Nature Still Makes The Best Toys

In the past three months, Vanessa has developed into the family athlete. From which generation in the family tree she inherits this gene, fully dorment in her two hapless parents, we cannot tell. But whatever the source, Vanessa knows no greater joy than when she is climbing. Trees. Boulders. Ropes. And her favourite is rock-climbing walls. It's the first thing she heads for at any playground. So as a weekend treat, I take the kids to a rock-climbing gym I found in Salzburg.   Three jaws drop when we enter the gym.  Some of these walls are five storeys high.  Most are meant for pros, to be attempted only with ropes, harness, and a spotter on the ground.  But enough of them are kid-friendly to be worth the hefty admission.  The girls climb hesitatingly at first but grow bolder when they learn to trust the foam-padded floor beneath them.

Time for a picnic lunch. As luck would have it, a beautiful brook empties into the Salzach river just outside the rock-climbing gym, with miniature stone beaches on either side of the delta. Instant playground! We'd paid 26 euros for two hours of indoor rock climbing, which required shoe rental. We paid 0 euros for an equal amount of outdoor rock climbing and river play, all in bare feet. Which was the better deal? Watching them play in the river with timeless abandon reminds me yet again that the best things in life are free, that unstructured play is the best play, and that even in the G6 wireless age, nature still makes the best toys.