Organizing
our son’s 13th BDay party this year had been more arduous than before. I don’t know enough attractive locations here
in Berlin that could captivate the interest of my 13 year old son, besides the
Lasertag Arena.
In addition, he’s now entering the “Terrible Teen” age and I’m persuaded that
he would feel too old for cute partyware... I needed to come up with something
fun, original and memorable, but not too
overwhelming for me.
After
some hours spent searching for ideas, I came up with a reasonable plan: I told
him to invite 2-3 guests of his choice for a special day trip to Tropical Island Resort, just 40 minutes away from Berlin. It is the world’s largest freestanding buildings
(the world's largest single hall without supporting pillars inside), standing on
an inconspicuous area on the way to Dresden.
It’s
majestic: the shiny silver dome that soars over the landscape is so tall (107 m
tall and 360 metres long) that the Statue of Liberty in New York (93 m) and the
Eiffel Tower in Paris (322 m) could be in it.
It covers
an area of the size of several football stadiums and the indoor pool is the
size of four Olympic pools. One of the building’s sides is entirely covered by a transparent film to let the daylight in.
The
hall accommodates gardens, swamps, lagoons, the world’s largest indoor tropical
forest, sandy beaches with hundreds of coconut palms, a 9 story tall water
slide, trampolines, climbing walls, race toy cars, and canoe, basketball, table
tennis, and a castle build with more than 2.3 thousand Lego blocks, in addition
to myriads of shops, restaurants, bars, hotels, tents, lodges, whirlpool, and
even a hot air balloon.
Inside
the hall, the air temperature never drops below 26 °C (79 degree Fahrenheit)
and water in the pools has nice 28-31 degrees, so even the youngest can splash
around at will.
The
history of this monumental hangar is quite impressive.
It
all started in 1938 when Germany began to develop the Brand-Briesen Airfield
for the Luftwaffe's Brand-Guben Pilot Training School, the
aerial warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht (unified armed force) during
World War II.
When
in May 1945 The Red Army overran the site, they created the first and largest
military airports in the German Democratic Republic.
The USSR stationed
here the Su-24 Fencers, a type of land-based strike aircraft capable of being
configured with nuclear weapons.
In addition to its function as a military
airport, the site also served as an airport for state visits: it was here that,
on October 17, 1963, a Russian Tupolev airliner landed carrying the cosmonauts
Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin.
With the reunification of East Germany in 1989/90, the Soviet Army agreed to return to the Federal Government of Germany all military bases, including the Brand Briesen Airfield. Shortly after, in 1998, a German company, Cargolifter AG, bought the former Soviet Air force base military airfield to use it as a hangar for giant airships.
The renovated hangar (renamed Aerium) took the commission of building the semi-rigid airship CL160, a super-heavy lift cargo airship, designed to transport very heavy objects and deliver them to difficult locations, such as mountainous or jungle terrain where traditional logistics would struggle, just as a “flying crane”.
Unfortunately, none of this giant zeppelin was ever built since the company went bankrupt in 2002 and the hangar hangar fell into disuse.
Then,
in 2004, the hangar was purchased by a Malaysan
company with the aim of building a year-round tropical paradise (a
project initially considered foolish, given its location). That’s how it became
this incredible theme park!
On
arrival, we received a chip bracelet, pre-charged with enough money to pay for
all the attraction and the food: it works as a credit card strapped to your arm
such that you don’t need to carry around your locker key nor your wallet… Smart
way to encourage spending money while in your swimsuit!
We
entered the locker rooms (a maze made of thousands perfectly aligned lockers)
and easily changed into our swimming suits. Presuming that 8 hours of
unsupervised free time would be abundantly gratifying, we agreed with the boys
to meeting at 6 pm. Unexpectedly, no one argued! Then we waved the guys good
bye and we hit the beach!
During
the day, we barely saw the 3 boys: they were busy exploring every single attraction
in the Tropical World area. Occasionally we crossed our path while waiting in
line for the water slides but that’s about it.
After
a couple of relaxing hours, Giuseppe and I resolved to visit the Tropical Sauna
& Spa complex: here saunas of all
type, massages, meditation, complete relaxation and tranquility (you name it!)
welcome you. Of course, being this Germany, the attitude towards public nudity
is way more relaxed than in USA. For instance, they specifically request to
uncover yourself while entering the sauna:
The
towels are mainly used to sit down and protect your bare behind. Of course, walking
around nude in unfamiliar situations is not something we do on a daily basis
but as soon as we entered the spa complex we saw dozens of buck naked adults,
teens and kids relaxing in the pools, rinsing in the showers, sipping their
drinks. No one paid too much attention to us, at least not more than a passing
glance.
After
our audacious experience into the nude, we returned to our normal clothed
selves, we put our suits back and we reappeared in the ordinary world.
When we met with our now teenager kid and his two buddies, my
beloved son showed me his fresh tattoo!
Thankfully we set a limit on the chip
bracelet charge! I can’t imagine how many other foolish idea he would
have, if provided with an unlimited amount of money!
“When the cat's away, the mice will play”...
Happy B-Day, Josh!
