I am standing outside the entrance to the Seebad Utoquai, a Zurich heritage bathhouse. The wooden pavilion for sunning and swimming rests on stilts over Lake Zurich and is almost in the heart of the city. It has graced this spot along a popular lakeside promenade for more than 125 years, and is steps away from the Zurich Opera House, tony shops, high end restaurants and luxury hotels.
The sign near the entrance says 鈥淟ufttemperatur: 24 C; Wassertemperatur: 12 C.鈥�
I don鈥檛 speak German, but I don鈥檛 need a dictionary to know what that means. On this sunny afternoon in late May the air is balmy, the lake freezing. And Z眉richers are swimming.
In fact, a stream of locals comes and goes through the turnstiles: hausfraus, blue-suited bankers, effete intellectuals, toned athletes, students with textbooks. Those entering look purposeful; those exiting appear refreshed and re-invigorated.
I have been in Switzerland two weeks, and I鈥檝e indulged in all the tourist tropes: I鈥檝e ogled vistas, trekked through an alpine meadow, awakened to the clang of cow neck bells, gorged on chocolate and cheese, marvelled at improbable mountain railways and the precision of the train timetables.
What I didn鈥檛 expect of Switzerland was a culture of getting wet, especially throwing oneself into bodies of clear, cold, fresh water, for health, fun and fitness.
鈥淔or us, we ski in the winter, we swim in the lake or the river in summer 鈥� we all do it. You cannot avoid it,鈥� explains Francesco D鈥橝mico, a financial adviser who works in Zurich鈥檚 high-powered business core. He regularly walks the three minutes from his office for a lunch-hour swim and meal at the Utoquai, but usually only in July and August when the water is warmer.
The Zurich Department of Sport updates the various regional water temperatures every day online. 鈥�12C is a little too cold for me!鈥� said D鈥橝mico. 鈥淚 am Italian Swiss!鈥�
Every Swiss town and city has its own version of this swimming tradition. In the capital of Bern, it is floating in the Aare River, which does a U-bend around the 13th-century Old Town. Many plunge into the fast moving Aare for pure fun, but on most summer days you can also find commuting locals floating to or from work, their clothing, phones, and wallets secure in a 鈥淏ern鈥� dry bag, which they hug like a PFD.
鈥淔loating the Aare is the Bernese sport,鈥� says Marcel Graf, marketing director for Bern Tourism, who floats home from his office almost every day of summer, a 10-minute journey, his business suit in his drybag. 鈥淭o me it means to slow down, to relax and let go,鈥� he says. Graf likes to put his head underwater to hear the rushing of the water and the 鈥渏ingling鈥� of the stones: 鈥淚t is pure refreshment for heart and soul after a busy day.鈥�
In Zurich, the swim culture largely revolves around the badi 鈥� Swiss slang for the bathhouses. There are six 鈥淪eebads鈥� (lake baths) on Lake Zurich and five 鈥淔lussbads鈥� (flow baths, or river baths), three of which are on the Limmat River, which runs through the city centre. Some badi cater only to women, some only to men; some are for older adults; others for families with young children. There are even badi with top-rated restaurants and dance-floor nightlife.
While sightseeing between the famous churches of Zurich鈥檚 Old Town, I had looked down from the M眉nster-Brucke bridge to see a dozen or so young women sunbathing on a large wooden dock on the Limmat River. It was an odd sight, (especially since some were topless): a beach scene amidst medieval guild halls, stained glass windows, streetcars, and bank facades.
They were languidly stretched out on the outside deck of the famous, women-only Frauenbad Stadthausquai, built in 1881 and the oldest badi in Zurich. A Victorian wood and glass rectangle, like an ornate birdcage, this 鈥渇lussbad鈥� has two river pools, one shallow and one deep, and the outer sunning decks. It looked inviting, but my suit was back at the hotel, and I hadn鈥檛 been in Europe long enough to be comfortable without it.
But then, when taking in the view of Lake Zurich from the balcony of my hotel room at the Eden Au Lac a few hours later, the Seebad Utoquai was right below my feet. People were sunning on the array of wooden decks. I could see the splashes and the heads of those going in the water. Two men in full-body wet suits and bathing caps were swimming back and forth between the outer rafts like Type A triathletes. It all looked wonderful.
