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FESTIVALS

What’s On: Five fun things to do in Switzerland this weekend

From five franc cinema tickets to a street food festival in Geneva, here are some of the top ways to enjoy this weekend in Switzerland.

Published: 30 August 2019 20:21 CEST
What's On: Five fun things to do in Switzerland this weekend
The Flammende Sterne fireworks festival is just across the border in Germany. Photo: Joachim Mell

1) Swiss Cinema Day (nationwide)

On Sunday September 1st, you can go to movies all over Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) for just five Swiss francs. The special deal covers over 500 screens. Visit the event website for details on participating cinemas.

2) Geneva Street Food Festival

After a successful run in June, Geneva’s festival of street food is making a return. It is running all weekend at the city’s Jardin Anglais park. Apart from the food, there are beer brewing and wine growing stands, along with a Sunday market, DJs and workshops for kids. Read more here.

3) Kandinsky, Arp, Picasso …Klee & Friends, Bern

This weekend marks the last chance to see this impressive exhibition featuring the works of Swiss born artist Paul Klee and friends including Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso. The works are on display at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, and Sunday is the final day. Here are the details (in English).

4) Flammende Sterne fireworks festival, Weil am Rhein (Germany)

While this festival is not technically in Switzerland, it is just over the border in Germany and is a great chance to see amazing fireworks. There are three nightly fireworks shows (one each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday) featuring artists from Greece, China and Germany. See the festival site for ticket information.

Image: Flammende Sterne_Copyright Schenkl

5) Sion Festival

This festival of classical music in Sion in canton Valais features top performers around the world. This weekend is the culmination of the two-week long festival with two concerts on Saturday and one on Sunday. There are more details here (in English).

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EVENTS

How Cologne is preparing for the start of Carnival on Friday

Dressing up, singing, and drinking: On Friday, countless Jecken (revelers) in Cologne will once again celebrate the start of the Carnival session.

Published: 9 November 2022 10:29 CET
How Cologne is preparing for the start of Carnival on Friday

Dubbed Germany’s “fifth season” by locals, the event starts every year on November 11th at 11:11 am, and typically stretches into February or March, when colourful parades spill into the streets.

Carnival stronghold Cologne in particular is preparing for the onslaught of tens of thousands of people who will flock to its Altstadt (old town), and especially to the student quarter, starting early Friday morning. 

READ ALSO: 10 unmissable events in Germany this November

“Far too many people want to celebrate in far too small a space,” city director Andrea Blome told DPA. “We can’t stop anyone from coming to Cologne now.” 

More security this year

In the popular Kwartier Latäng student quarter, there have been regular bouts of drinking by young partygoers in the past, who crowded into a confined space, leaving litter everywhere and publicly peeing on the corners of buildings. 

Google Maps shows the location of the so-called Kwartier Latäng part of Cologne.

But with a new security plan, the city and police hope to keep the situation under control.

Several checkpoints and road closures have been set up to secure the safety of the revelers and relieve the burden on worried residents, according to Blome. Visitors will only be able to enter the closed-off area around Zülpicher Straße via a single access point. 

On Friday, Cologne is also set to send a total of 150 employees from the Ordnungsamt (public order office) onto the streets, who will be supported by 520 private security guards. 

A glass ban will again apply in the celebration zones, and several hundred toilets will be set up at the hotspots, “which nevertheless will probably not be used by all visitors,” Blome predicted.

READ ALSO: 10 words you need to know at Cologne’s Carnival

Up to 1,100 police officers are expected to be on duty on the day – about 200 fewer than last year, said head of operations Rüdiger Fink. But he expected to keep the situation “under control with a new security plan.”

What to expect

On Cologne’s Heumarkt, there will be a stage program all day with bands such as the Bläck Fööss, the Paveiern and Brings. 

Google Maps shows Cologne’s Heumarkt along the Rhine River.

According to the Willi Ostermann Society, about 10,000 tickets were sold in advance for the event, which will be aired by German WDR for several hours.

Meanwhile, in Düsseldorf, the day will start at 11:11 a.m. with the “Hoppeditz Awakening” in front of City Hall. 

According to a spokesman, the police will be adequately prepared for the start of the season, with a particular focus on the Altstadt, where there will certainly be celebrations.

“But 11.11. is a very different event here in Düsseldorf than in Cologne,” he said, referring to a more orderly start and fewer guests.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about celebrating Carnival in Germany

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