Summer, my long lost friend!
There are lots of nice things about living in San Francisco, but summertime is not one of them. It's sort of the missing season, lost in a swirl of fog and wind.

So, here in Zurich, I'm enjoying a whole summer again for the first time in six years. It's wunderbar!


For one thing, Zurichers really know how to do summer. On every corner is a sidewalk cafe or beer garden teaming with people. The drinking laws are pretty relaxed, so you can order a beer at the park near my house and take it out on the grass while the kiddies run around and play.

I love this park, by the way. I call it the hip parents' park because it's where all the groovey parents go with their stylish bambinos, but it's actually called Bäckeranlage. It also attracts lots of earthy types and some seniors, who take in the scene in from the shady benches. Christoph and I meandered over there one night when it was all hot and stuffy in the house. The cafe was jumping and people were lounging on blankets, having picnics by candlelight. We didn't bring a blanket so we just plopped down in the grass and watched the clouds gather.

The nice thing about the lack of air conditioning - a rare thing in Switzerland - is that it gets people out of their houses and mingling. Who cares if everyone's a little sweaty?

Another fantastic feature of a Zurich summer is the Schwimmbad culture. All along the lake and river are lovely swimming spots, which are packed on nice weekends and evenings. Christoph and I biked along the lake last Sunday and must have seen dozens of them. The water looked so good we finally stopped at one and took a dip.

We also stopped for lunch and a game of rummy at Rote Fabrik, an old brick factory that's now a grungy, graffiti-covered entertainment complex with a lakeside restaurant, theater and art galleries. Between the lesbian couple cuddling at the next table and the guy smoking an enormous joint, it felt like Berkeley for a moment.

The swimming holes along the river in the city are more refined. One of my favorite spots, which I visited for the first time last week, is the Frauenbad - the women's bath. Men are only allowed in on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, when it becomes the Barfuss Bar (Barefoot Bar).

I went with a friend last Thursday afternoon. The water was pretty chilly but the ambiance was fantastic. It's a little old wooden bathhouse on stilts in the water, and it's right downtown across the street from city hall. From the outer deck, you can watch the boats and the city life go by. Of course, they can watch you too, which didn't seem to bother the topless sunbathers. (I kept mine on.)

Another nice spot is the Männerbad - just for men, of course. Women are welcome in every evening around 7:30 for the open-air bar. It's on a small, quiet tributary that's very lush and cool and green. Instead of tables and chairs, people lounge on Persian rugs and oversize cushions scattered around a wrap-around deck several feet above the water. Big paper lanterns give it a kind of bohemian feel, but it's a pretty posh, young crowd that gathers here, being just around the corner from the stock exchange.


It cooled down today, but I plan to further investigate the schwimmbad scene very soon.