Gemeinschaftszentren Bachwiesen

The city of Zürich is divided into twelve districts, called Kreis (or, in German, "circle").  Usually these districts are referred to simply by number: for example, we live in Kreis 3.  A few of these, however, have names as well: Kreis 1 is also called Altstadt, and our Kreis 3 is also referred to as Wiedikon.  And each of these Kreis includes anywhere from two to four neighborhoods (which have nothing to do with the Kreis name): our Kreis, for example, includes the areas of Friesenberg (our neighborhood), Alt-Wiedikon, and Sihlfeld.

When we first moved to Zürich, we registered ourselves as temporary residents in our Kriesbüro, and there is quite a bit of other local administration that takes place in these district offices; however, apart from being yet another layer of geography to memorize, I'm only usually aware of Kreis system because of the lovely, lovely Gemeinschaftszenterns, or community centers, operated by each Kreis.

The large park two blocks from our house, the one that includes the petting zoo, the waterpark, and the ice rink, is the Gemeinschaftszentern for Kreis 3, and, from what our relocation agent told us, it is one of the two largest and best centers in Zürich.  But they're all pretty excellent.  For example, Spielplatz 56 that we visited last weekend was the Gemeinschaftszentrum for Kreis 8.

These community centers generally have large playgrounds, and they all have buildings that usually include a cafe and several classrooms for fitness, art, dance, and so forth.  Some have little rooms for the kids to do building projects, or computer labs, or ceramics rooms; ours has a kids' art room and a free children's library.

I thought it would be fun, today, to visit the next-closest Gemeinschaftszentrum, in District 9.  Joey this morning had asked if we could go see "monkeys monkeys monkeys." So I first toyed with the idea of a quick trip to the zoo before school let out. But, even more than monkeys, Joey wanted to ride his scooter this morning.  So we compromised: he finally decided he was willing to sacrifice seeing monkeys as long as there would, at least, be other animals.

I'd read that this community center had a little petting zoo, similar to ours, and I'd also heard that they had a pretty fantastic, unique playground that I wanted to scout out for my big kids.

Unfortunately, I was careless when I was planning our route, and I only paid attention to the time of the commute. I picked the route that involved the train that runs right by our house, not noticing the 2-kilometer walk that followed the short train ride.

The thing is, Joey is really, really quick on his scooter now.  Scary-quick.  He bends his knees low to the ground and kicks for all he's worth, often taking a running start before leaping onto his scooter, so that he doesn't have to waste time picking up speed.  He practically quivers with excitement when ever we approach our apartment building, because of the long, smooth slope leading to our front door. He takes it impossibly fast, easily dodging any people or toys on the path, and he knows exactly when to drop and drag his foot so that he breaks to a halt an inch before the glass door.  I'm an uncomfortable mixture of proud and terrified. I suppose that's what it means to mother a boy.

I had to drag him away from watching the
construction. Literally.

And, on our walk, whenever he decided to scoot, Joey made wonderful time.  It's just that there were so many lovely distractions along the way. Flowers to sniff, bugs to point out, fountains to drink from, trucks to watch, small rocks to examine. Which is wonderful if you're only going five blocks, but, well, we weren't. In Joey's words, Not Working!

So, pulling off perhaps one of my greatest triumphs, I navigated the Zürich bus system on the fly and found us a route that would get us within a block of the community center. Seriously, I'm dreadful with directions: it was a big deal. Particularly since I was trying to distract a little boy who dearly wanted more time on his scooter.

I loved the names of the guinea pigs: Ruby and Struby

could easily have been named by any 4-year-old

I've ever known.

But the hope of "other animals, not monkeys" kept him going and kept him in line, and, luckily, the community center didn't disappoint.  They had several donkeys, a large enclosure of chickens and ducks and preschoolers (the last of which, I assume, were a temporary addition), and then an enormous hutch for guinea pigs with child-made guinea-pig-sized table and chairs. It was adorable.

But then, best of all, were the birds.  They had cage after cage of parakeets and canaries and budgies, many of which were available for adoption.  Since it was still early in the morning, they made the most glorious racket.

The long row of bird cages.

And (say it with me) the playground was amazing.  Off to one side was a large sandbox and a splash pool.  And then there were two playgrounds: I loved this one for the rope bridge spanning the little creek.

I couldn't get the whole structure in a shot, but it was
designed like an abstract ship, with crow's nest to the right,
and a lifeboat swing to the left.

And the second structure, while cool...

The second structure, an abstract teepee

Was overshadowed by the tallest swings I've ever seen in my life.  Fearless Joey was immediately drawn, and he got very indignant when I didn't go "higher! Higher! HIGHER!"  So I did let him go a little higher, and I couldn't believe how very long it took him to swing back to me after every push.

Someone had a very, very, very good time.

We were both sad to go, but I had two other kids to meet and a German lesson to study for.

But, on our way home, we did take time to pause at the playground closest to our house, Spielplatz 76.  It includes nothing more than a fountain and a ping pong table, but I love the implied acknowledgement that, while the other city-owned playgrounds are absolutely extraordinary, truly, a few rocks and a little running water are all you really need to keep a kid happy.

Spielplatz 76, on the edge of our complex: The kids are thrilled that
the city finally turned on the water.