Luxury hotel haunted by its former owner
Location: Château de Coppet
Link out: http://www.meurtresetmysteres.ch
Date: 10 Feb 2012
Start time: 19:30:00
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: 00:00:10
End time: 00:00:11
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: 18:00:00
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.
Swiss barbecue, with weekend sunshine and temperatures just right for grilling (photo: flickr.com/photos/celestialpilgrim)
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The weather forecast for the weekend in the Lake Geneva area is better than you might think if you’re currently sitting in a downpour (your editor is watching a snow shower at 2,400 metres, above me). Showers will clear by morning, with just a few clouds left along mountain ridges.
Expect lows of 7 to 8C and highs of 21-23C Saturday, rising to 24C Sunday, with sunshine throughout Switzerland.
Geneva toasts its 2010 wines Saturday
The sunny spell is almost guaranteed, with Geneva holding its traditional and hugely popular wine open day Saturday: it’s hard to remember one when the sun wasn’t shining.
Geneva's wine open days are designed to introduce the public to the new vintage, but the canton has also been developing some beautiful wines that age well, several of which are part of the vintage wines collection of the Memoire des vins suisses
The Caves Ouvertes, as the day is called in French, sends thousands to Geneva’s wineries, almost of which are participating in the event, one of Geneva’s most popular. It was started in 1987, the first one in Switzerland.
The idea has spread and Valais will hold its cantonal open days the weekend of 2, 3 and 4 June (the Ascension long weekend), with canton Vaud having its – with several new surprise features – 11 and 12 June.
How to visit Geneva’s wine open day
The open days are designed to bring in the public to sample the new vintage, with white wines from 2010 recently bottled and the 2009 reds ready to drink.
Geneva’s cantonal wine office, Opage, has published its Terrific Terroir 2011 (pdf), with pages 19-20 giving you details about how it works, public transportation options, and a list of the wineries.
It is also available in printed form from Geneva Tourism, the Pont-de-la-Machine Information Arcade, the Geneva Welcome Centre, the UN kiosk and OffTheShelf English Bookshop, as well as hotels and eateries, clubs and associations, and several multinational companies and international organizations.
Vines in Satigny, Geneva, shortly after the harvest
If you’re looking for a guide to some of Geneva’s top wineries, and what to expect from them, you can start by reviewing the August 2010 winners of the cantonal wine competition (pdf).
The GenevaLunch wine blog, Among the Vines, offered tips for how best to visit the wineries in 2010, and it’s still valid, the advice of GL editor and Swiss wine expert Ellen Wallace.
France sends 81,000 people to work in the Lake Geneva region
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Lake Geneva region remains by far the largest in Switzerland for workers from across the border, des frontaliers, with a significant jump in numbers in the first three months of 2011. The number of workers from France rose to 81,619 by the end of March, an all-time high and up from 77,235 at the end of December.
Switzerland by the end of March had over 243,000 people crossing into the country to work, compared to 143,000 in 2000, figures released 26 by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office show.
Geneva had an increase of about 3,000 and canton Vaud about 1,000, during the first three months of 2011.
The Basel area in northwest Switzerland has the second-largest number of border-crossers, 63,995 at the end of Q3 2011, an increase of about 2,000 since the end of 2010. Ticino has just over 50,000.
Geneva’s border-crossers account for more than one-third of workers who cross into Switzerland.
Some 4,000 more women from across the border were working by the end of March, compared to December 2010, and about 6,000 more men.
The Lake Geneva region is good for weekend urban hikes: Geneva's Mont-Blanc bridge adorned with the UN and Geneva flags this week mark major world health and meteorology conferences
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Expect comfortable temperatures, with highs of 24-26C in western Switzerland over the weekend, but with sunshine mixed with thunderstorms, says MeteoSwiss.
