Time in the park

I love the park spaces in Europe.  They are always well used and full of interesting people to watch.  I guess when you live in big cities and few people have their own yards, the parks are a great get away.  In Geneva and Zurich in particular I noticed a ton of people picnicking in the parks  (this was clearly not encouraged in Venice with all the "no picnic" signs in nice resting places along the canals - perhaps this is to avoid too much trash in the canals??)  There were lots of business people grabbing lunch outdoors.

In Zurich we had some time to kill before our city bus tour, so David, Delaney and I went to a nearby park to eat and play.  Delaney naturally made friends with a little girl who was playing on the swings.  They had a fun time together.  Language barriers do not seem to present much of a problem for her : )

Two of the parks we were in had large chess sets for public use.  The one in Geneva was in use often with multiple boards.  This one in Zurich was being used by some amatuers when we were there.  

One of the strangest things I observed in the park in Zurich was a machine the size of a riding lawnmower being driven over the gravel walkways.  It had a device attached in front that had steam flowing out of it.  It was not raking the gravel, just steaming it.  My best guess is that the steam killed the small weeds that were growing up in the gravel.  Talk about a specialized piece of machinery!