The biggest news lately has been celebrating S.'s birthday. He chose to celebrate his 40+ birthday at Ketteler Hof, the playground to end all playgrounds.
Now, let me explain something about Germans and playgrounds. Backyards here are fairly small by American standards (or perhaps it could be said that American backyards are big by the world's standards). So if you do have a backyard here, you can put a swing set or a trampoline in it, or you can leave the room open for the kids to run in very tight circles till they drop. But many haven't any - a much higher proportion of folks live in apartments. So playgrounds can be found in just about every neighborhood, often tricked out with zipwires, groundwater pumps, and various climbing equipment. Pretty fancy stuff.
But Ketteler Hof is something pretty special.
Acre after acre of slides, pedal-powered go-carts, picknick sites, sandboxes, water slides, and climbing equipment to beat the band. Ok, you pay 10 Euros a head to get in, but compared to an amusement park, it's peanuts - and almost all the fun is kid powered.I'm going to shut up now and let the pictures tell the story.
