Zurich - Street Parade

Tail End of Street Parade

Before anyone who has done a google search on Street Parade gets all excited at having found a link to this blog – don’t! This may sound as if it will be a blog on Street Parade, but actually it isn’t. You have been warned.

Actually, this is likely a blog that will get many people annoyed, but I’m afraid I have to say it. I hate Street Parade. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s great to see people coming together, it’s good to have a fun, peaceful, non-aggressive gathering, it’s only once a year and it’s an organisational nightmare that’s executed extraordinarily well.

But, being the moaning Minnie that I am, for anyone who doesn’t like crowds of people so close to each other that you can absorb everyone else’s sweat, who doesn’t want to hear music blaring during daytime, and who still wants to get from A to B across Zurich, it’s a nightmare.

It seems always to happen on the hottest day of the year. I remember on a previous year, arriving at Stadelhofen station in Zurich on my way back from somewhere, having forgotten it was Street Parade. I’d got off the train early, thinking I’d pop off to the Badi and have a swim because the weather was beautiful and at the end of August you know this is likely your last chance to swim in the open air for the year. The place was crammed with people. I tried to cross the road and I think that alone took 20 minutes. I gave up and took the train back home but was very disgruntled (I’m maybe not the most adaptive of people!).

It was similar this year. A wonderfully hot weekend was forecast – it looks to be the last this year. The weather did as forecast and I made my way eagerly over to Badi Enge. It wasn’t until I was on the tram and I heard the announcement that the tram wouldn’t be going where I wanted it to go that I remembered that this was the weekend of Street Parade.

Anyway, after chopping and changing a bit with various modes of transport, I arrived at Badi Enge. There was a huge queue outside. They informed me that there was an event going on. If I wanted to go swimming, I could use any of the other city lakeside lidos, for example Badi Utoquai was open.

Utoquai! That’s the other side of the lake and the city was closed to transport. It would be impossible to get there without going out of the city and back in again and I didn’t want to waste all that time.

I looked at the city map and realised that Badi Mythenquai was probably the closest. I’d never been before, so wasn’t too sure how to get there. Nevertheless, I managed to find the right tram.

It wasn’t until I saw, through the tram window, all the people that had been on my tram walking towards the Badi, that I realised that I’d missed the correct stop. So, I got off at the next stop and then had to walk all the way back,

Disgruntled once again,  I wasn’t really in the mood for a swim any more by the time I got to the Badi,.

I explored a bit – I was impressed that Hiltl (well-known and popular vegetarian restaurant in Zurich) had a reasonably-sized outlet, but they didn’t do iced coffee and they didn’t do the shortbread that I so enjoy at Enge. However, I now realise that prices in Badi Enge are quite expensive.

I always feel a bit nervous swimming somewhere new (how does it work, are there deeper/shallower bits, how far are those distances?). The section of the lake it “owns” is quite large; I didn’t dare swim beyond its confines, partly because I didn’t know the area that well yet and also because no-one else seemed to be doing it. Steps led down into the lake (I prefer this to walking in gradually), people were diving off a three-tiered diving area, and some were lying on the floating wooden platforms in the middle of the lake, which are there for you to scramble on and then jump off again when you feel like it.

There was plenty of space in the changing rooms (Enge is always busy and a bit cramped) and on the grass outside (finding somewhere to sit/lie at Enge is always an issue, although I prefer having the railings at Enge to support my back while I read).

Anyway, since the area of water was quite large and new to me, I ended up swimming for 1 hour 20 minutes, which should be about 2km at my (slow) speed of swimming. This will be good practice for my swimming holiday (a future blog).

In the distance, I could still hear the tones of Street Parade thumping away as I swam. Three helicopters kept on passing overhead. The lake was quite choppy, maybe because of the number of boats out that day, so I couldn’t avoid getting my face splashed with water or taking an involuntary drink of lake water now and again.

I laid in the sun while I dried off and read my kindle, but then a band started up in Mythenquai. It was also part of the Street Parade. There was no escaping it if you are anywhere remotely near the city centre.

I decided to leave, but was happy I’d had my swim. Nevertheless, getting back took quite a while so whereas I’d been thinking I had plenty of time to get things done in the evening, by the time I got back, that window of opportunity was lost. I was back to feeling disgruntled.

Oh well. Such is life!