The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
Ben had a passeport-vacances activity with the Amicale du Terre-Neuve de Genève et du Bassin Lémanique. They train the dogs in water rescue ctivities every two weeks, year-round. At first, doofus was all “I don’t want to go” and then “I don’t want to get wet”, and then it was impossible to get him out of the lake.
And has pastel de natas, jamon, churros, pataclette, port and indigestion.
And is disappointed.
Paloma, her flatmate Elies and her friend Bianca, from Spain, had plans to go to the CERN open days. We had big plans to visit a few exhibits, the data center, and had hopes to go down and see at least one detector. That… proved to be ambitious.
No, we’re not lost at all.
It was packed, badly indicated, we couldn’t really see anything and all the detectors closed early because there were too many people. In the end, we walked in an industrial estate for 2 hours under a very strong sun, we spent 15 minutes seeing the data center (which was cool, if you’re a geek) and we listened to a 2 minute tesla coil concert.
We then spent 25 minutes driving to get to CMS – to find out it was essentially closed. So yes. Not the best use of time. The side trip to carrefour for impromptu grocery shopping was more enjoyable.
Update: this is what we wanted to see. Dominik Gehl and his family were able to do down into CMS when they went on Sunday. Pictures are his:
Spotted in Lausanne. A well-bosomed werewolf, with a travel suitcase.
Katy and I took a lakeside stroll to go see the fireworks.
The Fête des Vignerons (Winegrowers’ Festival) is a traditional festival which takes place in Vevey, in Switzerland.
It has been organised by the Confrérie des Vignerons (Brotherhood of Winegrowers) in Vevey since 1797. The organizing committee is free to choose how often the festival takes place, but the maximum number of times is five times in a century. Up to now, the interval between two festivals has varied between 14 and 28 years. The current festival takes place in July and August 2019, which will be 20 years after the preceding one (1999).
The festival features a show celebrating the world of winemaking; many performances take place in the marketplace near the shore of Lac Léman, and festivities also take place in the town itself. Since 2016, the Fête des Vignerons has been included in UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage.
The 2019 edition of the festival is recommended as one of National Geographic’s “world’s most exciting destinations”, one of The New York Times’s “places to go in 2019” and is listed in The Guardian’s “Where to go in 2019” list.
The show represents a year in the life of the vineyard through twenty scenes starting and finishing with the harvest. It combines the work of the vineyard (pruning/training, etc.), social moments (weddings, Saint-Martin’s Fair) along with more general themes (the seasons, water, the sun, the moon, the stars). It questions the link between man and nature and pays homage to the know-how of winegrowers. At the heart of the show is the Crowning of winegrowers rewarded for their excellence of work by the Confrérie des Vignerons. The narration is carried by a moving dialogue between a little girl called Julie and her grandfather, who enables her to discover the traditions and the work of winegrowers. Three “doctor” characters comment on the performance with humour and impertinence.
The music, which alternates with pieces of ensemble, orchestral pieces or in small formations, accompanied live by the Choeur de la Fête (500 choristers, 300 Percuchorists, 150 children’s voices), the Harmonie de la Fête (120 brass band musicians), the Big Band (16 jazz musicians), the Percussionistes (40 percussionists), the Cors des Alpes (36 Alpine horns), the Petit Ensemble (20 musicians) and the Fifres et Tambours (36 Basel musicians). The Fête orchestra is the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, which will record the score in the studio in spring 2019.
The choreographies of the scenes are performed by 5,500 actors and actresses in costumes, all inhabitants of the region. A total, magical, grandiose, dynamic and poetic performance conceived at 360°, it mixes with the music, the songs that carry the poems of the authors and the crowd movement images and videos projected on giant screens as well as on the immense LED floor of the arena.
To create the seventy different costumes worn by actors and actresses and singers, the costume designer was inspired both by the previous Fête des Vignerons, with a particular interest for the watercolours of Ernest Biéler in 1905 and 1927, and traditional Vaud and Fribourg costumes.
We hemmed and hawed for a long time before getting tickets to the show because they cost a bloody fortune. In retrospect, I’m glad we did because we didn’t have any preconceptions about the show and it was brilliant. Definitively the most Swiss thing I have ever seen – but also worthy of the name spectacle.
We arrived in Vevey in time to see the opening day parade, where all the actors, singers, musicians, winegrowers and animals walk through Vevey before the opening day show. It’s impressive!
I have a full gallery of pictures here: fete_des_vignerons_jul_2019
Because my phone battery crapped out, I also found a bunch of promo pictures from the interweebs:
Another set of pictures, from the interweebs:
I leave you with this video. Honestly moving moment of the show, and again, the most Swiss thing that I have ever seen.
Visited the vineyards of Marie-Therese Chappaz. Walked down the vineyards. Loved the scenery but hated the walk. It’s all narrow walkways, uneven stone stairways, steep slopes of foliage over slippery gravel… I’m surprised I didn’t fall off the bloody mountain.
The woman is a mountain goat. She’s just plowing ahead, not a care in the world, passionately talking about her vines, giving instructions to the people working everything by hand, and organizing her daughter’s 30th birthday over the phone…
To be fair, I really didn’t mind the rain if it meant there were no insane crowds, pollen or bugs.
We went to Gillard, Varone and Maye and came back with probably too much wine… Not cheap, but we focused on quality rather than quantity. The Bonvin cuvée 1858 is a gem!
It’s a long weekend and we’ve been to Vevey. Gorgeous day. Saw the stadium where the Fête des Vignerons show will be held. Impressive bit of kit, given that it’s only a temporary venue but can seat 20,000 people.
The view of the lake was beautiful, as ever.
