Seems like an easy and universal-enough activity to not have to jump through the daunting hoops of cultural differences, right? It can be an uncomfortable experience. I am a native of the city of Auxerre, Burgundy, in France. It sits in the middle of the Burgundian hills, known for their excellent wines. It has four indoor heated pools with a jacuzzi, and three outside pools including an Olympic-sized one with a long, swirly slide.
It is an extravagantly large — for its town — aquatic facility, built on the green banks of the river Yonne. People travel from surrounding towns and villages to spend the day there, sunbathe on its beautiful lawns and snack at its eatery, when they are not swimming. You pay a small fee to get a bracelet which gives you access to the facilities.
There's nothing tricky, except for the bathing suit rules. I have gone with my husband and son, who refuse to wear to Speedos, to many pools and beaches and beaches in France where board shorts were not a problem. They were not the only males not wearing Speedos and no one cared.
In sum, no worries at the beach, yes wear Speedos at public pools, and it depends on the rules of the place for resort pools. You may also see this enforced at water parks and the campgrounds, as noted above. Buy in advance, as it will be cheaper and you'll be able to purchase square cut suits with more coverage and less "snuggling".
For the not so well informed me, and possibly others what is the rationale for requiring speedos.? The rule isn't actually "must be speedos" and certainly isn't "must be the banana hammock". The rule is that you can't wear anything that has pockets, or can be worn on the street. This includes boardshorts. You can even wear knee length swimming suits traithlete style I swim with the the man who designs Huub swimwear, and he tests his stuff at the local pool.
Word of warning - if you wear triathlete style trunks you should be able to walk the walk. The French take their swimming seriously. This is the rationale and IMHO, it makes sense. As for not following "stupid" rules, when in Rome do as I will eat raw beef in France, not in the United States though. But I do wear trunks style swimmers in whatever strech fabric is en mode - much less revealling than speedos.
Of course the actual risk to sanitation of a pool has nothing to do with 'dust' from the street but everything to do with how clean the body inside the suit is; dangerous pool contamination is Ecoli and his friends. No one is making sure that people take a soapy shower before entry. Men can usually wear any close fitting swim trunk not just speedos. I watched to see if this was an etiquette across international waters but not to my surprise, observed some form of organized chaos typical of France.
Suddenly I noticed one last unexplored area, one that was surely more our speed. It was equipped with a steam room, a pool with a waterfall flowing into it, a sauna, and a jacuzzi. All which we were happily tried in that order. As we settled into the last of the series, the jacuzzi, we were shortly joined by a middle-aged gentleman and an older lady. Michael and I were softly talking which piqued the interest of our jacuzzi-mates. Where were we from? What we were doing in Toulouse? What were two Americans on vacation doing at the pool?
Better than Paris, no? It was day 3, our last day in Toulouse, and we had been surprised from the get-go about how friendly the residents of Toulouse were. Our conversation continued. The man was eager to remark that Americans only eat hamburgers and drink coca translation: Coke , and went on to express surprise that we were not overweight like our fellow countrymen.
Last week, as I was sorting through laundry to bring down to wash in our Manhattan apartment building, a speedo and two black swim caps tumbled out of a miscellaneous pile. They are the physical mementos we have from our French public pool experience. That man was right — we did love Toulouse, and hope to return one day. And we got to try out a public pool in France there. Ever experienced swimming at a public pool in France? Stay up to date with everything Oui In France!
Ha ha Sara, this made me chuckle! Such a funny thing to do on your last hurrah! Aquaboulevard in Paris is pretty good. Has anyone else noticed that public swimming pools in France insist on fellas wearing Speedos and ban wearing shorts?
The last one I visited has Speedos to rent — eek. What is that all about? Sounds a bit odd. It got too hot, so we got the
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