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Swimmable Cities

swimmablecities.org

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Re: Swimmable Cities

#61

Post by defrost »

Nursie wrote: post #53
defrost wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a West Australian local, lived in Perth-Fremnantle in the 1980s and was often in the river, swimming, kayaking, falling off the river cliffs and bridges when climbing, or occassionally doing what is now no longer possible; opening the door and jumping from the Fremantle train as it crossed the rail bridge over the harbour. These days you'd have to ride the roof and deal with live over electric wires, etc and all…

Oh wow. I can see the appeal when you're a kid, but that guy should probably have known better! I'm a recent import so I guess I'm giving my impression of why I wouldn't swim in the river, and I haven't seen anyone swimming in the river much, not round South Perth or the city centre, or the wider bits of the Canning river in the waterford/rossmoyne area before it joins the Swan. I may just not know the good spots tho…

> Oh wow. I can see the appeal when you're a kid,

I was 18 or so at the time and it was pretty small beer next to, say, solo shooting the horizontal falls in a kayak or climbing the Centre Point Tower in Sydney *

> but that guy should probably have known better!

I have no way to judge, I wasn't there and I don't know the person involved. If it was a drunken spur decision he was likely an idiot to try, if he had the angles sussed and knew where the piers were then that makes it a calculated move rather than how the newspaper article paints it .

> I may just not know the good spots though!

There are many - Swan Canoe Club might suit you, and there's always Blackwall Reach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGvCtLxi59Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyhOT0itbvA

* crew, not lead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qch1Gd8VLK0

Re: Swimmable Cities

#62

Post by groundthrower »

dmytroi wrote: post #54
groundthrower wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some questions on this. Living on west coast of Sweden, our family went to Stockholm this summer and as the temperature rose, we asked were to go and swim and basically no one knew and we didn’t see people doing it either.

Some popular in inner city: Tanto strandbad, Långholmsbadet, Smedsuddsbadet, Fredhällsbadet, Kristinebergsbadet, Brunnsviksbadet. Plenty of folks swim during hot periods in summer.

Yes, we went to Tanto but considering how much water that Stockholm is surrounded with, I can’t say it’s very accessible. That is also the view of some friends living there.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#63

Post by darajava »

creakingstairs wrote: post #52
maurits wrote: post #42

Swiss river swimming is one of the highlights of my year.

I’ve come across a video where Swiss people were commuting from work by diving into the river yesterday and it blew my mind! It looks so delightful. I’ve never thought about going to Switzerland for holiday but now it’s all I’m thinking about.

Have you got a link to the video?

Re: Swimmable Cities

#64

Post by jajko »

coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

In Geneva, apart from being able to swim in the massive Geneva lake (100km long, crystal clear like most seas), one can swim portions of Rhone that flows out of the lake. The only exceptions are places where it can drown you or chop you up quickly due to some water constructs (for lack of better words).

Its also quite popular to hop on some inflatable boat or mattress once its safe, just before Jonction [1] which is amazing place on its own, and just take the slow flow for couple of kms in very nice forest environment. Basically till next dam.

Zurich has very similar situation, just way more restricted for free lake swimming.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=geneva+jonction&udm=2

Re: Swimmable Cities

#65

Post by welder »

tomw1808 wrote: post #57

Vienna is very swimmable. Not right now, because its cold and rainy, but on a hot summer day thousands of people gather and swim in the Danube every single day. It's amazing, the water is relatively clean, small fishes inside, its a joy for children and adults alike.

Vienna swimming is amazing. I was just swimming in Vienna Alte Donau a few days ago, before it started raining.

Because the Donau and Donau-insel are so long, you have many different ways to swim:

- swimming docks (alte donau) https://www.instagram.com/p/C_qMA8loXMv

- artificial beaches (CopaBeach)

- natural swimming (Neu Donau / Donau Insel) https://photos.app.goo.gl/d5iGqKP8uAjyYY81A

- Strandbad Angelibad for a roped off swim area with food and playgrounds

- Alte Hafenschenke where you swim on a tributary to the Donau

- swimming in a pool on a hill with a view of the city (Krapfenwaldlbad)

- swimming in a pool floating on the canal https://www.instagram.com/p/CiAb0gXufXx

- public pools cost only a few euros and have restaurants, slides, grass for picnics, sunbathing rooms (big rooms with no roof) https://www.heldenderfreizeit.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07...

You've also got Sausalito-style restaurants on the water all along the river:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_P5_NAodqb

Re: Swimmable Cities

#66

Post by phaer »

jahnu wrote: post #60
tomw1808 wrote: post #57

Vienna is very swimmable. Not right now, because its cold and rainy, but on a hot summer day thousands of people gather and swim in the Danube every single day. It's amazing, the water is relatively clean, small fishes inside, its a joy for children and adults alike.

Would be nice to get the canal swimmable too. And enough water in the Wien to even contemplate it :D

You can swim there if you want! there's a picture with ppl swimming in Viennas canal (Donaukanal) on the website and there's a whole association around it which claims 300+ members: https://schwimmvereindonaukanal.org/.

That being said, Donauinsel is still quite close to the center and I personally prefer the relative quietness and greenery around there to swimming in the canal.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#67

Post by interludead »

coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Do you and your family participate in winter bathing often, or is it more of a seasonal tradition for you?

Re: Swimmable Cities

#68

Post by gchadwick »

AdamN wrote: post #49
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

[OT] how long have you been in Copenhagen? Are you learning Danish or do you get by with basic Danish and just use English?

Not OP but my partner lived in Copenhagen for two years. As with all of Scandinavia fluency in English is very common, practically universal in cities so you can happily live there without speaking a word of the local language. Also unlike most of Europe it's a lot more acceptable to just assume English is spoken and lead with that rather than stumbling through in the native language to start with.

That said it's still polite to learn some basics, e.g. thank you to mix in. If you're planning on living there long term you will want to learn Danish for social purposes unless you're planning to mix exclusively with immigrant communities. It's a very international place so English can often be the default language that any given group will all speak.

Edit: oh and an interesting quirk English is often spoken with an American accent! I think because they watch a lot of American TV shows and movies.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#69

Post by bitschubser_ »

kombookcha wrote: post #40
omnimus wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people even swim to get to work. With little waterproof floating bags for their clothes. Thats quite something.

What a fun summertime commute! It never occurred to me to use it as transport instead of just working out :)

its a nice lunch break activity in summer, from the Wettstein Bridge to the Drei Rosen Bridge ;) and back with the Traemli

Re: Swimmable Cities

#70

Post by interludead »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #19
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Why you can't swim after the rain? Does the water get dirty, or else?

In many cities the sewage and rainwater drainage systems are combined in some areas.
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