September 10 and 17, 2016
Ok, so this title is a little misleading. When Grant and I first got to Zürich, we met someone from London who had written down her top 10 favorite things to do around the city for us. Since we hadn’t researched what fun things we could do while in Switzerland, we clung to this list religiously and set about checking things off, starting from the top.
The first item listed was to swim at Seebad Enge (and not just “dip your toes in”). In this case, see in German means “lake” and bad means “bath”. We didn’t know quite what to expect but knew enough to bring our swimsuits along.
Seebad Enge is a roped off section of Lake Zürich where you can swim and sunbathe at your leisure. There’s a pier built on the edge of the water and a wooden platform leading out into the lake. Here, there are changing and shower rooms for men and women, and a wood-bottomed “pool” built right in the middle of the pier platform. This pool is 3-feet deep and is open on the sides allowing for the lake water to freely flow in and out of it.
Off of the side of the pier, you can climb down into the lake, or jump off of a diving board, and there are two floating wooden platforms about 40 feet and 100 feet away respectively, all for sunbathing. Although I suppose, the point is you have to earn this privilege by swimming out to the platforms in the first place.
Grant and I went on a beautiful and hot Saturday afternoon. And it’s a good thing we went when we did because, as it turns out, this was one of the last warm days of summer. The water was very pristine and refreshing, just cold enough to cool you down after walking there from the train station, but not so warm as to make you forget you are in a lake filled with snow-melted water.
The fee to get in is about $8 per person.
If you don’t want to pay the fee, you could just jump in anywhere along the lake’s edge but you’d miss out on a warm shower at the end of the day, a lifeguard to save you in case you get pulled under by a Swiss loch ness monster, or you want to order a glass of wine or an iced coffee while you sunbathe on the wooden platform. For me, I think I’ll take the assurance that I’ll get saved. Because the bottom of the lake isn’t visible, the thought did cross my mind a few times, and Grant grudgingly admitted it had crossed his mind at least once also. And we did enjoy a mocha and a beer after our swim.
The fresh water was a nice change for us coming from Hawaii where we usually enjoyed getting salty after swimming in the ocean. Both types of swimming have their merits. I highly recommend visiting one of the seebad’s if you happen to be in Zürich during the summer and you enjoy swimming. Seebad’s in Zürich are open for swimming during the summer months and sweating in a sauna during the winter.
The following Saturday, we forced ourselves out of bed by 8:30 to catch the train into town just in time to rent a free bike at Züri Rollt (the 2nd item on our list). These neon green and white sheds located in multiple areas around the city center provide free bikes to enjoy for the day. Each bike requires a 20 franc deposit (about $20), but you get that back when you return the bike. These are great for riding around the city and there are many bike paths in the area to enjoy. I recommend going early for these bikes as once they run out, usually by noon, you are out of luck. This Saturday was our 3rd attempt at securing a bike for ourselves as each time we went, they were all out.
Because the lake keeps drawing Grant and I to it like a magnet, we decided to take our bikes and ride around it. I was determined to ride around the entire lake but Grant laughed at the idea and kept muttering something along the lines of “that’s not possible”. We started in front of Seebad Enge and biked leisurely through the park near the botanical gardens.
After about 3 hours of riding, we were getting tired and it had started to drizzle. But the end of the lake was nowhere in sight. That’s when Grant decided to be straight with me and explained why we weren’t going to peddle around the lake. It’s about 58 miles around. We had barely made it down a third of one side of the lake.
So we decided to cut our distance losses and as our luck would have it, we were near a ferry dock that was taking people, cars, bikes, and dogs straight across to the other side. As I wanted to see the mysterious “other side” of the lake, we agreed the ferry was the best way to proceed.
Once on the other side, we still had to peddle back up to the city center. Grant was getting hungry and again luck was on our side. We stopped at a grocery store that was having an outdoor event where we bought grilled bratwurst with mustard and a mini bread loaf for 2 francs ($2).
We made it back in time for it to start pouring rain.
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