The Life Aquatic in Germany: Volume 1

One thing about me that most people don't know these days is that I love to swim. I adore it. I used to spend entire summers smelling like lake water,  with sun-dyed hair and an effortless tan, sand falling off my body into other people's cars and bathrooms.* I grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin - a place that was much more idyllic than I ever appreciated growing up. Here's a picture of me in my former natural habitat:

Swimming in Geneva Lake, circa 2008. 

Sadly, it has been ages since I've been able to appreciate the joys of swimming in fresh water. In Korea I have access to many ocean beaches. But the ocean will never compete with a lake for me at the best of times (large waves, rip-tides, potential for larger fish, jellyfish). And Korean beaches are not always the best of times. Though I'm grateful to be able to access so many beaches by public transportation, they are often plagued by pollution, crowds and noise. Unless you're from a very large city, please now multiply your definition of "crowds and noise" by 4. Koreans seem totally fine with beaches replete with loudspeaker announcements and blaring pop music (sometimes blaring different music on several different speakers simultaneously.) Hence, though I do go swimming a few times a summer, it's really really not the same.

This is, no lie, a standard summer crowd at Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea. Other beaches in the area have also become steadily more crowded over the past years. 

Enter Germany - land of lake dreams. Almost as soon as I started researching Germany, I started coming across various lakes (or "See" in German). Looking more deeply, I found one of my first candidates for my Germanic lake idyll just a quick trip outside of Munich: Lake Starnberg. http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Lake-Starnberg.htm
http://www.onesprime.de/englisch/235-english/articles/45276-copy-of-starnberger-see.html

I was struck immediately by its similar appearance to my hometown lake. It has the same clarity, there is also a boat tour, you can (similarly) walk/bike around the shore, and the depth and the diameter (while a bit smaller) are not too much different. Apparently it is much colder than what I'm used to, but having swum in some pretty cold swimming holes in Washington and Oregon I think I can take it. A search on Airbnb, moreover, revealed quite a few reasonable vacation rentals right along its shores. Here is a German news article with a great photo of swimming and sailing: http://www.merkur-online.de/service/service-navigator/badeseen/badeseen-special-starnberger-see-westufer-841865.html

Wikipedia Creative Commons photo of Starnberg See.

This is not the only lake (or the only swimming) that Germany has to offer, however. Bavaria seems to be full of lakes to either swim in or boat on, including the gorgeous Königsee, which allegedly is too cold to swim in, though I did find this photo (and photo series) on flickr that prove some do swim and enjoy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/visbeek/4882633743/

And in Munich itself, people swim (and even surf (!)) in sections of the river and apparently skinny-dipping is legal. All of this adds up to an assumption on my part that my husband Lee might have a difficult time getting me back on the plane come the end of our trip next summer...

I'll likely be posting more entries about my search for the perfect German lake, hence, Volume 1. Stay Tuned!

*My father, in fact, had a favorite joke he used to tell my brother and I that went like this: "I heard they're running out of sand at the beach!" (waits a moment for us to say "Oh?") Replies: "Your sister has been bringing it all home to our bathroom!" He never got tired of that one!