So here I am now outside the bathhouse gate. I鈥檓 wearing my bathing suit under my dress. I鈥檝e got a fluffy white towel hidden in my daypack, temporarily pilfered from my luxury hotel across the road. (I needn鈥檛 have bothered 鈥� thick beach towels can be rented here.) And I am determined to brave the very cold water. If the Swiss can do it, so can I!
Inside the bathhouse, a caf茅 serves a range of fare, from salads to schnitzel, as well as wine and beer. There are ample change rooms, lockers, showers, a sauna. Because the water here is deep, Utoquai is not popular with families with children and is frequented instead mostly by adults 30+.
A men-only section is at the south end, a mixed section in the middle, and a women-only section at the north end. I head north, where some 40 women are sunning and reading books and magazines; a few are topless. There鈥檚 almost no talk or chatter. No one disturbs the other鈥檚 peace. Photos are prohibited. When I take out my phone to shoot a selfie, and older woman wags her finger 鈥渘o.鈥�
I find a sunny, unoccupied square by the stairs going into the water. Soon I鈥檝e warmed up so much that I really do need to cool off 鈥� but am I brave enough to go in?
I watch three trim women, all in their 50s and 60s, each walk down the steps, splash the back of their necks, and then glide in, with nary a gasp nor a shudder. Each swims head-up strokes out and back and exits looking self-satisfied.
鈥淜alte 鈥� aber sch枚n,鈥� says one, smiling at me, and I know she means 鈥渃old, but beautiful.鈥�
When I descend the stairs, my ankles ache to the bone on the first step below water. But I can鈥檛 back out now. I鈥檓 being watched. I wet my neck and try to glide out as smoothly as the others. It is so damn cold it takes all my self control not to scream out an obscenity.
I can hardly catch my breath. I do four quick breast-strokes out, four back, and then scramble out. Every inch of my body is so cold it actually feels hot and is tingling with pins and needles sensation.
But over the next two hours of sunning and dipping, it gets easier and easier to enter the water. I swim further and further. The lake is clear, clean, and incredibly refreshing. I even duck under and swim below the surface. Others nod approvingly.
One of the older ladies starts a conversation as I come up the stairs the last time. My apologetic 鈥楽prechen zie English?鈥� seems to genuinely surprise her, as if it never dawned on her I could be a tourist.
鈥淣icht Swiss? 鈥︹��
鈥淣ein 鈥� .Canadian.鈥�
鈥淎hhh!鈥�.鈥� she smiles, as if that explains it.
I feel I鈥檝e passed a test of mettle.
That night, with the forecast for another warm day ahead, I check the train schedules to see if I can travel from Zurich to Bern the next morning, float the Aare with the locals, and then get back in time for my flight home. It is too tight to pull off.
So instead I spend that morning sunning and swimming once again from the Seebad Utoquai. Two warm days in a row have raised the water temperature to 14C, still very cold, but to me it soon feels almost tepid. I go in repeatedly 鈥� with nary a gasp nor a shudder. I emerge feeling self-satisfied. I smile and nod at the other women. 鈥淜alte 鈥� aber sch枚n,鈥� I say and this time I am sure I pass as a local.
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Anne Mullens is a Victoria writer.
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IF YOU GO
Seebad Utoquai is open May to October, 7am to 8 pm; Adult Admission, 8 CHF
See: www.badi-info.ch/Utoquai.html
Frauenbad Stadthausquai, is open Mid-May to Mid-September 9 am to 11 pm; Adult Admission 8 CHF
See: www.badi-info.ch/stadthausquai.html
Listing of all the Zurich Badi 鈥� click on name to see detailed information including current water temperature:
www.stadt-zuerich.ch/ssd/de/index/sport/schwimmen.html
Floating the Aare:
www.bern.com/en/activities/aare-swimming
Hotel Eden Au Lac, 45 Utoquai, Zurich
www.edenaulac.ch
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Anne Mullens is a Victoria writer.
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