July 19, 2007: Floating swimming pool

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not only Germany.

Check out this floating swimming pool that was spotted on the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, where temperatures have been unseasonably warm. It's called Badeschiff ("bathing ship"), and it's an old barge that's been converted into a public swimming hole. Unfortunately the Spree is much too polluted to swim in, hence the need for a floating pool.

Also in Brooklyn, NY.

The "Floating Pool Lady" is located at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy on an old barge -- very similar to the one in Berlin. However, Germany's pool is stationary, while Brooklyn's is free-roaming, with plans to swim to "pool-deprived Williamsburg or South Bronx, so residents there can take a dip," according to the Brooklyn Paper.

The German one is covered in cold weather.