On one of our first walks about the village, we headed to the local pool. (On the way we passed the schools that the two older girls attend, the village square, the grocery store, and a line of nice restaurants. And it couldn't have been more than a half mile to the pool.)
You may not yet be excited about our trip to the pool, but you should be, 'cause it's amazing. First of all, the pool's a good size with a slide and a kiddie pool/area. And there's a sand volleyball court as well as a lot of lawn space for swimmers and sunbathers to sprawl. Oh. And it's not fenced in. Something you'd never see in the States.
 |
| Anna on left; Becca on right. |
Second, it's a chemical-free pool. Sound crazy, right? Fortunately, we ran into the pool engineer / maintenance guy, who filled us in on how it works. I'm pretty sure I'd botch the explanation, so I'll give y'all the cliff notes. It has something to do with the separate, darker compartment pictured above and the reedy area pictured below (on the right of the picture).
Below is a close-up of what's going on in the reeds. Water is sprinkled onto the surface, which is composed of sand and some other minerals and things. These, together with the reeds, filter the water and do other nifty things. Like I said, I don't really get it. But, the engineer assured us that the water is totally clean. He even pointed out the frogs that were chilling in one area of the reeds. Apparently they're a special kind of frog that doesn't tolerate water impurities well. If the frogs stop croaking, something's gone wrong with the filtration and purification system. While we can't vouch for the cleanliness of the water, we all went swimming, including the girls, with no ill effect.
Two more observations about the pool. First, it was pretty cold water. "Refreshing," the engineer assured us. Second, the kiddie area was nothing close to what we would consider kid-safe in the states. The whole thing was cement, and edges were not particularly rounded. Across a narrow part of the area were a series of cement blocks - think stepping stones or filled-in cinder blocks - for the kids to hop on. Again, no rounded edges: all rough and natural. And all around, in the water and on the sides of the area, were little pebbles. Similar to a sandbox, as kids had shovels and buckets and were moving the pebbles around like you would in a sandbox, but they were pebbles. In the water and around the water. Pebbles and stones a-plenty.
And here's the thing. Stepping on them sort of hurt. Like, you know, stepping on pebbles tends to. We thought it was sort of an odd design decision to make, but the engineer seemed pretty proud of them. He even pointed out how the pebbles were all different shapes - ovals and spheres and squares and more! Educational!, he said. We're still a little puzzled about that one, but the kids seemed to have a blast.
One morning while we were in Konegstein, Ben and I decided to take advantage of one of the many hiking trails around town. On Anna's recommendation, we set out for a destination that the girls called (something like) Ice Cream Cone Mountain. Not sure why. Below, you see the rough-hewn stairs leading to the summit on the left, and the lovely Bavarian countryside on the right.
When we made it to the top, we quickly found that we were not the only ones to have taken Anna's recommendation. Ice Cream Cone Mountain, it seems, is a popular destination for goats. Very friendly goats. Here's one posing with Ben, just feet away from him. Behind him to the left (not pictured), there is a group of another 7 or so. And thus we learned that Ben has a smaller goat bubble than I do. He was willing to let them within a couple of feet of him. If I could touch the goat with a pole and an outstretched arm, well, be ye ware, goat. Altogether, a nice hike with a lovely view of the town and countryside.
