Austrians, as one encounters them on a day to day basis in the store or the Strassenbahn or the street, are a pretty unfriendly bunch. At best you'll be stared at, at worst ignored all together. My most intimate moments with Austrians happen to be shared in the shower....

I go swimming at the Stadthallenbad, an olympic-sized, public pool, and following the swim, I shower. Today I was showering when an old woman came in a took a stall cadi-corner to my own. I looked over at her and thoughts of her age swept through my mind. Her body showed that age so dramatically and still she stood across from me nude with no shame. I wondered what her thoughts were when she looked at my body. Another old woman came in and showered in the stall next to me, directly across from the other woman. I smiled to myself, thinking that it is here--in the women's locker room showers in Vienna--that I see women embracing their physical beauty in a way I've never seen. It was a scene from a Rubens painting: butts and breasts everywhere as women frolicked with joy and un-selfconsciousness. But my favorite moment was when my soap slipped out of my hand and landed in the stall next to me right between the old woman's feet. I stepped out of my stall and leaned over to hers. "Entshuldigug," I said. Her eyes were closed as shampoo washed over her face. Again, "Entshuldigug?" Still nothing. I didn't want to startle her when she opened her eyes, so I waited. Finally she looked at me, so I said again excuse me and then bent down to grab my soap. She started laughing and said something to me in German. I started laughing and soon the woman across chimed in as well. It was a moment of intimacy. Three women, naked and comfortable, sharing a laugh in the shower. I really appreciated, especially since when coincidence brings us on to the same Strassenbahn, we will not recognize one another. And even if we did, we would not acknowledge it. But for a moment, we were friends.