Several events in the area should get you out of the house this weekend, including:
The Chateau de Chillon has on display 10 very special models of Lake Geneva’s historic paddle-wheel steamships, 1:50 scale models and some even 1:25: “La Suisse”, “Simplon”, “Helvétie”, “Rhône”, “Lausanne”, “Montreux”, “Savoie”, “Italie”, “Vevey” and the “Major-Davel”. The Lavaux vineyards that are a Unesco World Heritage site near the castle are now budding and green from the week’s rains, making it perfect for hiking.
Alpine and Jura mountain walks are never far away - cows out for a walk in Visperterminen, Valais
La Cote is learning a lesson from Geneva’s winemakers and this weekend’s winery open days in Mont-sur-Rolle will offer a shuttle bus to and from the Rolle train station and the 30 wineries that are participating. Pay CHF10 for a glass and you can sample the new wines in all the cellars for free (but don’t lose your glass!).
Nyon’s Gaos (Geneva Amateur Opera Society) offers good laughs with The Producer, which ends Saturday.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Radio Frontier is about to go live, at least on the web, offering English speakers in the Lake Geneva region a new music and information service with a voice that will be familiar to many: Mark Butcher, who for several years hosted The Breakfast Show on WRG and later WRS radio, will be providing one of the key shows on Radio Frontier.
The new station was founded by Butcher and Peter Sibley, formerly of World Television in Geneva, to provide commercial radio with a very local slant that focuses on the French-Swiss border area.
RadioFrontier will initially be available at www.radiofrontier.ch, operating from new studios in Meyrin, with plans to expand in 2012.
Radio in English is growing
WRS and RadioFrontier are the only English stations in the region, although there are others, mainly available online, in Switzerland. They include Mountain Radio Verbier, also started by an ex-WRS employee, Conor Lennon.
Main sources of Swiss news in English
The new radio station boosts the English-language information offer that is produced in the region, whose main providers include:
- GenevaLunch, the main producer of regional online news and events listings in English
- public radio station WRS, World Radio Switzerland, which has a Swiss nationwide broadcast mandate and operates online and via DAB and FM
- swissinfo, the online English information arm of Swiss broadcasting, whose main mission is to keep overseas Swiss informed about their country
- Glocals, a local social network now connected to BuyClub.ch, for “group-buying deals”.
International Link is a non-profit organization started by the Vaud Chamber of Commerce to provide a business-based network for the area that introduces foreigners and Swiss people.
Swisster, an online English language news service started by Swiss publisher Edipresse, closed in December 2010.
There are several small local groups based in or near Geneva and Lausanne that provide a variety of services and products for English-speakers, some mainly for expatriates who are relatively new to Switzerland (see list at end).
Switzerland’s international population also attracts outside companies
In addition, Switzerland’s English speakers, viewed as well-educated and well-paid, are wooed by a number of social network and information groups based outside the region. Some, like AngloInfo, a business directory and forum, have strong local ties: the franchise is operated by a Geneva area resident, although some of the information comes from the larger parent group, whose roots are in the south of France.
Others have no, or very little, Swiss presence: Expatica is based in The Netherlands (note: they carry news from swissinfo and GenevaLunch news feeds, with our permission); the English Forum, a social network used by many newcomers to Switzerland, actually based in and moderated from Sweden and Germany and linked to a new news site called local.ch, run from Sweden.
Geneva.com is another “local” news site, run from Argentina.
GenevaLunch “friends”
Local information providers who offer good quality; some offer networking and others sell products:
Books, Books, Books in Lausanne
Expat-Expo, based in Zug
Know it All
Leman Events and Leman Expat Fair
Off the Shelf, online and in Geneva
Business clubs
American International Club
British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce
Executives International
Owit, Organization of Women in International Trade
Henry Markram, Human Brain project
Adrian Ionescu, EPFL, Guardian Angels project
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – EPFL-led projects are two of the six accepted in the finals of a major research initiative by the European Commission, its FET (future technologies) flagship projects. At least two of the finalists will be funded by the EC to the tune of up to CHF1 billion over 10 years, with the decision about the winners to be announced in 2012.
