Zürich offers plenty of very nice opportunities for jump into the cold on a nice summer day. Most of them are of course at the border of lake Zürich. If you like swimming in the cool river,  badi unterer letten is the place. It's a really authentic river bath. You don't need to be a very experienced river swimmer. You can just walk up the river and get out again at the big grid at the end of the bath. There's also a swimming pool and a nice pool for kids. If you want to meet zürichs creative people letten is the place.
A truly urban experience.

Flussbad Unterer Letten
Wasserwerkstrasse 141?8037 Zürich
Telefon 044 362 10 80

The Löwenbräuareal, home to the Kunsthalle Zurich, the Migros Museum, Daros
Latinamerica, and influential commercial galleries such as Hauser & Wirth
and Peter Kilchmann.

Right opposite the Löwenbräuareal you can find more good art galleries.

Löwenbräu Areal
Limmatsrasse 268
8005 Zürich

Migros Museum:
Tues, Wed, Fri 12-18h
Thurs 12-20h
Sat, Sun 11-17h

Kunsthalle Zürich:
Tues, Wed, Fri 12-18h
Thurs 12-20h
Sat, Sun 11-17h

Galerie Hauser & Wirth
Tues-Fri 12-18h
Sat 11-16h

Caredda is one of the truly fantastic places in zürich. It's not one of these fancy modern places. Caredda is an italian pastry shop with an attached coffee bar. They make some of the best pastry I ever had. If you are invited to dinner and want to bring something special check their amazing marzipan fruit assortment. Needless to say that the coffee bar serves proper italian coffee.
I love places like this.

Panini * Gelateria * Café * Bar * Take Away
Paolo Caredda

Josefstrasse 119
CH - 8005 Zürich
Tel +41 (0)44 440 23 41  -  Fax +41 (0)44 440 23 47

The "josefwiese" is one of the places to hang out on a sunny day. It's a good place to go with kids, next to the big lawn there is a playground and something between a pool and a big fountain.
There is always a bunch of people playing boule and there is even a beach volley field.
If you get hungry there's a little coffee place where you get good coffee and lovely tarts.

Relax here after an extended shopping tour through the nice shops of "Kreis 5" ( thats how this neighborhood is called).
It's also  close to the Löwenbräuareal with all it's art galleries.

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Bar 63 is a that sort of place where you just feel comfortable. Not to fancy, just a really nice bar with a even nicer choice of beverages.
It seems they took great care in putting together a nice selection of wines and Prosecco. A main focus is on Rum. They offer 50 different kinds of rum from jamaica, haiti and Panama.
We came in very late and had a nice caipirinha. I keep looking at the black board where they had several cheese assortments on offer. I would have loved to  order one but hey -  it was 1.30 am and I already had two whiskey sour and the before mentioned caipirinha. Well I'll be back.

Bar 63

Rolandstr. 19
8004 Zürich

T: 044 241 75 83
www.bar63.ch

We started our bar tour through Zürich yesterday here at Volkshaus Restaurant. The place is now run by the people behind long street bar. I really enjoyed the the nice bar and the excellent drinks. Outside was a thunderstorm and it was nice to sit there, drink too many whiskey sours and watch the storm through the big windows.

We did not eat at the restaurant but the girl who introduced me to the place has eaten in the restaurant and said it's nice. Hearty food like cordon bleu, roast potatoes and such.

Browsing the internet I found several people complaining about the service.

Prices for Starters 6-18 Main 18 - 45

Hours:
So-Di 8-24 Uhr, Mi-Sa 8-2 Uhr.

I particularly liked the washrooms:

Restaurant Volkshaus
Stauffacherstr. 60
8004 Zürich
T: 044 242 11 55

www.restaurantvolkshaus.ch

Maison Blunt is a very nice Tea room and Restaurant. They serve lovely Moroccan and oriental food. It's a very relaxing place located in an former garage, lovely refurbished in an oriental manner.
The restaurant has a nice backyard where one can eat outside in the summer.
The dishes are reasonable priced starter around 15.- main 28.-

Opening hours:

Rest. Mo-Fr 11.30-14 und 18-23, Sa/So 10-23 Uhr.
Teahouse: Mo-Do 8-24 , Fr/Sa 8-01, So 8-23 Uhr.
Brunch tägl. 8-16 Uhr.

Maison Blunt

Gasometerstr. 5
8005 Zürich

T: 043 211 00 33
Web: www.maison-blunt.ch