Squam Lake- or the next best thing

No sooner had i gotten settled in the office then i promptly set out for Zurich. Typically I don't enjoy traveling there (food is awful!) but this time was much better. I arrived late Monday night and walked from the train station to my hotel on the river Limmat.

The next morning I woke early and wandered down the river to the limotquai where a friend had directed me to a structure called the seebad- an old wooden bathing house built out into the lake. Its like something out of atlantic city in the 1920's! I paid 7 francs for a locker and walked down some steps into the lake. The temperature was 68 degrees so chilly until I got moving. I swam down the limotquai troubled only by a few swans and scullers. One of the two main rowing clubs in Zurich have the same oar paint design as the Union Boat Club in Boston but my UBC cheers drew only puzzlement. It was a lovely morning and I regularly stopped and put up my goggles to marvel at the surrounding mountains. I turned around only when I heard the church bells strike 7:30. I rehydrated by drinking lake water and headed back to the hotel for breakfast.

Whenever I travel I try and put aside time for one selfish experience for myself. A football match in London, squash at club harmonia in Sao Paulo, an evening by the copacabana hotel pool in rio, the great wall in Beijing, a pasta feast in Milan, an evening in Tokyo where I simply took the train to the end of the line and wandered around. I've been to Zurich many times and never found such an experience. The food is terrible and the city is dead at night. This was a nice change.