When in Rome: Ask Questions and Keep Learning | Kneippanlage

Sometimes it's hard to believe that we've lived here for over two years. That's the longest we've lived in one house in six years of marriage!

One thing I'm really trying to embrace for the next eight months is the mentality that I ONLY HAVE EIGHT MONTHS LEFT and there's still so much to learn and do! I was especially reminded of this after the Volkswanderung experience, and shortly after that I learned something new about this random little "pool" down the road from my house.

It's called a Kneippanlage and it's something I've been curious about the whole time we've been here.  I walk by it all the time because it's right at the end of my road and the beginning of some great walking paths.

So finally, one day, I got up the nerve to ASK (I know, so simple, right?) the lady who was sharing the pool with us.  See, it was a super warm day and we had just walked to the bakery.  On the way home, the girls asked if we could play in the water and it was one of those delightful days where we had nothing to do all day but play.  And that's what we did!

The water was freezing so I didn't really want to "get in" much but the girls were having a blast splashing on the steps. Then this woman came and started taking off her socks/shoes... and she got in a walked around the bar that's in the middle.  She would pick her feet up high and very gracefully step, in and out of the water.  I was super intrigued because there was obviously a reason for this.  It was one of those moments that I knew if I didn't ask THE QUESTION I was never going to know...

So "sprechen sie englisch???" popped out of my mouth and woo-hoo! she did!  Come to find out, the kneippanlage is good for your circulation!  You walk in the cold water a few times, then you come back out and warm your feet on the stones... or sit on the benches in the sun.  Then you do it a bunch more times.  This cooling-warming process is apparently really awesome for your blood.

Now I know :o)  And if I want to keep finding out more fun things about this amazing German culture I'm going to have to keep going out and asking questions!  Bring it on!  

Oh and one more tidbit about Germany (and Europe in general): naked little kids are totally acceptable in public.  My kneippanlage friend and I had a conversation about it because I was super uncomfortable with the fact that Lily and Sam (who were not wearing suits at the time) ended up getting their only clothes soaked.  She just laughed at me and said "it's no problem!" and I just laughed to myself and thought - that's one German tradition I am not really interested in adopting ;o)