Winter bathing ship
Dec. 4th, 2006 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusI love Berlin! Where else could you wander around a space station-like "winter bathing ship" filled with naked men and women?
Hisae and I stumbled across this wonderful structure by chance. We'd been shopping at the Treptower Market (where I found a lovely wig), and came out to look at the river. I'd hung out here in the late summer with friends, sipping mojitos on artificial sand and watching people swimming in the elegant pine pool that floats in the river. But for the winter the Arena's Spree beach complex has suddenly sprouted three curved greenhouse covers. For €12 (a couple more if you rent dressing gown, flip-flops and a towel) you can spend three hours lazing about, going from the sauna to the big cool pool, getting a massage, or just sipping weissbier lying on a big white reclining chair in a fluffy hooded gown.
We're totally used to bathing in sentos in Japan, splitting up at the door and filing into the men's and women's sections with a "See you in 30 minutes!". Here, though, you can stick together the whole time, swimming naked under a full moon (the pool has outdoor edges) or sweating in the eucalyptus-scented steam of the sauna cabins while gazing out over the Spree.
My first sight, as I went to shower, was a flabby naked woman with a hedge of hair between her legs. But it soon felt pretty natural -- or naturist -- to be mingling in the nude with strangers. There were lots of gay men there, and some single middle-aged men who were definitely scoping the women out as they lay in their deck chairs with blankets over them. But mostly the longstanding German tradition of nude lake bathing, or public park nudity, made everything totally smooth. I wonder if you could introduce mixed nude bathing at the new, rather similar-looking Piscine Josephine Baker in Paris? It seems to me that the fact that women are more sexualized in Paris makes the city less sexy, because stuff like this would just be too charged to happen.
There were interesting cultural contrasts in the sauna, though. When I stepped in naked, a naked German told me, in a relaxed sort of way, that the regulations state that you should bring a towel to sit on "to protect the wood from your sweat". (At first I thought he was telling me not to have an erection.) A British couple soon arrived, dropping the towels wrapped around the important bits of their bodies only when they were settled on the bench. Next an American arrived. He kept his towel tightly tied around his midriff the whole time.
Different cultures, different attitudes to the body. The British are a bit uptight, but willing to unwind in the right context. The Americans stay in their comfort zone -- clothing. The Germans are totally relaxed -- as long as you follow the rules. You could walk naked down the street in Berlin... as long as you stopped at the red man.
As for Hisae, she felt a bit strange. She's used to being naked in front of females at the sento in Japan, but in front of men (some of them looking up from their magazines to watch) it felt odd. It would have been worse if they were Japanese, she says. Modern Japanese -- in a sort of "Adam and Eve realised they were naked" way -- have lost their mixed bathing habits; they were phased out at the end of the 19th century when Commander Perry and his men let the Japanese authorities know they considered mixed bathing indecent. Contra Perry, I consider it a very civilized habit. Hisae and I cycled home in the pink of health, resolving to come back to the badeschiff at least twice a week until mid-April, when it reverts to a normal -- and clothed -- beach.
Hisae and I stumbled across this wonderful structure by chance. We'd been shopping at the Treptower Market (where I found a lovely wig), and came out to look at the river. I'd hung out here in the late summer with friends, sipping mojitos on artificial sand and watching people swimming in the elegant pine pool that floats in the river. But for the winter the Arena's Spree beach complex has suddenly sprouted three curved greenhouse covers. For €12 (a couple more if you rent dressing gown, flip-flops and a towel) you can spend three hours lazing about, going from the sauna to the big cool pool, getting a massage, or just sipping weissbier lying on a big white reclining chair in a fluffy hooded gown.
We're totally used to bathing in sentos in Japan, splitting up at the door and filing into the men's and women's sections with a "See you in 30 minutes!". Here, though, you can stick together the whole time, swimming naked under a full moon (the pool has outdoor edges) or sweating in the eucalyptus-scented steam of the sauna cabins while gazing out over the Spree.
My first sight, as I went to shower, was a flabby naked woman with a hedge of hair between her legs. But it soon felt pretty natural -- or naturist -- to be mingling in the nude with strangers. There were lots of gay men there, and some single middle-aged men who were definitely scoping the women out as they lay in their deck chairs with blankets over them. But mostly the longstanding German tradition of nude lake bathing, or public park nudity, made everything totally smooth. I wonder if you could introduce mixed nude bathing at the new, rather similar-looking Piscine Josephine Baker in Paris? It seems to me that the fact that women are more sexualized in Paris makes the city less sexy, because stuff like this would just be too charged to happen.
There were interesting cultural contrasts in the sauna, though. When I stepped in naked, a naked German told me, in a relaxed sort of way, that the regulations state that you should bring a towel to sit on "to protect the wood from your sweat". (At first I thought he was telling me not to have an erection.) A British couple soon arrived, dropping the towels wrapped around the important bits of their bodies only when they were settled on the bench. Next an American arrived. He kept his towel tightly tied around his midriff the whole time.
Different cultures, different attitudes to the body. The British are a bit uptight, but willing to unwind in the right context. The Americans stay in their comfort zone -- clothing. The Germans are totally relaxed -- as long as you follow the rules. You could walk naked down the street in Berlin... as long as you stopped at the red man.
