The Know-it-all Passport book, which comes out every two years, offers a substantial collection of addresses and information about where to find things in the Lake Geneva region, but the web site linked to the book also offers classified ads. The book began life as a guide for mothers in the area, written by Lisa Cirieco, who grew up in Geneva in an American family. It has been expanded over the years and a special strength is some of the smaller community groups and activities that are hard to find elsewhere.
Swiss unemployment stable in fourth quarter, 2010 outlook brighter
More people working in Swiss healthcare
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Lake Geneva region showed the strongest growth in employment in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 1.1 percent. Zurich was the only other area to show growth, 0,9 percent. Overall, Swiss unemployment remained stable, with a slight slip of 0.3 percent compared to the same period in 2008.
Fourth quarter figures for Swiss unemployment published Thursday morning 25 February show with significant differences between industry, where the number of jobless continues to rise, and the services sector, where the jobless rate is falling. The outlook for 2010 appears to be brighter, according to Federal Statistical Office forecasts, with an increase in the number of jobs available. For the first time in five quarters, industry looks set to increase the number of jobs open, after seasonal worker adjustments to the figures.
The number of people actively working rose by 0.3 percent in 2009, thanks to women, whose presence in the workforce increased by 0.8 percent, while the number of men working fell by 0.1 percent.
More than strong coffee is needed to treat narcolepsy, often confused with other disorders.
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A team of doctors and scientists in the Lake Geneva region, working with researchers from France and The Netherlands, have for the first time been able to confirm the “presence of identified and autoreactive antibodies in human narcolepsy.” Nacrolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and attacks of muscle atonia, or limpness, triggered by strong emotions (cataplexy). The authors of an article published 15 February in the Journal of Clinicial Investigation note that while the medical world has suspected that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder, until now there has been no proof.
Title: Lake Geneva Valentine’s cruise
Location: Lake Geneva region
Link out: Click here
Description: Cruise Lake Geneva and dine along your Valentine -and your kids too.
Date: 2010-02-14
Dusk at 1,100 metres in Valais, Switzerland Friday: snow falling, icy roads, few cars
Snow falling steadily, but snowplows quickly clear even secondary Swiss mountain roads.
Snowfall, dusk, Swiss Alps 20 January
Click on images to view larger
Update 19:20 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Weather forecasters in the Lake Geneva region had it right: snow began to fall Friday afternoon on the plain in the Lake Geneva region and more heavily in the mountains.
Given the cold weather and cold ground, the snow is likely to accumulate faster than usual, they said, suggesting traffic problems around rush hour Friday.
They had that right as well, with icy roads throughout the region by 16:00.
Cars were slipping on the snow-covered icy roads even at low altitudes and the only happy cars above 800 metres were those with chains or four-wheel drive vehicles.
Salt supplies are running low in most cantons, so plows will be out, but some back roads may not be de-iced as quickly as usual.
The snowfall is good news for resort areas, though, with good accumulations by late afternoon Friday, even along the Rhone, at the base of roads leading up to Vaud, Bern and Valais resorts.
The state of the AI en route to the mountains, glorious Jura snow
Weekend walk and circus special in Nyon, Swiss skiers and boarders
Jura (Crozet) Wednesday 20 January (image: S Curran)
Crozet with blue skies - Geneva in the fog below
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - It’s January, so expect a mix of Spring moments and sudden snow showers on the lakefront but pure winter goodness in the mountains this weekend.
Wednesday it snowed in Nyon and along the lakefront, throughout the week the Jura has thrived, as large amounts of the white stuff came down, and the Alps have had sunshine again after gloomy spells.
The road out of town
If you’re heading out of the Geneva area to the Swiss Alps be aware that this is the first weekend when the new A1 autoroute signaling system is open, adding a third lane in each direction between Morges and Lausanne. The system is very easy to follow and there have been no accidents since it was put in place Monday, but you do need to drive attentively, with other drivers sometimes surprised to find the system there. It operates only in the afternoons, until Monday 25 January when it goes into use full-time.
Weather forecast
Saint Prex, Vaud, Switzerland 13 January: snow near Lake Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Snow right down to the lakefront is relatively unusual on Lake Geneva, but with temperatures hovering around -1C until 08:00, and snow falling all night, lakefront villages had the kind of snow ski resorts envy. TSR reports that the airport snow was of “exceptional quality” but also unusually slippery, which accounted for Geneva airport closing until 11:00. Geneva police reported a “normal” number of accidents in the region, but one in Thonex was a little more unusual than most: a man taking his wife to the hospital to have a baby hit a tram when his car slipped in the snow during a turn. There were no injuries, reports 20 Minutes.
