Public baths

Another of those strange German or maybe bavarian rules. Ignore rules. You will see "Do not enter signs all over the place at our village quarry lakes on both the disused ones and the ones still in daily operation. And everybody goes or drives down the lorry ramp to the shore, spreads out their mats, towels,  inflates the paddle boat, lights the BBQ and enjoys the rest of the day swimming and chilling.

On the other side, the official German Water Rescue service has a hut with a boat & the volunteers man it on busy days in the summer holidays and at weekends. 

Well, not surprising. Germany and Bavaria have WRITTEN constitutions and the Bavarian one in Article 41 says: 

1) The protection of the natural basis of life shall be the duty of each individual and the state community, bearing in mind the responsibility for future generations. Animals shall be respected and protected as living beings and fellow creatures. Natural resources must be treated with care and used economically. One of the paramount tasks of the state, the municipalities and bodies corporate under public law shall also be to protect ground, water and air as the natural basis of live, to remedy or compensate for any damage which may occur, if possible, and to ensure that energy is used as economically as possible, to preserve and continuously improve the efficiency of the ecosystem, to protect the forest due to its particular importance for the ecosystem and to remedy or compensate for any damage which may occur, to preserve and treat with care the indigenous animal and plant species, their natural habitats as well as characteristic natural sites and landscapes.



2) It shall be the task of the state, the municipalities and the bodies corporate under public law to protect and care for art, historical and natural monuments and the landscape, to restore degraded artistic and historic monuments to their previous purpose as far as possible, to prevent the outflow of German art treasures to other countries.


3) The enjoyment of natural beauty and recreation in the outdoors, in particular, the access to forests and mountain meadows, the use of waterways and lakes and the appropriation of wild fruit to the extent customary in the respective region shall be permitted to every person. 2 In this respect, every person shall be obliged to treat nature and the landscape with care. 3 The state and the municipalities shall be entitled and obliged to maintain free access to mountains, lakes, rivers and other beautiful sceneries and to create free access by restricting property rights and to create hiking trails and recreational parks if need.


Two very simple documents in simple language each about 50 pages long that regulate everything in life with your rights and your duties. Every citizen is given a copy at some point in their lives even migrants like me when we take German citizenship. Schoolchildren are taught about it at school.


German Basic Law (Constitution) - in English of course

Bavarian Constitution . also in English, of course



Documents the Allied Forces insisted Germany had, I believe the UK was one of them.


Do as I say not as I do seems to be the British motto.


PS the signs are put up as an "insurance" in case of injury!