As for Hisae, she felt a bit strange. She's used to being naked in front of females at the sento in Japan, but in front of men (some of them looking up from their magazines to watch) it felt odd. It would have been worse if they were Japanese, she says. Modern Japanese -- in a sort of "Adam and Eve realised they were naked" way -- have lost their mixed bathing habits; they were phased out at the end of the 19th century when Commander Perry and his men let the Japanese authorities know they considered mixed bathing indecent. Contra Perry, I consider it a very civilized habit. Hisae and I cycled home in the pink of health, resolving to come back to the badeschiff at least twice a week until mid-April, when it reverts to a normal -- and clothed -- beach.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 08:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 08:39 pm (UTC)Beautiful post. Berlin seems like an ever inspiering enviornment.-Jed
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 08:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 08:59 pm (UTC)(Have you thought of writing up a travel guide to Berlin for like-minded people? Or even putting a wiki page somewhere listing things to visit if you're the kind of person who reads Click Opera.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:48 pm (UTC)Cute !
Date: 2006-12-03 09:48 pm (UTC)Except when at he pool ... what will you be there ? Adorned Adam ?
xxx Svetie
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:50 pm (UTC)Wha? Okay, color me skeptical here, but how does one naval commander change that? Was there another, larger cultural change afoot, and Perry's black fleet just a convenient name to hang it on?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 09:58 pm (UTC)It's not all down to Perry, I'm really using his name metonymically. Nakedness in Japan (http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=365&pID=960) on the Japan Vistor website tells the story:
"In contemporary Japanese society nudity occupies a similar position as in Western societies, that is to say, the naked human body is considered sexual with the often attendant emotions of embarrassment and shame.... However, pre-modern Japan was quite different with nudity and semi-nudity being commonplace. In the towns and cities, laborers, rickshaw drivers, etc would wear only a loincloth during the warm weather, and women would be often bare-breasted.
"Attitudes began to change towards the end of the 19th century. The Japanese government needed to appear "civilized" to the Western powers so that the unequal treaties Japan was forced to sign could be repealed. Many new laws were passed to change the appearance of Japan to the gaze of the West. In 1872 a law was passed in Tokyo prohibiting public nudity, mixed bathing..."
Here's a picture of a public bath in Simoda (http://www.brunias.com/images/pub-bath-simoda.jpg) before this legislation was passed.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 10:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 10:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 11:22 pm (UTC)But then I always was rather fond of the Victorian 'fake-it-till-you-make-it' attitude of social development and their division of public and private space.
Vibin' with Japan
Date: 2006-12-04 02:23 am (UTC)D in Setagaya
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 02:40 am (UTC)this reminds me of my first trip to the ob/gyn after moving to berlin from california a few years ago. i was mortified when they told me to wear thick socks and bring a towel for my visit. it took many visits for me to become used to the "naked from the waste down" doctor visits, in which i sat on my towel while my doctor chatted with me about current events and this and that. i understand when hisae says that it would have been worse to be stared at by japanese instead of germans. i would have called the police if my american doctor thought he could engage me in conversation while i was wearing no bottoms (of course the combination of top/no bottom plus thick socks is enough to intimidate even the most cosmopolitan of americans)...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 03:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 04:13 am (UTC)the sauna in the middle of lake geneva is wonderful too. unchanged since probably when the league of nations was formed.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 05:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 05:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:01 am (UTC); - )
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 07:04 am (UTC)i live in the u.s. and my gynos always chat it up while their poking around. i think it's supposed to make you feel more comfortable, or maybe make them feel more comfortable.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 11:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 11:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 12:00 pm (UTC)... without seeing you, actually. Ha! So maybe you are making up these stories?
der.
* A while ago you had a picture here of the only Graniph T-Shirt I own.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 12:58 pm (UTC)Swiss-French television, Télévision Suisse Romande, ran a wonderful multipart documentary 4 years ago or so about the Bains and its users, some of them regular users for over 60 years. It was filmed by Bertrand Theubet and called "Bains des Pâquis - Paradis". Couldn't find a good link to it, though.
The Bains' website is here: http://www.bains-des-paquis.ch/
thank you again,
luc
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 03:45 pm (UTC)I had a dream about visiting a few nights back, but received no details about the weather.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 04:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:29 pm (UTC)i was there for a few days in september this year, the water was cold enough for a great after-sauna dip though. geneva, quite unique. but then with all that stuff going on it should be.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 06:49 pm (UTC)no bottoms
Date: 2006-12-04 08:11 pm (UTC)what i meant to comment on was the different situations in which people feel comfortable with being nude. i also mentioned this story because i didn't feel quite as embarrassed because the doctor wasn't american, and because i knew that she didn't think anything of nudity at all (she grew up in east germany, a place even more into the nude thing than west germany)...
and clearly even momus was weirded out by the idea of bringing your own towel..
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-04 11:49 pm (UTC)der.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 02:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 02:18 am (UTC)Robert
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 07:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 07:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 09:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-05 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-07 11:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-14 04:46 pm (UTC)- Sir, would you please ease off your erection? It´s not allowed, I´m afraid.
- Yes, well, let me think on something unerotic... No, it´s not working. Wait, I know, give me a minute...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-14 10:49 pm (UTC)