Limmatschwimmen 2016

Yesterday we went to the 52nd Limmatschwimmen. It's an organised swimming event where you get into the Limmat, the bigger river that runs through Zürich close to the beginning of the river, right after the end of the lake and then you are able to swim or more accurately float down for the next two kilometers. On the way down you pass under 7 bridges and you are right in the middle of the oldest part of Zürich.

The conditions were perfect yesterday, it's been really hot all week so the water was a warm 24 degrees, the sky was stunningly blue and the sun was out. We were lucky to get tickets, they only allow 4500 people down and the tickets started selling at 5pm last Wednesday and were sold out in about 5 minutes. Somehow we managed to get them a few hours before, there must have been a glitch in the online booking, which was very cool.

The organisation was very efficient, kind of what you'd expect from Switzerland but which is so nice when you are back from travelling and had different experiences. We had to be there 45 minutes earlier, got queued up in colours (we were in the red queue). We got our bag and our bracelet, a Rivella and then we headed into the Frauenbadi where we stripped down to our swimming suits, got a floatable manta ray (Jochen, der Rochen) and only a few minutes later (and quite a bit earlier then the 45 minutes we were expecting) we were ready to go into the water.

There isn't a very strong current in the beginning of the Limmat, which gave us lots of time to enjoy the scenery, to try to get on our mantas and to take photos (Andreas has an underwater camera which he brought along). There were a lot of people on the bridges and next to the river watching all the swimmers going down, it must have been quite a sight. After about 50 minutes we reached the Oberer Letten, a place where you can go swimming in the river all summer long. There we got out, got a very welcome cup of hot tea and picked up our bag with all the valuables (and again Swiss efficiency, it was exactly where it was supposed to be ;-)

This was such an amazing way to spend the afternoon and enjoy summer for maybe one of the last times. The weather is supposed to cool down soon and I know we will remember this once it's too cold to go swimming. And next year, I want to go again!!!