Tiefenbrunnen, the best badi in town, is just a few minutes walk from our house in Zurich. "Strandbad" in High German means "beach". The cute Swiss German abbreviation is "badi". Now that the badis are open again for the summer, I took Coco today to the actual badi, with the frog pond filled, the drinking fountains and showers working and ice cream for sale in the Badeboutique. The badi is a true paradise in the summer. There are a cafe and grill, showers, changing rooms, bathrooms, lockers, huge expanses of grass to put your towel or chair out on, a little shop that sells ice cream and rents out umbrellas and impeccably maintained steps that go into the water (no algae!) and floating docks (no bird poo!) all looking out on the most gorgeous Swiss alpine view over the lake. Wow! I honestly can't imagine anywhere more wonderful that Badi Tiefenbrunnen in the summer. Seriously. It was one of the first places we visited when J and I first moved to Zurich two years ago, and it's extra special to me because I swam there nearly everyday while pregnant last summer. So it's no surprise that it positively filled my heart with joy to take my little Coco there today. She seemed to enjoy it immensely.
In the winter, Badi Tiefenbrunnen's gates are open and you can walk through whenever you please. On several occasions last fall and winter, I took Coco for a walk in the wrap or Baby Bjorn and we went through the badi. Every time I took her there, I talked to her. I explained how wonderful it would be when summer came. I looked around at the fallen leaves, dark sky and cold misty water and snuggled her close thinking of all the times we swam together and how good it felt to swim with my big belly being caressed by the satiny water, before I knew if she were a boy or a girl, before I knew her sweet face. On those winter walks, I'd point out to her the buoys, as they swayed up and down in the water in the dark silence of a winter's eve, and explain that that's where I used to swim to with her on those summer days.
Now I know that darling baby who was in my belly all that time. Now she and I can go to the lake together and swim with one another, as mother and daughter. Now we can lie in the shade of an umbrella on the cool, green grass and look together at the mountain view I spent so many hours gazing at while she kicked inside of me. Now the summer we have been waiting for finally begins.
I hope you have a fantastic weekend, wherever it takes you. Coco, J and I will be at the badi. :)
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