Dear DOMAI
Conversions to Public Nudity
I moved to Germany with my girlfriend in 1993. Shortly after arriving in Germany, we decided to get married and she went back to her native Brazil to make arrangements for our wedding.
I was working and stayed in Germany. It was a hot Summer back in 1993 and so at the weekends I took to enjoying beer gardens, cycling and outdoor swimming. A friend of mine recommended a nearby lake with swimming facilities and I went up there. On arrival, I discovered that the lake was dividied into a nude and textile swimming area. Being shy back then, I was definitely staying in the textile area.
It was a glorious sunny day and the place was filling up fast. After soaking up some sun, I needed a swim and went down to the lake. From here, there was quite an easy view beyond the bamboo fence to the nudist area and I was entrigued to see hundreds of nude bodies over there.
At lunchtime I went up to the kiosk selling, this is Germany after all, beer and sausages and settled down with my Sunday paper. The kiosk was on the boundary by the bamboo fence with outlets to tables on each side. After a while a man interrupted my reading, asking if he and his family could share the table I had to myself. I said "Of course" and then noticed he had a towel tied around his waist. He commented in good English "We are on the nudist side, but it is too full. Do you mind if we are nude here?" I shrugged. I guess I was kind of freaked by a 50 year old guy asking if he could get nude at my table, but I tried to treat it as natural and said it was fine.
I couldn't help watching as he took off his towel and arranged it on a chair. I don't think I'ld ever seen a fully tanned body up so close before. He shouted and his wife and daughter came through and joined the table. They were both draped in large beach towels, which they quickly removed and arranged. Now, if I had been intrigued to watch the guy, I was even more pleased to watch the two ladies. The daughter must have been about 20 and was quite discreet, but with a lovely figure. The mother, on the other hand, was as comfortable being nude as she would have been clothed. She was chatty and friendly, not at all self conscious and I found myself admiring her confidence in her mature figure and natural state. Later on, after they left, I decided to go for it and try the nudist area myself. I was very self conscious at first, but soon relaxed and enjoyed the freedom of sunning and bathing nude, whilst also enjoying the view of hundreds of others doing the same. I went back many times that Summer.
A few months later, we had married and my wife was back with me in Germany. It was winter and we went to an indoor pool complex one Saturday evening. Our German was pretty bad at that time and we had no idea what the signs meant that said "19:00 FKK". At 7 pm we discovered soon enough. Following an announcement we noticed everyone around us was removing their swimming costumes! It was surprisingly relaxed, a touch exciting and a touch scary! A pool attendant came over to us a few minutes later and told us that it was now "Frei Korper Kultur" time... in other words... go nude or leave.
My wife had never gone nude in public before and was not intending to start now. She had a good Catholic upbringing in South America and this was not part of it. So, she told the attendant we'ld paid a large entrance fee about half an hour ago and we wanted our money back if we had to leave. He told us that this was impossible and that it was clearly signed that it was nudist time and they could not be responsible for us not speaking much German.
I'ld told my wife of my nudist experiences in the Summer and she was curious, quite relaxed but said it was not for her. When the lifeguard insisted again we strip or leave, she suddenly told me to strip. Then she wrapped a towel around herself and told the guard that surely this was ok...her costume was not visible and I was nude. The guard was not having it at all. I looked at him and it suddenly occured to me that this guy was not only intending to enforce the rules, but that he was enjoying it. Partially he was enjoying our strung up squirming amidst all the other nude guests, but there was more, he was clearly admiring my wife and willing her to get nude.
I should tell you a bit about my wife. She's lovely. Carries a few extra pounds, but has the curves to carry it off. Think Salma Hayek with a few extra pounds. So, the guard was staring at her and her latin temperament started to rise. Eventually she said something like "OK, you don't think I can get nude? Hold the towel!" and she handed the guy her towel, then unclasped her bikini top and said "There you go. Happy now?". I can tell you the guy was happy to see her uncover her breasts and his first answer was "Oh yes" but he quickly corrected himself and said "No, nude only, not topless". In a flash my wife stepped out of her bikini bottoms and was nude.
Looking around, we noticed our conversation had attracted some attention and there were quite a few casual nudists watching us. This made us self conscious and we decided to go for a swim. I noticed a few people watching us, particularly admiring my wife as we hit the pool and I found myself enjoying this. Not only were we enjoying the freedom of swimming nude, we were surrounded by others doing the same and they were enjoying the sight of my lovely wife, not in a leery dirty old man way, just admiring a nude human form as one admires a statue.
After being there for an hour or so, we both felt comfortable and my wife said she could now see why I had enjoyed nudism so much that Summer. She still felt there was no need to always go nude, but that it was fine sometimes in the right setting.
Over the years we've gone nude on various occasions in various settings. My wife, carrying those few extra pounds, often feels that people are less judgemental at nudist locations. I think most people would just rather admire her breasts than look at her stomach! We've had various other experiences mainly about converting visiting guests to try nudism, with a surprisingly high success rate, but that's probably the subject of another story!
PH
poohharmer [at] yahoo.co.uk