The final project will make FET one of the largest research initiatives in the world, notes EPFL.
The two Lausanne-led international projects, both of which have already received EC funding to permit them to develop their proposals to date, are the Human Brain project and Guardian Angels.
Each will receive about €1.5 million to refine their proposals in the coming year.
The finalists were announced Wednesday 4 May in Budapest, Hungary, at a FET conference.
The other four finalists, listed by eGov Monitor, are:
- FuturICT Knowledge Accelerator and Crisis-Relief System: ICT can analyse vast amounts of data and complex situations so as to better predict natural disasters, or manage and respond to man-made disasters that cross national borders or continents.
- Graphene Science and technology for ICT and beyond: Graphene is a new substance developed by atomic and molecular scale manipulation that could replace silicon as the wonder material of the 21st century.
- IT Future of Medicine: digital technology has the power to deliver individualised medicine, based on molecular, physiological and anatomical data collected from individual patients and processed on the basis of globally integrated medical knowledge.
- Robot Companions for Citizens: soft skinned and intelligent robots have highly developed perceptive, cognitive and emotional skills, and can help people, radically changing the way humans interact with machines.
The first is the outgrowth of an earlier EPFL project led by Henry Markram, the Blue Brain project, now being developed by an international consortium. Human Brain integrates “everything we know about the brain into computer models and [uses] these models to simulate the actual working of the brain.
Ultimately, it will attempt to simulate the complete human brain,” according to the project’s web site.
Christofer Hierold, ETHZ, Guardian Angels project
GuardianAngels, under the direction of EPFL’s Adrian Ionescu and Christofer Hierold from ETHZ in Zurich is a zero-power project that “takes advantage of these recent developments in low-power electronics, energy harvesting and micro and nano-sensors to propose a new vision of the future: next-generation technology contributing to our wellbeing and our safety with simple, discrete and affordable high-tech accessories that seamlessly integrate into our daily life,” its web site notes.
Background, Human Brain project, GenevaLunch
Tour de Romandie finishes with glorious weather as partner
Weather forecast: brief rain, spot of frost, then warmer and sunny again
Sunny finish for Tour de Romandie winner (photo ©2011 Samuel Jacquet, flickr.com/photos/sam-s-place/with/5681965676/ )
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The rain is finally falling Tuesday morning 3 May, giving a reprieve after the spectacularly dry April in the Lake Geneva region, but weather forecasters warn it will be shortlived: expect showers to end late Tuesday, with only occasional rain along mountain ridges in the next two days. Some areas will be hit by ground frost Thursday, then temperatures will climb to highs of 24-25C with sunshine for the weekend.
Australian cyclist wins Tour, with Brit taking the day in Geneva
The Tour de Romandie finished in Geneva Sunday in a burst of fine weather, with Australian Cadel Evans taking the title for the second time, while British cyclist Ben Swift won Sunday’s leg of the race.
Lausanne’s popular 10 and 20-km runs celebrated their 30th anniversary Saturday. The evening run pulled in an estimated crowd of 18,000 participants. One of the corporate groups that took part did, not surprisingly, unusually well: the Lausanne-based governing body of athletics on the continent, European Athletics, sent a team of seven, who “finished high in the rankings”.
Army continues to fight Visp fire
Visp, Valais forest fire 1 May (click on imge to view larger)
The forest fire in Visp in canton Valais, at the edge of a vast Alpine forest area that stretches to Zermatt and beyond, was still smoldering Sunday 1 May, despite continual flyovers by helicopters dumping buckets of water on embers.
The army Monday morning sent in a Super Puma to step up the fight against the fire, after unrolling 2,700 metres of hosepipe to help local firefighters and dumping 400 tons of water on the area by the end of the week. The army also kept traffic and the curious moving Sunday, on the busy stretch of road, but by Tuesday the army presence was down from 120 soldiers to 70 in the area.
