Just add water …
Thermal baths are ‘big’ in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, as is much of their clientele to the extent that I feel positively slim when I saunter to the local spa on visits to my family in Spielberg. I always think it ironic that such health spas sell a lot of beer and jumbo portions of cake; goods that are hardly commensurate with the philosophy of ein Kur machen.
At the moment, my sister’s local thermalbäder requires swimwear to be worn in its spa pools as you are massaged (pummelled!) by high pressure water jets. That is a good thing, because I am too culturally hidebound (ie British) to take advantage of its saunas which require you to strip off completely (although plans are afoot to create a separate ‘nude only’ spa pool at the Albtherme – surely something to be avoided at all costs, but handy inspiration for this week’s limerick).
So, in honour of the unadorned Teutonic approach to saunas and health spas, an approach that also encompasses both beer and Kaffee und Kuchen, I give you:
When a Teutonic torso arose
I was tempted to yell: “Thar she blows!”
‘Cos the scene that I viewed
Was an adipose nude
Afloat in a supine repose.
