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!!!

Swimming in the Rhine

Today my parents took us to a place they go to quite often, to Diessenhofen to the river bank of the Rhine.

There we put our stuff down at the camp ground and then we walked back up the river for about 10 minutes. We did that so that we could swim back down again. We wore our sneakers which at first felt really weird in the water but we were glad because the ground was quite rough and it was easier to get in and out of the water.

The water was quite cool, probably around 21 degrees which feels cold when you enter, gets better once you are swimming but really cools you down when you stay in for a while. Close to the bank the water only had a little flow but in the middle you got quite fast and it took a while to swim back again, especially for the kids.

We must have walked up and swum down at least 6 or 7 times, it was so much fun! A perfect holiday day...

How to enjoy the heat

Zürich has been in the middle of a European heat wave these last few days. We've been having daily temperatures of more than 35 degrees and all our nights were tropical, I guess it was never cooler than around 23 degrees. Most houses in Switzerland don't have AC because we simply don't need it so you can imagine that it got quite warm inside. Especially if you live on the top floor, right underneath the flat roof with sunshine from 6am to 9pm. Yep, I guess it's around 35 degrees inside my bedroom and at night the heat just doesn't leave at all.

So last night Antonia and I decided to take action and we moved two mattresses on the balcony (there was just enough space) and we slept out there. It was so lovely to lie under the stars and it was definitely cooler than inside; it felt just like holidays. In the morning we were woken up at the first bit of light by the birds around us, there are some crows and some magpies that love fighting around 6am.

It didn't really matter because I wanted to get up early to go swimming anyway. I arrived at the lake at 8:10am after a lovely bike ride through a mostly empty city. Seebad Enge is the perfect place for an early start at the lake. The water was beautiful, clean and warm and it was ok to sit in the sun for a while. I had an iced coffee, went swimming for three more rounds and was home shortly after 10am, escaping the heat and all the people who were too lazy to get up earlier. Now I'll spend the rest of the day inside, looking forward to spending another night outside.

Life is good ;-)