the centre of the new primary school creates light and airy space
The La Chataigneraie campus has built a new primary school that will house 642 students, and it added another storey to the old primary school, which is being turned over to the secondary school. Seven new classes are currently planned in the primary school and three in the secondary school, “but more classes may be added in the primary school if demand warrants it,” Catherine Merigay of the development office told GenevaLunch.
Total additional capacity is 500 students, potentially bringing the campus’s population to about 1,700 students.
La Chat, as it is popularly known, has been able to get rid of a number of portacabins and it is offering a “reception”, or kindergarten class for the first time, for children age 4 and up, starting in September.
Portacabins are disappearing thanks to an additional storey on La Chat's old primary school, now handed over to the secondary school
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.
Chateau d'Ouchy, on Lausanne waterfront, sold to Lausanne Palace
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Loterie Romande’s offshoot, Romande des Jeux, Monday 4 July sold the Chateau d’Ouchy to the Lausanne Palace hotel and spa for CHF45 million. The Loterie Romande paid CHF35m for it several years ago with the idea of turning it into a casino.
The federal gaming authorities refused to give it a license, however, and the owners, a public service utility under Swiss law, decided to invest CHF15m for major renovations in 2008, paying particular respect to the historical landmark nature of the building.
The Lausanne Palace was given a mandate in 2008 to run the Chateau, an arrangement that appears to have suited both parties.
Rocco Forte’s sale of Le Richemond followed by new management
Rainbow 19 June near Chamoson, canton Valais: expect some showers or cloudiness at the start of the weekend, then sun and warm weather Sunday
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Lake Geneva region and canton Valais can expect a bit of mixed weather late Friday and Saturday, with temperatures in the 11-23C range. Bring out the sun cream for Sunday, though, when temperatures will climb to 28C and not a cloud in sight, we’re promised.
You won’t run out of things to do, from watching regattas on Lake Geneva to flea markets to seeing how wine is made, if you check out our weekend events listings. Add in a good dose of exercise by trying out the new Swiss hiking/biking/skating official Swisstopo maps that you can get online and as handy mobile apps, or head for some of canton Vaud’s beautiful outdoor public swimming pools when the air warms up Sunday.
New reports shed some light on Geneva housing prices
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss National Bank 16 June joined the chorus of cautious voices warning of real estate markets overheating in some urban areas in Switzerland and the risks a sudden sharp economic downturn, not to be excluded despite current economic growth, could pose for banks as well as property owners. The central bank has begun a quarterly survey of Swiss banks’ risk levels.
“In response to signs of imbalances developing in the Swiss mortgage market and to the high uncertainty over the banks’ true risk exposure, the SNB has intensified its monitoring of the mortgage market. For this purpose, at the beginning of 2011, it launched a comprehensive quarterly survey of banks. The survey results will be a key tool for analyzing the vulnerability of the Swiss banking sector, and assessing
the need for further policy measures.”
The carefully crafted words of the SNB’s Financial Stability Report 2011, published 16 June, don’t paint a dramatic picture, but the report does raise flags, even as luxury property reports aimed at buyers outside Switzerland, such as one issued by the New York Times 16 June, paint a rosy picture that overlooks the larger
Cheaper housing: Geneva’s Swiss are buying in Annemasse
Neighbouring France is benefitting to some extent from the high franc and housing shortage situation. Le Temps reports today that 40 percent of the new relatively low-cost housing complexes being built in Annemasse, on the border, belong to Swiss people.
The managing director of a large retail store in the Nyon area told GenevaLunch Thursday that “retailers here are suffering. It’s not catastrophic but it’s not good. We read about how well the economy is doing, but we don’t see it. People are shopping over in France, understandably, with the low euro.”
Interest rates held at low 0.25%
Geneva's old town: a nice place to live, for those who can afford it
The good news for homeowners is the SNB’s decision on interest rates, which will be kept at 0.25 percent for three months, continuing the expansionist monetary policy of the past two-plus years. The central bank notes, however, that the current situation cannot continue for another three years, with low interest rates to fuel the money supply, coupled with a high Swiss franc, in the context of a very mixed economic growth picture in Europe. “Strong growth in the emerging markets and positive developments in Germany and Switzerland contrasted with economic weakness in several other European countries”, in 2010, the report warns.
Swiss market stable except for Geneva, Lausanne region
Swiss residential real estate prices show marked differences, with Wuerst and Partner‘s October 2010 quarterly report on the Swiss market showing 60 communes at risk for real estate bubbles, while the market overall remained “stable”.
The latest report from the company, issued in May 2011, says stability has continued, with one significant exception: “residential rents are expected to continue to remain generally stable. The one exception is the Lake Geneva region: This region is currently experiencing the strongest population growth throughout Switzerland, whilst at the same time residential construction activity has remained moderate in comparison with the rest of the country. Consequently, rents in this region are expected to trend further upwards in the foreseeable future.”
The housing supply rate stabilized in the first quarter of 2011, Wuerst figures show, but the asking price for all residential property in Lausanne and Geneva continued to climb, the only area in Switzerland where this was the case.
Sales prices in Lake Geneva area rose 10% and more: CHF2.26m on average in Geneva
France and Switzerland are together celebrating the 300th anniversary of thinker Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s birthday. Free dinner-debate around this lover of nature’s views and visit to the normally closed Pregny greenhouses. Free; register: delhoume@bluewin.ch
Location: Serres de Pregny, route de Pregny 35, Pregny-Chambé
Date: 28 Jun 2011
Start time: 18:00
Lausanne at dusk, viewed from Lake Geneva: growing number of foreigners live in the city, its suburbs
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva, with its international organizations and United Nations European seat is not likely to lose its reputation as Switzerland’s international city, but Lausanne has been creeping up on it as an international centre. From 2008 to 2010 the resident foreigners’ share of the total population in the capital of Vaud was higher than that in Geneva, and growing faster.
Figures published Monday 30 May by Badac, the Swiss cantons and cities database, show that Lausanne has had a larger percentage of foreigners than Geneva in recent years, although the two are close: Lausanne’s population in 2010 was 39.24 percent foreigners while Geneva’s was 38.58 percent, but while the increase in the foreign population in Geneva was .95 percent, Lausanne’s was 1.22 percent.
The figures take into account only the cities themselves, not their larger urban areas. Geneva’s population in 2010 was 185,958 and Lausanne’s was 125,885.
Smaller cities in the Lake Geneva region, such as some suburbs of Lausanne and Geneva, have even higher percentages of foreigners, including some of the highest rates in Switzerland: Montreux, 44.33 percent foreigners, Meyrin 33.99, Carouge 36.97, Renens 50.85, Nyon 36.39, Vevey 43.38, Morges 33.17, Versoix 33.20, Grand-Saconnex 28.40, Ecublens 43.03, Chêne-Bougeries 29.68.
Spreitenbach (50.74 percent), northwest of Zurich, and Renens (50.85), west of Lausanne, have a majority of foreigners; they are the only two Swiss cities over 10,000 where resident foreigners make up more than 50 percent of the population.
