German Kids

For years I’ve been reading news reports about declining populations in Western Europe. But you wouldn’t know it from a walk through my neighborhood. Everywhere, there are kids. And unfortunately, they are often loud and unruly, and their parents often smoke as they push them in their baby strollers.

On the bright side, these kids bring with them some excellent playgrounds. As I mentioned before, there is a park in Zuzana’s backyard. Just a few blocks down the street, there is another playground, and then another and another, repeat. They are all of similar quality, but unique. The Germans seem to delight in designing creative but sturdy jungle gyms.

At Bonn’s Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn which I visited Sunday, part of the permanent exhibit focused on the region’s earliest civilizations.

Between ancient artifacts, they had areas where children could put on life-sized replicas of the clothes and shoes worn by the early inhabitants, and then enter model homes. Museum staff helped the kids prepare food from the era, gather wood and write on cave walls.

After seeing what the kids got to do, the audio tour suddenly didn’t seem so great.

A few days later, I took a new route home, and stumbled upon this elementary school:


I peeked inside and saw walls adorned with Piet Mondrian paintings and doors that looked like they had been painted by students:


The next time I become a child, I want to visit Germany.