Cavan Images / Getty Images/Cavan Images RF Swimmers in a municipal swimming pool
Cavan Images / Getty Images/Cavan Images RF
According to the New York Times, the best way to understand “the French soul” is to go to a municipal swimming pool.
TOURISM – Is French culture found in the restaurants of the capital? In its museums? On the fashion week catwalks? THE New York Times suggests a much more unusual place to really discover the French spirit. In an article published on September 3, the American newspaper recommends that tourists spend time in municipal swimming pools in Paris. Yes yes. The good old neighborhood swimming pool would be the best place to understand ” the French soul ».
Catherine Porter, journalist origin of the article, has thus tested several Parisian swimming pools, such as that of the Admirals in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It first underlines the beauty of many municipal swimming pools in the capital, which are destinations worthy of interest for tourists, if only in terms of history and architecture.
But for her, this tour of the swimming pools was above all an opportunity to observe very French behavior. “After a year of swimming in Paris, it’s the little cultural insights I’ve gathered that are the most valuable: the intimate perspectives of the French soul and way of life that are displayed almost naked in the swimming lanes. , in the changing rooms and in the showers which are – somewhat alarmingly – almost all mixed”says Catherine Porter.
Diversity is precisely one of the ” many cultural puzzles underlined by the journalist who is surprised at the lack of formality in the showers of Parisian swimming pools. A behavior that denotes, according to her, with “ the rules of fashion and the rigid etiquette of the streets of the city ». « We are a mixture of contradictions “, explains Colombe Schneck, journalist and author of the book swimming bets, she asks about it.
In the swimming lanes, a French mess
Another strangeness observed by the American journalist in municipal swimming pools: a total absence of rules in the swimming lanes, which she attributes to a very French conception of freedom. ” The French bring their devotion to freedom with them into the water. You may have passed a swimmer three times already, they won’t be waiting at the wall to let you pass the next time. Instead, it will dash right in front of you “says Catherine Porter.
It’s almost the height of it for a country ” known for its bureaucracy and rules “, is surprised the American.
She also details several profiles of swimmers: athletes, competent but slow swimmers, and those she calls ” sensual “. It is this last category that most fascinates the journalist. According to her, these swimmers are there above all to commune with the water and escape into a universe of daydreams. “You can see them doing a few strokes and then diving to the bottom of the pool”, she laughs. An attitude that she attributes to the history of Parisian swimming pools, which were born as relaxation clubs and not as places for sporting activity.
A very French approach that the American has made her own. ” If you have to choose between beauty and sport, I take beauty. In this sense, I become a Parisienne “concludes Catherine Porter.
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2023-09-04 17:13:51
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