The lido

The view

We had been to the lido before now, but it wasn't in my notes.  The lido is the kids' favorite place in town.  It isn't really a beach.  It's a beautiful park on the Lake Zurich with a swimming area.  It takes about twenty five minutes for us to walk there.

When you walk in there is a long perfect lawn stretching to the lake.  On the left running toward the water is a restaurant/snack bar and a long partially covered patio with tables and chairs. On the center lawn there is a beach volleyball court and a place for people to play paddleball. Closer to the lake and on the right people lay out their blankets.  There are big sycamore trees in rows so you can choose sun or shade.  There is a small partially covered kiddie pool with a slide and a big sandbox.  Finally, there are two lake swimming areas.  One is cordoned off for little kids and has a small slide.  The other is stairs leading down to the open lake  There are two large sunbathing rafts, a diving platform with a medium high dive, an anchored surfboard to climb onto and jump from, and an anchored log.  Somehow the log rolls a bit and you can pretend to be a lumberjack on it.

Our favorite spot, R from the high dive

I have mentioned in a previous post that you can do pretty much whatever you want on these rafts and diving boards.

The lido is much prettier than my pictures show.  I can only take pictures of parts at a time.  It's the whole thing, though, that makes it feel like a resort: the light breeze, the grass like a carpet with big trees perfectly spaced, the lake sparkling in the sun with sailboats floating by and ferried with huge Swiss flags fluttering behind blowing their low horns.  Across the lake are the steep hills of houses and vineyards.  Everyone seems relaxed and happy.

Sharing a popsicle.