This weekend we visited the "Aalto-Alvari" at the University of Jyvaskyla, an amazing swimming complex designed by Jyvaskyla architect Alvar Aalto. It was built in 1958 and houses at least 5 swimming pools plus two saunas and a cold-water pool in each locker room. We didn't take our camera, but here are a few pictures from the web:
The upper (above) and lower (below) parts of the spa pool, connected by a small slide. Not only are they connected, you can actually swim under the upper part. It is like a cave back there, with underwater lighting, windows to swim through, a water fall to swim under and a strong current that keeps you moving in a clockwise direction. The upper part has jets of water to massage your back. 
The Wave Pool (below). Every 30 minutes the pool erupts with 2 foot waves. There are huge foam floating boards (like kick board but about 4 x 6 feet) that people lie, sit or (attempt to) stand on to ride the waves. When the 10 minutes are over you can use the water slide again. It is about 2 stories tall and has great curves. After a surprise dunking at the end of the slide in the spa pool, Kalee wasn't about to try the big slide. But Charles and I both went down quite a few times. It was great! 
There is also a diving pool and a family pool which we didn't explore. Below is the main lap pool. Nothing terribly exciting but if you look in the background of the picture to the left of the lap pool you can see where all these other pools are situated. 
The two things I loved most about this place were the live plants all over thriving on the humid air and the big windows letting in light and a view of the great cold, snowy out-of-doors which we were escaping for a few hours. After over 90 minutes in the pools we went to relax in the saunas. Kalee was really looking forward to this. She has been begging to stay up late on a Friday night to sauna with Charles or I. She's curious what this sauna thing is all about. So, we opened the big wooded door to the sauna, took one step in, she got a blast of hot air then turned around and said "it's too hot in here!" That was the end of Kalee's first sauna experience. That is pretty much what we guessed would happen. At least her curiosity has been satisfied. We showered, then went home warm, happy and all tuckered out.
Now, the cultural observations.
- We saw no life guards anywhere near the pools. In the US the place would have been teeming with them. I did notice an elevated guard tower sort of place with video feeds from all the pools. Perhaps that's how they keep an eye on things. Europeans in general, I think, place much more responsibility on the individual for safety than do Americans. (For example, booster seats for someone Kalee's age not required by law. Most people seem to have them but no one panics about giving us a ride without one. Yes, we are trying to find one to borrow or buy cheaply while we are here, but, we are choosing not to panic about it, either.)
- Along with no life guards, there is no one monitoring the top of the water slide. It is "closed" when the waves are on, but there is no gate and nothing to stop anyone from going down, yet no one does. Frequency (so there isn't more than one person on the slide at a time) is managed by red and green lights. Again, there is nothing physically preventing one from going down on a red light, but no one does.
- The locker rooms. Honestly, I haven't been in a big locker room in about a decade but my memories of locker rooms are women wrapped up in towels as much as possible until they get at least their bra and underwear on, lest someone discover that something on them sags or bulges or wrinkles just like it does on every one else. Not so in Finland. Bodies of all shapes, sizes and ages were paraded around as though ... as though ... well, as though they were just bodies and not so terribly special that they had to be hidden, not from each other and not from children of what ever sex, either. No "family" locker room, here. The women's locker room was teaming with girls and boys under the age of 10 or so. Charles said the same was true on the men's side. (What age would you send your child to the locker room without you?) Next time we go, Kalee is going with Daddy so I can have a nice relaxing sauna.
No comments:
Post a Comment