Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Leisure section.
To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:
- Steve Long
Steve Long is CEO of InterSoccer, which offers football courses and holiday camps for two to 13-year-olds in Geneva, Vaud, Basel, Zug and Zurich. Steve first came to Switzerland in 2001 as an event and grassroots manager for UEFA, before co-founding InterSoccer in 2007. He loves all sports, especially football, snowboarding, tennis, golf and mountain biking. Originally from Nottingham, UK, he still supports The Mighty Reds - Nottingham Forest.
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Oguzhan (Osan) Altun
Oguzhan (Osan) Altun is a freelance photographer based in Geneva, and one of the founder members of the Geneva Photo Club. He specializes in landscapes, portraits and event photography. His teaching style combines 10 years of training experience in corporate life with contagious passion for photography and the best training materials available online on the net. He is crisp, to the point, and focused on getting the participant practice what she/he learned.
- Yvette Evers
As the founder of "fraiche air", a local club providing opportunities for outdoor recreation and tourism in English, Yvette has hundreds of ideas for exploring the region including activities such as hiking, showshoeing, powerwalks, ski-touring and family days.
By Nicola Ogilvie, Just Sew
For my first blog I am going to answer the question I am asked most frequently: “Where do you buy your fabric?”
My first answer is usually “England”, as the prices are considerably higher here in Switzerland! Having said that, the immediate urge to make something today has led me to scour the area for fabric shops. I live near Nyon so have not explored the other side of the lake fully. For this post I have limited it to traditional fabric shops - there are a host of quilting shops with beautiful and interesting cottons that I will cover another time.
In my opinion the shop with the biggest selection and most reasonable prices is TISSUS MONDIAL, near Annemasse in France (see addresses for all shops listed at the end of this blog). This has a large range of fabrics and haberdashery. It also sells some curtain fabric, mostly Swiss style, but what is wonderful about their curtain fabric is that it is extra wide. This means, if you are making curtains, the need to join the fabric will be minimised, not only saving money, as you will not have to worry so much about pattern repeats, but also time.
By Dean Marriott
Living on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva, it’s difficult to avoid the lure of Mont Blanc, or La Dame Blanche, the awe-inspiring supermodel of the Graian Alps, standing tall at 4810m above sea level. After one year of exchanging glances from a distance, the time had come to get up close and personal, so my partner and I headed off to Chamonix in Haute Savoie.
When I first worked in Geneva 8 years ago as an actor, contractual obligations prevented me from partaking in winter sports, so I grew to envy the locals who would disappear to Chamonix to indulge at the weekend. They would go tired and exhausted, only to return fresh-faced and fully energised. After my short break in Chamonix I can see why.
By Lisa Gibson, http://misswissbliss.wordpress.com/
Did you know that Switzerland has its very own version of Stonehenge situated in Yverdon-les-Bains? Located on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel, in a clearing in the Champ-Pittet nature reserve, is a formation of 45 stones of Neolithic origin, known as the Menhirs de Clendy. (Menhir is the term used for an upright monumental stone of prehistoric origin.)
The level of Lac de Neuchâtel was artificially lowered at the end of the nineteenth century and this led to the discovery of several archaeological finds, most notably, the Stone Age site of Clendy.
Between 1869 and 1883, the level of the lake decreased by 2.7 m following the first correction of the Jura waters. It was in 1878 that these menhirs first appeared on the waters surface. An engineer confirmed that the giant stones had been placed there by a Neolithic people over 6 000 years ago. This was later backed up in 1975 by a scientist who confirmed that the menhirs had in fact, been strategically aligned in an oval formation which permitted “a view from East to West, from rivers to mountains and from the stars to the moon”. At that time, the site was clear of any trees, so the uninterrupted views must have been quite something to behold.
Finding leisure activities that appeal to both adults and children can often be a challenge. However, one solution may be closer than you think. I’ve been living in Morges for 11 months and have often seen the little tourist train passing in front of my apartment block. However, what I didn’t realise was that there was more to this train than initially meets the eye.
From July to mid-September, the tourist train transforms into the Vineyard train, which runs twice weekly, on Tuesday from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and Thursday from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. We chose the Thursday option – perfect timing for aperitif!
Having successfully survived another half decade this month, I was the fortunate recipient of a surprise birthday present. I must admit that I’m not keen on surprises, but this time I played along. The journey was just over 3 hours by train with a number of changes: Lausanne to Bern, Bern to Interlaken, Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, then a short connection by rail and cable car to Mürren, a car-free village in the Bernese Oberland.
We stayed in the Hotel Eiger (www.hoteleiger.com/en/), a family run hotel which has passed through 3 generations of the same family and offers a level of service fit for a king. We were travelling with our dogs, so to have a room with a sun-drenched private patio and snow-capped mountain view was an appreciated bonus. However, this was only part of the surprise – the mission was not yet accomplished.
