If you have children, the chances are that you have heard about BG World, or at least Baby Gym, the name under which the organization first operated when it was launched by Swiss mompreneur, Sandrine Nagy, in 2004. Having earned its reputation as one of the most popular and imaginative centers for child-related activities in the Geneva region, BG World is now undergoing a major transformation, with lots of new activities designed to appeal to older children as well.
To find out more, just head on down to the ground floor of the shopping center at La Praille and see for yourself the wide-ranging facilities that are now in place for young children up to the age of 12 years old. Whilst the staff remain unchanged – unwaveringly professional and welcoming at all times – there are a number of new attractions including both a dedicated gym hall and purpose-built dance room, ideal for hosting a wide variety of classes. The games and snack rooms, perfect for holding children’s parties, have also been jazzed up and redecorated to match the new, modern look from BG World!
A ball pool in the reception area, so that kids can have fun whilst they wait for their classes, is just one of many special touches that BG World has made to their premises in La Praille to ensure the continued happiness of their young clients!
Photo courtesy of CERN (CERN-SI-8701973)
As the capacity for underground visits is limited, access to the underground facilities will be by reservation only, and tickets must be obtained from the CERN Open Days website. For safety reasons, children aged 12 or under will not be admitted to the underground sites. Each person will be able to reserve up to four tickets, which will be valid for a specific day and time-slot. The tickets, which are free of charge, will be made available on the site progressively over a four-week period.
CERN operates state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, particle accelerators and detectors, in the pursuit of fundamental knowledge about matter and the Universe. Its largest accelerator, the LHC, is an underground ring measuring 27 kilometers in circumference that smashes tiny particles into each other. Their collisions are analyzed by several detectors, including in particular four huge machines measuring tens of meters in height and length, packed with millions of sensors. The LHC is fed by a chain of accelerators, the last of which is the Super Proton Synchrotron, housed in an underground tunnel measuring 7 kilometers in circumference.
Having successfully served the local community for 8 years with its popular indoor entertainment park in Geneva, Yatouland has come up with a new concept that will ensure your children have even more fun than before, in a safer and more secure environment.
Tickets at the newly decorated park in Vernier will now be available through advanced group reservations only so that children can enjoy the area with their friends, safe in the knowledge that entry will be limited to private parties only.
As before, bouncy castles, a multi-level adventure labyrinth, video games and other surprises will be available in an enclosed area measuring 1200m2. Within the park each party will also have its own customized private zone in which guests can lounge around and enjoy unlimited soft drinks provided by Yatouland. By setting a limit of 6 parties, with up to 20 children aged between 1 and 10 years old, Yatouland believes children will enjoy a more personal birthday experience, with all the necessary ingredients to make their party a truly memorable experience.
Photo by Philippe Regamey
Following on from the tulip festival in Morges, and the iris festival at the Château de Vullierens, flower-lovers can now feast their eyes upon thousands of dahlias, forming part of the annual Lakeside Dahlia festival which takes place in Morges between mid-July and October.
For the 17th edition of this event, there will be approximately 2250 dahlias, planted over a stretch of 1500m along the lakeside (between the Parc de l’Indépendance and the Parc de Vertou, mainly from the Temple towards the direction of Lausanne).
With close to 100 varieties on show this year, the festival provides an ideal place to visit with families and friends. Any elderly visitors or young children, who are not keen/able to walk the length of the flower display can also view the dahlias from the Petit Train.
Are you stuck in a rut and fancy meeting new friends? Do you feel that you need to unwind more, maybe learning a new skill to take your mind off daily worries? If so, then you may like to try out a new concept that we just came across at knowitall.ch: hosting an Ikebana Party.
Organised by Geneva-based Yoshiko Kuwata Luebke, Ikebana parties provide an opportunity for participants to get together and meet new people, learning a new skill called IkebanaFusion. A modern take on the traditional art of Japanese flower arranging (see below for a more formal description), IkebanaFusion has been developed over several years by Yoshiko and combines the skills that she has learned since childhood, living in Japan, with more modern techniques inspired by other cultures such as those from Africa, Asia and Polynesia.
Yoshiko’s Ikebana parties are run along much the same lines as a Tupperware party. The hostess invites her friends and neighbours to attend lunch, dinner or afternoon tea, at which they can learn the new skill of Japanese flower arranging. Since the hostess incurs the costs of hosting the event, she can expect to pay nothing towards the teaching costs, and will in fact receive a welcome gift, a set of 6 wine glass markers, and invitation cards. Guests are expected to pay a small fee of Fr. 40.-, which is subsidised compared to the costs of attending a standard workshop at Yoshiko’s atelier in Geneva.
