Sonntag, Juli 09, 2006

The Lady of the Lake...

This sunny summer Sunday afternoon I went to my lake for three hours - one of my favorite places in Leipzig.
Go ahead, enlarge the fotos and find you hunches confirmed...

Here is the lake where I go swimming and relax. It is only a 10 minute bike ride from my apartment. I whiz through forests and past streams to get to this oasis. Last summer I was swimming in it when something wrapped around my ankle and didn't let go. I was a little scared. Friends said it was a water nymph, so I call her "the Lady of the Lake." She hasn't grabbed me yet this summer, and I've been there often, so I hope she isn't mad at me. As you see from two of these pictures, the attire is not like at a Texas lake. This is typical east Germany - this way you drop all class distinctions and have the proletariat on equal "ground", if you know what I mean. Typically I swim two or three rounds in the lake, read the paper or a book, snack on some fruit, and soak up sun for two to four hours about three times a week. This lake has a name: Wolfswinkler See, or "der Lauerbad." Nur 10 Min. von meiner Wohnung enfernt, radle ich durch Wald und an Flüsschen vorbei, um an dieser Oase zu sonnen und baden. Letzten Sommer schwamm ich als etwas mein Fußgelenk anfasste und nicht loslassen wollte. Freunde lachten, das sei eine Wassernymphe, die ich in die "Lady of the Lake" umbenannte. Diesen Sommer hat sie noch nicht zugeschlagen, vielleicht ist sie böse auf mich. 2 Fotos zeigen hier typische FKK Gewohnheiten im Osten - so zeigt man hier Solidarität und lässt Klassenunterschiede "fallen"...

2 Kommentare:

Chris hat gesagt…

Are there any non-nudist beaches in Germany or is that the standard mode of attire?

Euromark hat gesagt…

They don't make this distinction here. For Germans - and especially for east Germans - all areas of any beach or lake can be nudist or non-nudist. There is no rule, because nobody cares whether you have something or nothing on. So, some wear things, and others wear nothing, and nobody thinks twice about it. Many Christians also see no issue here - I know Lutherans, Catholics, and members of various free churches who love swimming and sunning with no tan lines. The sun is milder here than in Texas, at least, so we don't have the N.Z. issue with sunburn.