Werdinsel

Since I had so much fun playing in the river yesterday, and because our 90-degree weather is persisting, Dennis and I decided to take the whole family for a swim in the Limmat.  As far as I know, the best place for a family to do this is Werdinsel, or Werd Island, the little island that Joey and I stumbled upon last month. It has a relatively short run down the river, just the right length for small ones, and there's a little splash pool and playground for Joey, who is much to small for the river.

Especially when we learned that, for some reason, flotation devices aren't allowed. Time and again we watched people get scolded by the lifeguards with their rings and rafts and not a few inflatable ducks: apparently I wasn't the only one who had a good time yesterday.  "Too dangerous," we were told: I guess they do this to discourage weak swimmers from playing in the strong current, and also I imagine an excess of rafts and tubes could clog the exit stairs.

Ella's an exceedingly strong swimmer, and Alex can keep himself above water perfectly well, too, so Dennis took the two of them into the river. One bank of the Limmat has been built up, so that it was shallow enough for Alex to stand if he needed to.

Some boys, pulling the rope back with a
long hooked stick

I've noted that most of the public pools in Zürich are very lightly guarded; this situation was quite different at this stretch of the river, which I'm sure would be very dangerous if you weren't careful.  The water moves very swiftly, probably because part of the river is diverted by a hydroelectric dam.

Anyway, here the guards were extremely vigilant, and even cautious Dennis got politely but firmly scolded. On the far side of the river, some kids had tied up a rope swing, for splashing into the river, and Ella and Dennis agreed that it looked incredibly fun.  They went to check it out, but it was a little too hard to for Ella to scramble up onto the bank. They abandoned their plan, but since they weren't able to jump into the middle of the river from the tree, they couldn't make it all the way across the river before they reached the end of the roped-off swimming section and had to hold onto the ropes a bit on their way out.  For his gross infraction, he was told "Maybe it's better if you swim somewhere else for a while." Oops.

So it was my turn.

Ella was a little shell-shocked from being scolded by authority, but Alex hadn't had enough of the river. He and I floated down several times before lunch, when I finally talked him into leaving the river.  He was dripping and shivering, but incredibly proud of his swimming.  I suspect the morning was worth a week of classes at the local pool.

It turned out that the little restaurant by the bathhouse and wading pool had absolutely yummy food. When I'd told Susannah about our plans for today, she insisted that I get a sausage called the Long John, and it was probably the best meal I've eaten in Zürich: freshly grilled, spicy and delicious.

The kids played in the wading pool some, and then I took them to the opposite side of the little island: because of the dam, the water is much lower and slower there, and all three kids played so contentedly, piling rocks, watching the little fish that they just couldn't catch, and trying to skip stones. Of all the playgrounds we've seen in Zürich, I think this river is my favorite of all.