Kids Zone.

It's more than six months since we moved to Germany. I thought I would now slowly introduce our way of life or lifestyle here. Today I bring to you the place where kids love to go and spend their time till eternity. The Spielplatz, Spiel for play, Platz for public space. In short, the play area or park.

             Every town or village in Germany has umpteen number of such "Spielplatz" which is a haven for both kids and mother's. When weather permits, such parks are filled with children of all ages and sizes. From babies in prams to quite older children who just wanna sit and relax or simply listen to their ipods. Not to forget the mother's who dress up in their best and show up.

The parks are filled with lots of play things for the children to play. Do you notice the slides?? Mothers of infants place their babies on their laps and slide down. The older kids are more daring and instead of sliding down the normal way, they prefer going on top of the steel cover and glide down. 

              My kids like to ride their bicycle in between play times. Notice the path and road to the side. They   had their own trail for biking around in circles. Not until one day, a lady stopped them and said that cycling was not allowed in the park. She pointed us to a board and this was what we saw.

It says, No Cycling, No Dogs allowed and Kids upto 12 only. A rule is a rule, no doubt about that. Then why was the lady correcting my son when she was sitting in the same park along with her dog? I had absolutely no explanation to this when repeatedly asked by my son, as to why was she breaking the law? Do you have an answer?

These are the benches where mother's sit together and chit chat. I came early to click these shots, cause I did not want anybody to wonder what was this crazy indian doing clicking away?  There are groups of different nationalities sitting together. Germans, Turks, and more who I do not know. You will never see two groups mingling together, never. Wanna know where do I belong?? No where!!  I am a lone Indian on one of these benches...:-)

This is the best part of the Spielplatz. A small stream running through. Kids love to have a splash here and play with their water guns.

Not to forget this old hand pump which is a charmer in the park. Its use....to fill balloons with water. Water balloon games.

If you ever happen to pass by this park and happen to see a lone Indian, either punching keys on the iphone, or nose buried in a book or simply lost in thought.......then yeah, that would be ME!!!!!!!