Marie Luisa Jiinger actually only wanted to swim briefly during the lunch break.

She wanted to swim a few lengths in the "so beautifully long" pool at Brentanobad.

From the regular guest's point of view, Thursday was particularly suitable because it had rained shortly before and only a few people were in the pool.

In addition, it is “nicer in such weather, because you are already wet and it is easier to go into the water”.

But then Boris Zielinski blocked her way to the checkout – albeit with the kindest of intentions.

The managing director of the Frankfurt baths company did not even let Jiinger pay.

Instead, she was presented with a gift, a bouquet, a bouquet of flowers and a voucher for free visits to the swimming pool: that was the reward for visitor number 1,100,000 in the current year.

Frankfurt has never recorded so many bathers at such a time in the middle of the year since this data was recorded.

"It happened so quickly in the end that we were literally overwhelmed and therefore couldn't honor the one millionth visitor," said Zielinski.

That's why Marie Luisa Jiinger was lucky.

Of course, the good weather of the past few weeks has contributed greatly to the record number of visitors.

In the still short outdoor pool season alone, which only opened on June 1st in most of the eight municipal pools, 400,000 visitors have already come, although the school holidays have not yet begun.

This is also why the number of 250,000 children and young people under the age of 15 is a remarkable magnitude, according to the head of the pool.

"We suspect that after the many corona restrictions, people are particularly happy to be able to go to the swimming pool again without restrictions," said Zielinski in the Brentanobad, which with 80,000 guests is the most visited outdoor pool to date - before the 75,000 times visited Hausener Bad, which admittedly allowed swimmers back into the open-air pool at the end of April after dismantling the air dome.

City Councilor Mike Josef (SPD), who is responsible for the pools as head of sports, took the record number of visitors as an opportunity to reaffirm the city's policy: "Numbers like this also indicate that we don't do pools as a voluntary service like other municipalities did in the past should make them available, but should rather see them as a compulsory service.

These are services of general interest that a city has to offer.” Climate change is increasing the desire for ways to cool down, and the economic situation is forcing more and more families to spend their holidays in the city.

For this reason, despite rising costs, Josef is committed to the construction project in the Riedbad, for which the bathing establishments and the city, including support from the state, estimate 15 million euros.

Marie Luisa Jiinger, for whom "a visit to the outdoor pool is always a little vacation", meanwhile no longer went swimming.

Since handing over the ornaments and bouquet of flowers had taken too much time, the lunch break would otherwise have been too long.