Real Naturists of The Year 2018: Association des Naturistes de Paris

France and naturism have gone well together for a long time.
Even as long as 50 years ago, when naturism was not so well known and little seen, many people knew that in France, there were islands and remote beaches where you could throw off all your clothes and swim and sunbathe nude without having to pay a price for it. Then Brigitte Bardot came along, the Cannes Film Festival, and taking your clothes off in France became a glamorous thing to do.
Over the past decades, naturism in France has attracted thousands of people from all over the world, not just to remote beaches, but to huge resorts as well, though its identification with the Cote d'Azur and the Mediterranean has largely remained.
All of that is changing again now. Naturism is moving inland, or more precisely, into the cities, and into the mass urbanization of one of Europe's and the world's largest cities, Paris.
Because of the impressive list of activities to turn naturism into an urban phenomenon, we name the 'Association des Naturistes de Paris' (ANP) the Real Naturists of the Year 2018.
If you look at their events' page, you will note more than just the usual swimming outings or nude sports contests, but you will also find items that made the world news just a few months ago.
Cases in point are the opening of a naturist space at the Bois de Vincennes, giving naturists in the region as well as tourists an opportunity to relax in a safe atmosphere, and the nude visit to the Palais de Tokyo arts museum. Both made headlines around the world.
In addition, the ANP has also been frequenting the nude restaurant O'Naturel, part of an expanding trend of restaurants around the world where guests can take everything off and enjoy good food without having to worry about their privacy.
Nude theater and outings as far as Belgium are also part of their agenda, and we're sure that over the following years, we will hear more in the mainstream media about their endeavors.
For their efforts to promote what we should call 'urban naturism,' the Association des Naturistes de Paris are the Real Naturists of the Year 2018.

Off to the Garden of Eden

Photo Courtesy of JayManCan aka JayManGrow (Wikimedia Commons)

Adam and Eve were the original world naked gardeners, so why not follow their example?

In large parts of the world, spring is about to erupt. Even Britain is predicting 27 degrees this weekend, Taiwan is heading across the 30 degrees, and countries which are leaving summer behind hopefully still enjoy an autumn balmy enough for some nude sprucing.

The eternal problem of course is what kind of garden people have. I myself don't have a garden worth that name. Living high up in a building, there are plants on the floors of the balconies. I might venture out there in my natural state, but it won't take long before either the neighbors or the police who are regulating traffic several floors lower might get an eyeful of what I'm up to.

I  used to live in the countryside, which was much more friendly to naked gardening, at least from the size and vision angles. The garden was huge, and a considerable part of it was lined by walls of 2 meters and higher, not allowing any neighbors or passersby to see what was going on inside.

That of course is the ideal place to spend the first Saturday of each May, World Naked Gardening Day. You don't have to worry about any non-naturist or sensitive neighbors or passersby, you just do your thing, and not just on May 5 this year, but every warm day.

I'll probably never again own a patch of garden where I can enjoy truly 100 percent naked gardening, though I've always dreamed of living in a totally naturist community, where I never have to wear any clothes any day, except when it's too cold, but then, I would pick a spot in a warmer climate anyway.

To all those lucky enough or brave enough to spend a true World Naked Gardening Day, my best wishes. If you're not gardening and happen to be in Paris, with tickets already booked, this Saturday also marks the naked tour of the Palais de Tokyo Museum.

www.wngd.org

http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2932703/palais-de-tokyos-exhibition-flaunts-a-naked-day-pleasing