Just south of Zemmer there is a town called Kordell that has a great outdoor pool. While it was 90 + degrees and humid in Korea, it was 65-75 degrees and cloudy here in Germany. Rachel Blanchard from Church told us that as soon as it breaks 80 everyone goes to the pool - you simply have to take what you can get. I (Fred) had a day off so we went to the pool
The pool has 4 separate areas: a lap pool, high dive, a large wading pool (~2.5-4.5 feet deep) with a fun slide, and a kiddie area where there are 2 shallow wading pools.
While these pictures are in reverse of what we did, google translate helped me figure out that the slide was fine for kids under 8 as long as they had an adult with them.
I am not going to lie, it really is as cold as it looks (temperature).
While we were in this larger pool some older men with their sons walked by and kind of stared at me. While it is normal for a German to stare, the looks they gave me were more judgemental. Maybe because I was visibly shivering? No - it was because I was not sporting a Speedo. In France and Belgium, it is against the law to go swimming in public without a speedo - even at Disneyland. The idea is appalling to Jari. For me, Disneyland Paris just made my to-do list :)
I don't know why, but kids have some amazing ability to ignore the discomfort of cool water for the sake of the excitement of swimming.
Here we are in my non-speedo. Oh, the shame!
More slide time.
There were lots of these foam boards that one could play on. the kids would stagger them in 2 layers like bricks and run back and forth across the water like on a bridge moving the pieces - or run and jump on them and skid across the water. I tried the skidding feature and it was lots of fun.
Swimming was less fun for Jari as she was holding on to the baby - though she did not really want to get wet given the overcast day.
A swim diaper looks like a speedo, so we just rolled with that for a bit.
The reason I knew about the pool was that Jari had gone the week (or days?) before on a much nicer day. It is amazing how much difference the sun can make, even when the water is the same temperature.
Danielle Shahan joined her for the fun. This is one of the kiddie pools that is about a foot deep. The girls loved it.
As did Zachary.
There are some indoor pools about 30 minutes away which I am sure we will check out in the winter, and an outdoor lap pool in a neighboring town where we can train for a triathlon - just kidding - not sure that will happen unless I can wear a wet suit with floaties and judging by the shame of not sporting a speedo I am not even sure what people would do if I showed up in a wet suit. We are enjoying the fall but I am already excited to swim again next year.
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