Ladies night and newfound pleasures

I've made a new discovery in Geneva. That's right, two and a half years of literally walking within feet of this place EVERY SINGLE DAY, never knowing that I had yet to discover the hottest place in town. Literally ... like 180 degrees Fahrenheit hot.

We had a bit of a discussion this evening whether the culture of community baths, saunas, hammams, etc. exists in the States, and have come to no certain conclusion. But I am quite certain indeed that hammams/Turkish baths will fall into that category of "Top 5 things I will miss most about Europe" if ever I head elsewhere.

They are fabulous.

A couple of weeks ago we checked out the baths in Yverdon les Bains for the first time. Final verdict? Great baths, easy access from Geneva, 30 bucks a pop and stuck with a time limit. (Like most places.) In my book the winner is still Leukerbad, with its 360 degree mountain views, but my wallet doesn't seem to be in frequent agreement.

Enter Bains des Paquis. 17 bucks, no time limit, three steps away from work, built ON the lake, best food in town and Tuesdays blocked out for women only.

A little slice of heaven.

Where else can you sit in the sauna and peer out of custom made windows that provide a view out over the lake across the Geneva night skyline, snowy mountains and glowing cityscape alike?

Where else can you sit in a steamy hammam with bay windows and feel like you are floating right on top of the water?

And where else can you escape to a women's-only world where the normally burka-clad mix and mingle with women of a dozen different languages and ages ... all while sweating, steaming and exfoliating away?

Apparently only at Bains des Paquis.

Just say no

... to low cost snake skin.

Admittedly, I'm a little inconsistent in my shopping. I can come up with all kinds of excuses to splurge on some things, while other things I can't be convinced to spend more than a couple of pennies ... even if most people would find it perfectly logical to do so.

Nylons fall into category two. Hence the reason I went 'all out', buying some 6 pairs when I saw the generic brand on sale for 3 bucks a pop at the grocery store last week (for the record, that IS a bargain in Geneva, where usually they'd go for three or four times that ...). I've learned my lesson. Next time I'm shelling out the big bucks.

Who knew there are different "quality categories" of nylons?? Gave pair No. 1 the test run today and ... FAIL. With a big fat capital "F".

Migros, you may advertise your nylons to have "comfortable elasticity and reinforced toes," but let me tell you, your product testers must have been paid off to lie, cuz' these suckers don't have any elastic AT ALL. In fact, my legs were moving around in them all day.

I may not be an expert on the subject, but I can pretty much imagine that if I ever shed my skin like a snake, it would be a very deja vu experience.

A shimmy, a shake and a whole lot of groovin'

With threats of torrential rains and thunder showers looming overhead, I got my first taste of a street parade with the Geneva Lake Parade ... four hours of shimmyin', shakin' and groovin' people parading around town at a snail's pace, displaying all kinds of incredibly sculpted, waxed and tanned bodies; flabby, saggy, bulgy but proud bodies; impossibly high heels; feathers; lingerie ... you name it. It was a good show, though surely nothing like the ones in Zurich, Berlin or Rio de Janeiro, and the crowds were out in full force lest they miss part of the action.

Summer in Geneva is interesting, particularly with a notable change in the city's demographics, aka the arrival of hundreds of Middle-Eastern summer residents, the vast majority of who don beautiful head scarfs, if not the full only-see-your-eyes burkas. A friend of mine recently recommended a book that looks absolutely fascinating, entitled "Who speaks for Islam: What a billion Muslims really think", and talking a good bit about gender perspectives in the two cultures. To cite just one thought-provoking quote that he threw out there:

"While Westerners still often see the veil as a symbol of womens' inferior status in the Muslim world, Western womens' perceived lack of modesty signals their degraded cultural status in the West. In both cases, the assumption is that women are either covering or uncovering to please or obey men. For example, a woman that Gallup interviewed in Malaysia says she feels sorry for the women in the West because they don't love themselves enough and feel they must give in to men's sexual desires"

If this quote - and perspective - struck me at the time, it hit me all the more as we were watching the first of the twenty-four discos-on-wheels parade by, carrying women (and men) who were as scantily clad as possible ... not so often in the "this is how we dress for the festivities" Rio de Janeiro kind of way, but rather more in the "I really need attention to make myself feel beautiful and this party is the perfect way to do it" kind of way. And funny enough, my very first thought as I watched them go by was what Geneva's Muslim summer residents in particular must be thinking at the sight of such a public skin fest. Would they find it disgusting? Pitiful? Fascinating? What a shock it must have been to anyone who happened to be coming into town yesterday without a clue about the event....

All that said, I it was a great time ... especially for anyone keen on dance, drink and people watching ... after my first street parade, I'm already looking into the "biggies" to see how I can rally the troops for a rally up to the Zurich or Berlin renditions. If I might leave you with just one more thought for the day though ... check out these Ghostbuster beer-meisters and their hot bods (look closely, the pic is not so good)! The parade organiser's were smart enough to make every third "float" a bar-on-wheels ... no more missing out on the action or battling to recuperate your four inches of viewing territory ....

Woman in a man's world

I've been looking for a just-for-fun-with-a-little-friendly-competition soccer team/club/league ever since I arrived in Geneva, without much luck at all.

One day, when I was feeling particularly ambitious in my search, I wandered over to the nearby stadium and started poking my head around looking for someone who might know something. In fact, I naively poked my way straight into the men's locker room (oddly enough, not one of of the row of 20 boys - ranging to men - seated in the entry of the locker room bothered to forewarn me...). Having turned a 360 degree circle and seeing more men's bottoms than I had intended to see that afternoon, I then exited the locker room and somewhat bemusedly asked one of the (presumably) coaches seated outside if he knew where I might get info about women's or co-ed leagues. He gave me a look as if I really were from Venus than proceeded say that, well, he knows about teams for little girls ...

So imagine my excitement last week when I saw an ad for a pick-up soccer group looking for players! I jumped on the phone, secured my spot (after being assured that Ronaldino and Beckham were not on the roster) and happily joined the troops at the agreed upon spot to play. Of course I imagined they would be a bit short on estrogen, but I didn't really think I would really be the ONLY representative of the female population.

And no, I don't mean the only woman in our group of 12, I mean THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ENTIRE SPORTS COMPLEX. Funny what sterotypes can mean sometimes ... when I first talked to the captain he said "now you're American, right? It's great when the American and Australian girls come because they can actually play - a lot of times they're even better than our guys." And it's true ... in the States a lot of girls grow up playing soccer ... in Europe, very, very few do.

Being the lifetime female sports lover that I am, it never even remotely crossed my mind to change before going to the sports complex. Places like that ALWAYS have bathrooms, lockers and showers. Then again, places like that always have those things in the States ... here they were only for men. Don't get me wrong, I am by no means a man-hater and these guys were are gracious as ever, but it didn't take long to figure out that, not only was there no women's lockerroom in the building, there was not women's toilet ... in the ENTIRE BUILDING.

Ever so kindly, the guys offered to clear out the men's lockerroom and stand sentinel at the door so none of the other teams would come in or, when I declined that offer, to wait outside of the court while I changed (shall I mention that the court had a 2nd floor viewing deck and glass windows down an entire side??). I declined that as well ... and changed in the corner of the hallway ... across from a window onto the courts and as the b-ball teams walked by, but it was the best spot I could find.

Honestly, it was one of those incredulous things that you just have to laugh about. But more honestly, it makes you think just what it must have been like to be among the first female athletes just a generation ago ... just fighting to get a private corner to change in before the big game.