The forest rises steeply behind the body shop on the cantonal highway where the fire started, and much of the area cannot be easily accessed on foot.
The fire was caught early enough to prevent total destruction to the forest, but the full damage is likely to be apparent only later in the year, as some of the trees and plant life die off due to damage.
Authorities are concerned that the fire will be sparked anew by the extremely dry conditions.
Expect disruptions as the race moves through canton Vaud
Start to the Tour de Romandie (photo: Sam' place on flickr: flickr.com/photos/sam-s-place/
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Tour de Romandie, a five-day bike race, was off to a sunny start Wednesday 27 April, running from Martigny in Valais to Leysin in Vaud. Brutt Pavel, Russian, led the group at the end of the first day.
Police in cantons Vaud and Geneva are warning drivers to be patient if they find themselves near the race between now and Sunday 1 May. Roadblocks will be put in place temporarily and drivers will have to cool their heels while the racers run through the area.
The itinerary provided by Vaud police
2nd stage, Romont – Romont, Thursday 28 April 2011:
Canton de Fribourg – Sédeilles (13h31) – Rossens – Canton de Fribourg – Chesalles (14h20) – Oron-le-Châtel – Oron-la-Ville – Canton de Fribourg – Brenles (14h55) – Sarzens – Curtilles – Dompierre – Villars-Bramard – Villarzel – Rossens (15h25) – Canton de Fribourg
3rd stage, Thierrens – Neuchâtel, Friday 29 April 2011:
Thierrens (11h15) – St-Cierges – Peyres-Possens – Bottens – Cugy – Froideville (11h41) – Peney-le-Jorat – Corcelles-le-Jorat – Carrouge (11h58) – Vucherens - Marnand (12h30) – Avenches – Faoug (13h00) – Canton de Fribourg
Against the clock / Aubonne – Signal de Bougy, Saturday 30 April 2011:
Aubonne, Place de l’Ancienne Gare (roads completely closed starting at noon) – Lavigny – St-Livres – Bière – Saubraz – Gimel – Pizy – Signal de Bougy (open about 18h30)
5th stage, Champagne – Geneva, Sunday 1 May 2011:
Champagne (10h00) – Fontaines/Grandson – Fiez – Grandson – Les Tuileries – Peney – Baulmes (10h32) – Ballaigues – Vallorbe – Pompaples – La Sarraz – Cossonay-Ville – La Chaux – Cuarnens – Mont-la-Ville – Col du Mollendruz (12h05) – L’Abbaye – Les Bioux – L’Orient – Le Brassus – Col du Marchairuz (12h42) – St-Georges – Gimel – Mont/Rolle – Bursins – Vinzel – Dully – Gland – Nyon (13h22) – Crans/Céligny – Coppet – Canton Geneva.
Basel’s stinky flower, Geneva’s sexiest fingers study, Cern’s rumoured Higgs particles, US women skate to gold in Zurich
Cern's Alice experiment, particle collisions
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A giant stinky flower in Basel, ring fingers that mean true love, thrilling women’s ice hockey world finals – the international population in the Lake Geneva region disappears during the spring holidays, heading off on travels near and far, but the news doesn’t stop.
Here’s a brief roundup of what you might have missed:
Phew! but beautiful to behold, Basel’s corpse flower
Switzerland was on the world news map, with hundreds of articles about the amophophallus titanium, aka the “corpse flower” that pulled in an estimated 25,000 visitors to Basel. Key facts: it is one of the world’s largest flowers (technically: “largest unbranched inflorescence in the world” according to wikipedia), it smells of rotting flesh, and it grows in the wild only in Sumatra, Indonesia. The first cultivated flowering was at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London in 1889 and since then there have been few sightings of the rarely-blooming flower. Basel’s Botanical Gardens‘ two-metre high plant bloomed this weekend, for the first time in its 17 years, and the first such plant to flower in Switzerland in 75 years.
