After a poor start to the season due to a rainy may and delayed opening because of ground work, the outdoor pool in herzogenaurach can now no longer complain about a lack of visitors. "Temperatures like in africa, said uschi rattmann on wednesday afternoon.
When summer begins in the aurach city, full pools and sunbathing lawns as well as waiting times at the ticket office of up to one hour are the order of the day. However, the open-air pool counteracts the rush with a second ticket office.
At 6 o’clock in the morning, when herzogenaurach is still asleep, the open-air swimming pool is already open for business. The cleaning of the pool with a special robot, which travels the whole night over the bottom of the pool, the rinsing of the filter systems and the disinfection of the showers and changing rooms are pending. It takes an hour for the team of lifeguards and cleaners to get the outdoor pool ready for daily use. This includes such things as control of the lawn and collection of found objects.
The robot also has to reappear in time to clean up and its long cable from lifeguard gunther bruggemann, who just steered it along the edge of the pool by remote control. His next mission comes in the evening, when there is no one left in the water. Then he will again provide the whole night for cleanliness under water.
At the same time, rescue swimmer dominik maier mows the small lawns below the showers and spinte. "They won’t get there with the big lawn tractor. I’ll have to do that with the little one." he says as he puts on long pants and a sweater. "So that the mosquitoes do not bite me!"
Then it’s 8 o’clock and the open-air pool opens its doors to the first visitors. On thursdays and tuesdays already at 7 o’clock, and not even five minutes later the first 20 visitors are already swimming in the just so peacefully lying water.
A group of young girls arrives at around 10 a.M. In the shade at almost 30 degrees celsius. Part of the 5. Classes of the secondary school have sports. "With this heat, you can only go to the open-air pool", tells marion spitz, sports teacher of the 10- to 13-year-old girls. They obviously like the fact that they can splash around in the open-air pool instead of running hurdles or jumping long distances, and that they can cool off and refresh themselves before the two hours of lessons still ahead of them.
After school closes at around 3 p.M., it becomes much more crowded on wednesday afternoons. One after the other, people crowded into the refreshing water. In the non-swimmer area it is like in a battery, and also on the sunbathing lawn the bathers lie like herrings.
The rush of visitors is not only good for the guests. The kiosk, which sells snacks and drinks, is simply overstretched on days like these. "I stood in line for three quarters of an hour to get my bike", tells thomas adler sweating. And felix rheder is also happy when, after more than half an hour, he can finally enjoy his fries.
However, there can be no complaints in herzogenaurach about prices that are too high. The open-air swimming pool in herzogenaurach is one of the most affordable in the surrounding area. And it’s not only at the kiosk that people stand their legs in their stomachs. Even at the box office on tuesday, people had to wait in line for up to one hour.
On wednesday they reacted to the unacceptable conditions of the previous day. An additional cashier’s desk was set up temporarily and significantly shortened waiting times. "Today it’s much better at the checkout. All you have to do is pay and you can get in without having to push a ticket into the turnstile, reports thomas adler delighted.
He and many others from herzogenaurach see the outdoor pool as the only sensible leisure activity for such hot days as this week. So we can only hope that the weather will hold out longer, that the announced rain will not fall and that herzogenaurach can continue to swim in its open-air pool.