Night Swimming

Every Monday 10pm-3am, night swimming started again on 7th November at Badeschiff (pool boat), Arena. It's a lovely place to go, sauna, swim and relax, but not really for sex. Spacious and civilized - you could even take your work there. "Continue Reading" for a reprint of the review. It's in the gay Berlin calendar.

Now that Winter is coming on, DD visited the gay winter swim baths at Arena. We had a good relaxed time at the men only session on Monday evening. They have a pool (no trunks required), two dry saunas, a bar, German magazines to read, lots of space to sit or lie around and sexy staff and clientele. The pool has small areas which are completeley outside. They will be funny when it is all frozen and snowing. One of the saunas has a great view on to the river Spree. And a man came in regularly to flap the hot air at us and raise the temperature. He was so good that he got a round of applause from the twenty naked hunks in there.

Bad points: 1) The changing area is out of the picture on the left. You have to walk 20 meters through open air to get to the sauna. Imagine when it's snowing. 2) You have to pay extra for towels, flip flops, dressing gowns. Bring your own. 3) For smokers: No smoking inside. There is an outside place to smoke, but there was ice on the deck. 4) The pool was pretty cold. Jump in and do two quick lengths.

Funny point: They mainly have mixed sessions (see website) and they've only got one changing room so that's mixed too. A 10 year old girl saw a man's cock there. Her mother threatened to sue the place. They laughed. Guess where the mother was visiting from: good ole US of A. Dontcha luv 'em?

Where	Eichenstraße 4, Treptow. Ubahn: Schlesiches Tor, Berlin
When	Monday nights men only, 22.00-03.00
Web	http://www.arena-berlin.de/badeschiff.aspx
Attracts	25's - 45's
Quantity	50-ish men
Darkroom	No (and forget about sex on the premises, its not that kind of sauna)
Dance	No

Comments

[Joseph]

This is one of those rare spaces full of naked gay men not having sex. And, to be honest, I really liked it. The space is beautifully designed, it's soooooo relaxed. You get to swim naked, even outside where you can stare at the stars or the trains going by. There's a lot of furtive sexual energy in this place, and some action in the saunas when the staff aren't looking, but that's not really what this place is about. It's pretty easy to make conversation too, and meet people.

TIP: bring money with you when you go inside. The bar doesn't have a credit system, you must pay in "bargeld". otherwise, you will end up running back and forth through the cold to the changing rooms.