Story Ideas

Each story is rooted in real local history and landmarks

The baby who changed the world

Henri Nestle races against time in 1867 Vevey to save little Wanner, a premature baby who cannot digest mother's milk. A child helps the determined pharmacist gather ingredients across the lakeside town -- fresh cow's milk from a nearby farm, wheat flour from the mill -- to create the Farine Lactee that will save one baby and eventually feed millions around the world.

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The Tramp's last bow

Charlie Chaplin's cane and bowler hat come alive at the lakeside statue on the Quai Perdonnet one night, and a child joins The Tramp for a moonlit tour of his beloved Vevey. From the Grande Place to the Manoir de Ban, Chaplin shares memories of his 25 years of Swiss exile -- the films he wrote, the piano he played, and why this small lakeside town became his final, happiest home.

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The festival that sleeps for a generation

A magical vine in the Grande Place only blooms once every generation, and when it does, 5,000 volunteers must come together to celebrate before the petals fall. A child discovers that the Fete des Vignerons is fading because no one remembers the old songs. Racing through Vevey's vineyards, the child must find the Confrerie des Vignerons and learn the Ranz des Vaches before the once-in-a-lifetime festival is lost forever.

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The fork in the lake

The giant fork in Lake Geneva sinks a little deeper each night, and a child dives below the surface to discover what La Fourchette is stirring up on the lake floor: a hidden kitchen of the Alimentarium where the history of food comes alive. From Henri Nestle's first tin of Farine Lactee to the markets of the Grande Place, the underwater world reveals how Vevey became the food capital of the world.

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The monks who built the walls

A Cistercian monk from the 11th century needs a child's help to complete the last terrace wall in Lavaux before the first frost destroys the newly planted Chasselas vines. Together they stack stones by the shores of Lake Geneva, learning how 450 kilometres of walls and 10,000 terraces were built by hand over generations -- creating a landscape so extraordinary it would one day become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Julie's letters from the lake

A child finds one of Julie d'Etanges' love letters washed ashore on the banks of Lake Geneva. Following the trail of ink and emotion through Rousseau's Vevey, Clarens, and Meillerie, the child retraces the impossible love story that made this lakeside region famous across 18th-century Europe and inspired the very first literary tourists to walk these shores with a novel in hand.

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The night the coffin vanished

A child detective in Corsier-sur-Vevey must help find Charlie Chaplin's stolen coffin before it disappears forever. Following clues across cornfields, past 200 phone kiosks, and through the hills above the Manoir de Ban, the child pieces together the bizarre true story of the 1978 grave robbery -- and discovers that even Lady Oona's calm refusal to pay the ransom was the bravest act of all.

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The painter who couldn't leave

Kokoschka's paintings at the Musee Jenisch come alive in swirling Expressionist colours one evening, and a child enters one painting and finds themselves in the artist's Lake Geneva world. Moving through landscapes of turquoise water and alpine peaks rendered in bold brushstrokes, the child must find the way back through Kokoschka's 27 years of memories -- and understand why the restless painter finally found the one place he could never leave.

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