Still a place with real playgrounds

We spent the weekend up in Germany with Markus' parents. They were happy to see us and had all sorts of goodies (like extra sheets, homemade jam, and my favorite cheese and pickles) for us to take back to Zurich. Plus, we had a giant shop-up at the grocery store and bought all sorts of things that are either much more expensive in Switzerland or that they don't have here (like brown sugar, decaf tea, sugarless peanut butter, chili spices etc.) It was like Disneyland in the grocery store because there is so much more variety there. I was wishing we could take back frozen food because they have all sorts of fun looking things in the freezer section. We also raided my in-laws' cupboards a bit, but they were happy for us to cart it all away. The rental car was completely full (oddly the border guards had no interest in our gluttony--although I saved all of the receipts;) of course the wrinkle in this plan was carrying it all up to the apartment when we got back. It took seven loaded trips up in all, and for once Timo got himself to the top on his own steam or it would have been eight!

One of the highlights on the trip was the first boat ride for our kids. There is a ferry across Lake Constance (the Bodensee in German) that you drive the car onto. It only takes 20 minutes, but they kids just loved it. Another highlight is that we went out for lunch one day. Markus and I both tried to explain that our kids don't really do restaurants, and especially in the slow-service country inns one finds in rural Germany. However, we took the video player and when they started to get antsy, we plugged them in and everyone had a good time. It was SO enjoyable to eat some meals that someone else prepared and did the clean-up for. I have virtually forgotten already how delicious eating out is. When we return to California, we are just going to eat all of our meals out for a while!

One of the things I really like both is Switzerland and Germany is how fun the playgrounds are. Obviously, I am more focused on this than before since I spend lots of time at them now (running off the energy that we used to spend in the backyard.) The playgrounds here seem more authentic somehow. They are mostly wood, with rope climbing portions and all sorts of intricate slides. One near our house has a pool of water with a big pump next to it that dumps water into a channel than wends its way into a big sandpit (well, or dirt pit). Most of the playgrounds have some sort of wooden fort that kids climb up into using ladders or ropes. All of the playgrounds feel unique and pose different problems in terms of play-skills. In comparison to the plastic modular playgrounds in and around San Jose, these playgrounds feel really durable and challenging. Clearly they are not as worried as Americans are about kids falling, but even Timo seems to be able to navigate these Swiss and German play structures. Merry-go-rounds and see-saws, which you never seem to see in San Jose, are abundant here. Maybe I like these playgrounds because they feel more like what I played on as a kid. But I am reminded of a recent article in the Economist comparing toys in Europe and in the US. One of the observations they made was that Europeans choose toys that promote imaginary and creative/building play--like lego and playmobile--while Americans tend toward toys that reflect brand marketing and specific role-playing--like spiderman or ninja turtle equipment, or princess stuff. The playgrounds here appear to reflect the same perspective on child's-play. They are not the standardized, safe, but ultimately not very challenging equipment we find in suburban California; rather, these playgrounds look dull (all aged wood and steel) but offer a big assortment of activities and challenges where children need to create these activities themselves as the playground is just kind of a template instead of constructed for specific activities. Of course, maybe it is just that they are different from what I am used to that I have this view...or that I am spending more time at playgrounds than I did before and so have more time to think about using them!

A last note on toys. While in Germany we shopped a bit for birthday presents for Timo. My mother-in-law pointed out the stickers on even cheap sand toys that showed that they had been inspected for toxic residues by the government. Moreover, most of the toys, even the cheap trucks, were made in Germany, or at least in Europe. She said that this has been partly the reaction to the problems with toys coming from China that we have also seen in the US. I find it interesting that the reaction here is: pay a bit more but guarantee safety and hold the government accountable for this. The American outlook seems to be: you get what you pay for and life is all about risk anyway! Had any of you taken my European politics class (which rolls around again in the fall...) you would know that this is an enduring theme in this class: public opinion about the role that government should play in promoting a certain quality of life and mitigating the problems of the marketplace.

Well, back in Zurich now, Markus is at a conference in Innsbruck (all European engineers from Google are there) so we three are hanging out, getting wet as we venture out-of-doors and eating the goodies we brought back from Germany. Enjoy the sun all of you in sunny climes--we are dreaming of you!