Furless Austrians

I have just returned from a much needed break from Moscow. Our destination was Leoben in Austria (see link). The first thing you notice on arriving in Austria is the fresh air, the lack of people and the excellent motorways (highways/freeways).

Austrians have excellent, fast, new and highly efficient motorways that are a joy to drive on. Austria is a country I love to visit. Not necessarily for the Austrians but more for the country itself. The nature, especially in the mountains and countryside, is truly beautiful. Austrians can seem a bit snobby at times, although I have met many nice Austrians. The older generation seem to have this attitude towards foreigners. We went to one of the many spas or 'Wellness Centres' as they are called, that are are dotted across Austria. They range in price but we found the spa we went to, online and for a very good price. However, when you live away from your home country and have a family, you will also have to pay for a hire car which does push up the price of a holiday. You could use the train but little kids come with all kinds of equipment plus you will have a lot of baggage to carry if you use the train.

What I want to write about here, is the Austrian preference for going naked. At the spas they have wet areas where you can take a sauna, wet steam or dry room heat. Once you have finished your sweating, you can then sit in freezing water or relax on a chair in the nude, letting it all flop out. Being a typical English man and perhaps a bit shy, I prefer to keep my swimming shorts on. This is rather taboo behavior in Austria. At some spas you can be told off by staff at the spa for not being naked. Austrians love to let it all hang out and to let the wind blow through their peaks and valleys.

The human body comes in all shapes, sizes and colours. The older I get the more ridiculous I realize the human body is. Of course some can be beautiful but generally I find it slightly ridiculous including my own body. At the spa, there were naked men and women of all ages, gravity and time causes bodily parts to drop and hang low on men and women and is not a pretty sight. Some had tattoos and some were furless. When I say furless, I mean hair free down stairs, (shaved), 'pubeless'.  I have never understood this obsession some people have to shave all their pubic hair off. This applies to men and women. Its natural for women to shave their legs and under their arms but to do other areas is just weird. It's even stranger for men. Some men at the spa sat on sun chairs, legs wide open with a hairless undercarriage, sausage pointing north, without a care in the world. Not a pleasant sight when you are drinking or eating a cheese sandwich.

At the spa, there was an eating area and a bar in the 'naked zone'. In between your steaming, you could sit at a table, drink a beer or cappuccino and if you felt hungry eat a cheese sandwich. I did not eat and that's all that was on offer in the way of snacks. Across from my table and outside, as I drank my coffee, I could see a very large open air sauna situated up some steps near a pool. As I sat there sipping my cappuccino, a horrible sight hit my steamed eyes. Looking through the window, I could see large groups of naked Austrian men and women standing and waiting in line up the steps to the showers outside the sauna. They were of all ages, shapes and sizes, fat, thin, pink, wrinkled, smooth, hairy and furless. They waited in line chatting in German in the fresh mountain sunshine. An image and thought hit me, like a freight train from hell. They looked like concentration camp victims waiting for their death showers. Austria was well known in the Nazi occupation for death camps and had a few (49 in fact) camps, such as Mauthausen (see link) where many people tragically died. I know this image is an awful one and I am not suggesting for a moment that Austrians today are 'Nazis', but the image terrified me and seemed very ironic to me. I grabbed my towel, drank my cappuccino and left feeling sick with the image stuck in my head. A few years ago, I visited Auschwitz in Poland and it disturbed me for many months after. I also saw Schindler's list which was a very moving film and I recommend it to anyone.

If you can get over any hang ups and shyness about going naked at a spa and avoid having awful images like the one I had (as described above), then go to Austria from Moscow and get naked, go to a spa and visit the mountains. You can fly directly to Vienna and the flight time is only about three hours. Rent a car and head for the mountains. Breath in sweet fresh air, enjoy the countryside, pine trees and lakes. Take a walk and end the day with a swim or sauna at your hotel and forget all about Moscow or wherever you came from. Austrian food is excellent and the beer is very drinkable. I have always wanted to take a train across Austria and up to the alps to enjoy the beautiful scenery, green grass and pine trees and I intend to do this very soon. Austrian trains are clean, modern and highly efficient. The trip will be slow but relaxing and fun.

A spa trip washes away the dirt and grime from your body and mind and is just the tonic, after spending months or years in a place like Moscow or any other big dirty city. Throw away your swimming shorts or bikini and let the wind and steam caress your body. When everyone else is naked, it seems stupid not to be, don't be shy and try it. Despite my naked nerves, I threw off my shorts with carefree abandon and joined them. I sat in the sauna sandwiched in between a very large man and fat woman with tits down to her knees. My dreams of sitting next two curvy twenty year old beauties, were dashed liked water on the hot coals.

After about 15 minutes, I felt more relaxed about being nude, although I really don't plan to make this a regular activity! There were no naked beauties in the naked zone, but I left with a clean mind and a very clean body. I have never understood 'Naturism' but I can see why some people may like it. Enough said.

Note: If you are furless, that's your freedom and your choice. Respect to you my furless friend. I also want to say I do not consider Austrians to be Nazis!

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