Former bunker becomes swanky pool

I love how resourceful the Swizzlis are. I've just been reading about a former military bunker in the canton of Zurich which has been given an incredible facelift and now houses a funky new swimming pool (see pic left)

The idea to repurpose the bunker came from the local council after officials realised they could kill two birds with one stone by disposing of a useless and expensive piece of real estate and providing much needed space for a swimming pool in the area.

Zurich architects Illiz won the council competition to come up with a design for the pool which took two years to complete and 7.5m Sfr lto fund and offers stunning views of Lake Zurich and the Albis chain.

Traces of the original bunker remain, such as the hexagonal floor tiles, the old numbers marking the former sleeping quarters and the beige walls but the pool is no doubt state-of-the-art - shame it isn't open to the public (not sure who the lucky people are who get to use it)

Newts in our local pool

We had a wonderfully relaxing Bank Holiday weekend enjoying the Eurovision contest with friends and swimming in the outdoor pools - where we came across newts! Yes, newts in the public swimming pool!

Perhaps I should point out that the little dark 'Wassermolch' we saw was in a natural pool at Geiselweid Freibad in Winterthur. But it was so surprising - and very exciting for the girls - to see diddy newts scuttling about on the bottom of the pool.

I think it must have been the Alpine Newt as it is native to central Europe. The adults grow up to 11cm and are usually dark in colour, often with a marbled pattern.  They prefer ponds with vegetated areas which lack fish, which of course would explain the popularity of Geiselweid's natural pool. A blue tinge is often visible, which is what Graham caught sight of when he took the plunge.

It was cold - 16c - so only Daddy bear had the bottle to go for a swim in there, where he dived down to take a closer look, saying they appeared a dark blue colour close up. We jumped about excitedly for a while and laughed at Graham's icy shrieks before we settled for a swim in the much warmer heated outdoor pool nearby (24c)

Switzerland is so full of little surprises like this. I love it.