Limmatschwimmen 2011

Poor Susannah fell victim to another of my genius schemes today.  But I think, in the end, she thanked me for it.

I've talked about swimming in the Limmat before: how it's a fun tradition here, to jump into the river, to swim with the current a bit, and then to climb out and walk upstream and do it all over again.  Because of boat traffic and safety issues, you're really only supposed to swim in a few cordoned off areas of the Limmat, but, once a year, the city opens two kilometers of the river, from the mouth of the river at the Zürichsee downstream to Limmatplatz, so that people can enjoy a nice long float trip.

But, this being Switzerland, they don't just let people hop in the river wily-nily. No, the event is the highly organized, carefully orchestrated Limmatschwimm.

Dennis was actually the one who encouraged me to take the plunge: he heard from a coworker that it was incredibly fun.  I'd been wanting to swim in the river for the longest time, and since it's now the end of summer, it seemed like my last, best chance.  I'm so glad that Dennis reminded me of the event: the city sold about 4,000 tickets for the event, and they were all gone before today.

It really was the most gorgeous possible day for swimming: we spent the morning at our local pool, running circuits around the waterslide, which I recently learned is the longest slide in the country of Switzerland (132 meters).

I would have loved to take Ella with me to swim in the river, too, but they've set the minimum age at 12 years.  Dennis tried to bring the kids downtown to see me and Susannah off into the river, at least, but the 90-degree heat was a little too much for them.

It turned out to be a very good thing that they didn't stay to watch us: when we showed up to turn in our tickets at a little after 2:00, we were told that our slot to jump in would be at about 4:00.  As I said, it was highly organized: people were allowed into the river in groups of 60.  This wasn't only a safety issue: it was also for the sake of logistics. At the start of the swim, you were given a plastic bag for your clothes and other possessions: these were loaded on a boat and taken to down the river to the end of the float, to be handed to you when you finished.

Since we had some time to waste, Susannah and I did a little window shopping, ending at a toy store, where I noticed the most excellent toy I've ever seen, a gorgeous programmable music box. The price is set at a mere 999 CHF. But it's a genius marriage of music and engineering: the next time I find myself with a hundred spare hours of free time, I'm totally going to try to make one myself.

But back to the swim. When it's your turn to jump, you're ushered into the Frauenbad, a swimming area directly on the Limmat in the heart of downtown, public, but exclusively for women.  They've raised a metal floor in the pool, and it's surrounded by an understated but pretty art deco bathhouse.

We handed over our belongings, and in exchange we were given a large inflatable ducky.  Everyone registered for the swim received one, and it was just adorable, seeing thousands of these perky little ducks making their way down the river.

Noticed on the ducky's bum. Oops.

There was an MC with a loud speaker overseeing the event and interviewing participants before they jumped into the water: apparently there were representatives from some 27 different countries there today. Next to him at the little diving dock they had a shower where you could rinse off and get used to the river temperature before leaping...but I'd waited long enough and just dove right in.

And then it was just plain pleasant.  It took about an hour for the current to carry us those two kilometers, through downtown and under about six bridges. If you put your bottom just so, you could sit on your duck's back, and so I bobbed, hands free, down the river, enjoying pretty scenery and a great friend.

As pleasant as it was to float down a river on a hot day, I ready to stop at the end.  My legs were ever so slightly numb. As soon as we climbed out, we were handed cups of hot tea...but there ended the comfort and ease.  Because we were some of the last of the swimmers, the line to collect our clothing was over an hour long, an hour that we had to wait dripping and barefoot on slimy sidewalks.

Apparently, in past years, admission tickets for the Limmatswimm included a bratwurst at the end of the float. I guess that part of the event got a little too complicated: this year they made it very clear, in many different sections of the event website, that there would be no free bratwurst at the end of the swim.  Susannah and I laughed about this early in the day, but man, the sausages that they were cooking at the beach cafe smelled good.

However, we did, for some reason, receive a very nice commemorative cup.

And, of course, a very helpful little inflatable duck.

Huge crowds of people lining the river towards the end of the swim

For my parents, who questioned the wisdom of jumping off the 10-meter
board: at least I didn't do this.