21 August 2024
Not planes, trains and automobiles, but my feet, metro and the "Wiener-mobile" ...
(Transit modes through Brussels - click to enlarge pictures)
... had me dancing through the Brussels dawn (with reggae, not calypso music streaming) as I made my way from Gare du Midi to the suburb of Watermael-Boitsfort where the Three Linden Trees Sports Park (Parc Sportif des 3 Tilleuls) holds the bright, colourful Calypso 2000 pool:
(Exterior, interior and grounds - click to enlarge the pictures)
Walking as the sun rises, especially on a day that proves to be a very sunny one is a special way to start a day. Doing so in a newish city, scouting out a new pool is doubly special. Even taking public transit - this morning included a longer-than-anticipated stroll through a quiet neighborhood when the bus was diverted for roadworks - is better at dawn; it’s less crowded, passengers are subdued but with a positive-looking-forward-to-the-day undertone. It’s just all around a great way to start a day. I think this short video captures my mellow excitement:
The Myrtha Pools tank is a 6 lane, 33-meter community pool, a great 2.5 meters in the deep end, but far less than a meter at the shallow end, so shallow that I couldn’t do a flip turn. And, like I experienced at the Piscine du Centre and can be seen in the interior pool picture above, the lane ropes attach to the pool’s edge rather than at the water level, making for a wavier ride. Still, the ample windows and the colourful murals make for an inviting swim.
The only challenge I had to actually notching this up as pool #698 on my #1001Pools list was that their credit/debit card machine was not working. Fortunately, my habit of always carrying coins in the local currency (in empty medicine bottles) saved the day: I had exactly the five single euro coins I needed to get in my 3,300 M swim!
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