Geneva-based Laura Moser makes beautiful classic cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more, but her specialty is custom designed cakes.
All ingredients are fresh, not frozen.
Most items need to be ordered in advance but a limited number of baked goods can be ordered with 24 hours notice.
It’s difficult in Switzerland to know what anyone earns, which makes it hard for many people to work out what their salaries should be, compared to the market. Some helpful official online tools: canton Vaud has a salary calculator, in French, as does Geneva, and the Union Syndicale Suisse has one, in French, German and Italian, for all of Switzerland. They’re imperfect and no calculator lists every job, but they’ll give you a relatively good idea of what value is put on various jobs, experience.
The Swiss federal Solarium web pages give salary data for regions, by gender, foreigners compared to the Swiss, and more – keep in mind that “foreigners” covers a wide range of workers, with many of them in the hotel and restaurant industry, one of the lowest paid business sectors in Switzerland.
TSR recently published a chart with salary indications.
Update 2, 22:45 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Years of arguing and debate over the need for the Lake Geneva region to rapidly develop its train service were brought to a close Monday 21 December with a framework agreement signed by the federal and cantonal governments and the CFF rail company. The agreement acknowledges that the Geneva-Lausanne area is one of the fastest-growing in Switzerland and states the intent of the signing parties to develop a rail network and service that match the rapidly changing need for public transport in the area.
Third and possibly fourth rail line planned
The two cantons have agreed to put up CHF312 million in pre-financing for several projects, designed to speed up the project. The 20-year plan, to 2030, will increase the frequency of trains to one every 15 minutes between Lausanne and Geneva. The number of seats will double by 2020. Several congestion points are targeted: Mies in Vaud and Chambésy in Geneva plus the freight passing line between Nyon and Coppet. The three-phase plan calls for the main lines and RER regional system to be improved first, then the third rail line between Renens and Allaman to be built during a second phase, when the system will also be extended in the area west of Geneva. Main train stations will be modernized.
The third phase will involve building a fourth rail line and improving public transport access to Geneva’s airport.
Winter evening autoroute traffic near Morges (Etoy)
Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The electronic signs that warn drivers of slowdowns and accidents on Lake Geneva autoroutes, as well as the Internet service that provides these alerts, are no longer in service, as of Tuesday 1 December. The system has been dismantled to make way for a new real-time system that is part of the widening to six lanes of the Morges-Ecublens stretch on the A1 autoroute near Lausanne. The old system, set up to help drivers during the construction phase that often saw the road reduced to two lanes, will be dismantled 1-4 December to allow tests to be run on the new system for the next six weeks.
The automatic signaling system to alert drivers they may use the extra lanes will be put into operation in the second half of January 2010.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - 20 Minutes, recently merged with Matin Bleu, will concentrate its distribution channels on cities and the Lake Geneva region belt as part of cost-cutting measures. The free newspaper will stop using boxes in outlying areas and reduce the number of them in smaller villages in the region in order to place more of the papers in urban centre, particularly Geneva.
Links to other sites: TSR, 20 Minutes (Fre)
Title: American International Club of Geneva: Luncheon
Location: InterContinental Hotel, rte de Ferney, Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Xavier Comptesse of Avenir Suisse speaks on the future of the Lake
Geneva region for business.
AIC Office 022 910 25 80 for info. CHF75 for AICG members, CHF95 for non-members
Start Time: 11:45
Date: 30 Oct 2009
End Time: 14:00
Xavier Comptesse is director of Swiss think tank Avenir Suisse.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – GaultMillau has awarded its coveted title of Swiss chef of the year 2010 to Andreas Caminada, the second time the chef has been given this distinction. Caminada tends the stoves at Schloss Schauenstein in Fuerstenau, Graubuenden, which has 19 points. He won the title in 2008 as well.
GaultMillau includes 816 restaurants in its 2010 Swiss guide, none of which have 20 points, but eight of which have 19 (five are in French-speaking Switzerland). The promising young chef of the year for French-speaking Switzerland is Pierrick Suter at the Hôtel de la Gare in Lucens, Vaud.