Check out his length, dear
A man’s ring finger length gives clues to his masculinity, researcher Camille Ferdenzi at the University of Geneva in Switzerland shows in her research on 2D:4D, the name for the ratio comparing second and fourth digits. Her work was published 19 April in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biology Letters. For an easier explanation, LiveScience unravels the mysteries of sex and the ring finger.
God or no god particles, Cern is intense
Update, 06:50: questionnaires are being handed out this morning, Thursday, on the A1, the lake road, in trains
Expect delays for the regional travel survey, but take time to contribute
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Commuters and other travellers beware: build in extra time if you are travelling into Geneva, no matter how you are getting there, because of the major regional traffic survey getting underway early Thursday morning 24 March, the group responsible for the survey has told GenevaLunch.
DON’T try to avoid the surveys, authorities beg: this is your opportunity to influence regional travel solutions.
Drivers in particular should expect slowdowns from 06:30-20:00 on the days the survey moves to highways and roads into Geneva, from now until mid-April.
Motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians will also be stopped.
Each road will be surveyed just one day.
The survey is being carried out jointly by French, Geneva and Vaud authorities to obtain a clearer picture of transport needs today and in the future, in order to accurately plan a regional transport programme. They are asking travellers to allow time to help with the survey in order to get a cross-section of the population that is as broad as possible with answers that provide a wealth of information.
Motorists taking the A1 autoroute into Geneva will be pulled over shortly before Founex and drivers on the lake road can also expect to be stopped, but the exact area has not been announced. People taking trains and buses into the city will also be handed surveys.
Police warn that pulling drivers over for the survey will cause traffic delays on roads. These will not be as bad as in 2005 and 2002 when similar surveys were done, police note, with more reinforcements this time to get traffic moving again quickly.
Earlier, detailed announcement, GenevaLunch
Traffic in front of the WTO, heading into Geneva: expect delays (photo, Jared Bloch)
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - People travelling into Geneva by any method can expect to be stopped and handed a questionnaiare between 21 March and mid-April.
Vaud, Geneva and neighbouring France are pooling their efforts to better understand commuters’ and others’ transport needs in the region by organizing a vast survey of current needs.
Three weeks, 30 border crossings, 100,000 questionnaires:
“The questionnaires will be handed out on all of Geneva’s borders to everyone going into Geneva, whether they are on foot, using two wheels, in a car or bus or train, between 06:30 and 20:30,” says Geneva’s Mobility Office, which is coordinating the work with five other government agencies from the region.
“Each area will be covered for just one day,” it notes.
Swiss law requires drivers to have clean windshields and the snow brushed off the car
Update 10:55 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - There has been so little snow this winter it is easy for drivers to forget to check their routes, but snow has returned, Thursday morning 24 February, with the snow line on the lakefront in the Lake Geneva region.
TSR’s road information (Fre, map) and the federal truck road alerts (Eng, map) provide current state of traffic information. The Lausanne-Pontarlier area has slowdowns due to snow, and traffic is restricted in several mountain areas.
There is icy snow at 700 metres.
Reminder: you are legally required to have snow tires in Switzerland when travelling under snowy conditions and if you’re taking a mountain pass you should have chains in the car.
Morges train station: shorter waits on the Lausanne-Geneva line by 2013
Geneva, Switzerlamd (GenevaLunch) – Train travel between Geneva and Lausanne should start to improve, especially during rush-hour, starting at the end of 2011.
The CFF rail company will add 13 double-decker trains, one a month, to increase capacity on the line by 33 percent by 2013.
The new regional trains will travel faster, cutting four minutes off the Neuchatel-Geneva route and 13 minutes between Valais and Geneva.
The regional express trains will run twice rather than once an hour, and Geneva-Lausanne connections will be increased from five to six an hour for the 2013 timetable, according to ats/TSR.
