February 9, 2012

• Amsterdam, Netherlands

  

  You see, it's not always frozen canals and ice skaters that appear in the pictures of this blog these days. I may not feel the urge to go out and skate, but there's definitely an old love who made a dramatic return in my life and that is swimming. The building in the picture is the beautiful Zuiderbad swimming pool, just behind Rijksmuseum in the south of the city. I used to go there ages ago for quite a while and typically I would be there twice a week.

  Then, work became more demanding and my work days became longer, and because of my travels I was in Amsterdam less and less. And a habit turned into a sporadic event and then died down altogether. When I returned to Zuiderbad two and a half weeks ago to give this swimming thing a go again I had lost touch with the pool so much that I had no idea what the entrance price would even be. So I swam on that Tuesday night and on the way home I felt completely elated. I had enjoyed it so much! I thought I was a fool that I had let this great activity die down in my life. So I returned the next day (the pool is on the way home from work so it's ever so easy to just get off the bike there) and once more I enjoyed it very much. Then I went back on Friday, and once more two days later on Sunday. And that's the rhythm I've stuck to so far. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. And I have no intention of letting this habit slip away any time soon. I went yesterday, and today (with the pool not open after work) I only got off my bike to take this picture, but rest assured I will park my bike here again tomorrow and go in to swim for an hour or so.

  • 3:43 pm
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