Links to other sites: Lake Geneva region tourism office, GaultMillau and Michelin restaurants list
Maranello, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Swiss-based Fernando Alonso will be racing with Ferrari in the Formula 1 for three years, starting in 2010. The Italian company announced the news Wednesday 30 September, saying that next season’s driver lineup will therefore be Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella as reserve driver.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Voters in canton Vaud decide Sunday 27 September if they want to create a single canton-wide police force that combines the existing cantonal police and the various municipal forces. Lausanne’s voters will also decide where to put two new stadiums that the city wants to build.
On the same day in Geneva, voters will decide yet again on smoking in public places, and they will vote on whether or not to lower taxes. Also on the ballot: a change in the annual automobile fee. The city wants to penalize carbon dioxide-emitting passenger cars.
Details:
Title: Expat Expo 2009
Location: Geneva, Palexpo
Link out: Click here
Description: Annual indoor information fair with 180 exhibitors, for the English-speaking international population: services, products, families welcome!
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 11 Oct 2009
End Time: 17:00
When the housing runs out in Geneva
Update 16:31 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Tax changes in the UK that come into effect next year may persuade many high-earning bankers and executives to move. Geneva is a destination of choice for those, including entire hedge fund operations, who are nimble enough to make the move, reports Le Temps 27 August. Come 1 April 2010 people earning more than £150,000 will pay a rate of 51% on their incomes. This can go higher if social charges are included. Some tax consultants speak of 1,000 British residents decamping for Geneva before the new law takes effect.
Not long to wait
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Opponents to the planned light rail extension known as Ceva, which will link Geneva’s Cornavin and Eaux-Vives stations and Annemasse, handed in 12,700 signatures, almost 5,000 more than necessary, to force citizens in the canton to vote on it. Voters will decide on a supplementary credit of CHF 113 million towards the project that Geneva’s parliament voted for in June.
The referendum’s date has not yet been fixed.
No integrated payment system yet for Lake Geneva region public transport
You'll have to buy the new tram line ticket, if you're from Nyon
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Nyon falls between the cracks when it comes to integrated transportation systems, apparently. Mobilis, a canton Vaud transport network with single payment agreements covering several local systems, has plans to extend its network west to Nyon, and to the Riviera, the north of the canton, and Lac du Joux, by the middle of 2010. Yet three-quarters of Nyon’s commuters use the train to get to Geneva, where they cannot use their train ticket for public transport in the city.
Alinghi 5 flies away, Photo ©Carlo Borlenghi's/Alinghi
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The giant catamaran Alinghi 5 took to the skies and bid farewell to Lake Geneva. A Russian military helicopter Mi26 took the catamaran towards Genoa, Italy where it will continue its training towards the America’s Cup.
Alinghi “flew” along the Rhone River before gaining altitude at the Great Saint Bernard Pass in the border with Italy. The helicopter and sailboat landed safely in Genoa at 14:30.
Title: Jazz on the beach: Hermance
Location: Hermance, Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Enjoy the view, Lake Geneva and free outdoor jazz concerts.
Date: 15 Aug 2009
New Alinghi 5 on Lake Geneva 28 July, dwarfing other craft: it will sail from Lausanne to Geneva 1 August with a fleet of local pleasure boats
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It’s hard to beat the temperature range, 15-27C, or the clear skies that Meteoswiss is offering us Thursday to Saturday, with Geneva’s annual summer festival getting underway Thursday and the Swiss national holiday Saturday (see GenevaLunch events pages for details). Organize your picnics and barbecues for the start of the weekend because by Sunday afternoon too much of a good thing is forecast to degenerate into thunderstorms.
Photo, Alinghi: click to view larger. GenevaLunch feature on the new, high tech boat specially made for the next America’s Cup sailing race.
Swiss traffic jam, autoroute, 2009: doubling up might help
Update 16:25 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Paleo Festival Nyon is well and truly over for this year, and we all had very good fun. The festival’s organizers tried even harder this year to encourage public transportation, as GenevaLunch described in its users’ guide to the festival.
Among those efforts was Klaxonne.com, an experiment in “dynamic ride-sharing“, bringing together demand and supply for a ride to a certain place at a certain time, using text messages or sms. Klaxonne was moderately successful at Paleo.
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – All is ready for the Swiss leg of the Beach Volleyball World Championship in Vevey. The Market Plaza in Vevey, Vaud will be transformed into a beach town from 12-16 August.
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