Nude fountain bather defies police

Seemingly a story being carried by BILD is that of a homeless women that bathes naked quite often in the numerous fountains around Munich. So far she has been charged 21 times but refuses to stop.

The short article can be read here: Nude fountain bather defies German police Reuters

We see that woman all the time, in the summer she lives in and around herkommerplatz. I've never seen her bathing but she's often nude or only partly clothed. She's quite a scary sight.

Bild article (with pic) she's not really harming anyone is she?

no, i don't think she's harming anyone, either
how else is she meant to keep clean?

How weird and interesting. I sort of imagined her sitting in the fountain surrounded by bubbles though, sort of like her:

How is she meant to keep clean? Maybe same way she does in the winter, when all the fountains are boarded up?

At least she finds bathing important! Stand next to a stinky homeless alcoholic on the u-bahn next time and you will silently appreciate what this women does.

ahhh thats the women I saw half naked down the side of rocky a couple of weeks ago!

She was knelt on all fours but with a naked bum stuck up in the air. Thought she might have been getting some but there was no-one else there!

I don't know if she's harmful or not but she does rant and scream sometimes. I walked by her once as she was going to the toilet on the grass beside the road and she started screaming and scared me half to death.

EDIT: The authorities have offered her a place to keep clean, there are public washrooms right beside herkommerplatz where she can do her business. She doesn't need to do it in the street.

I thought you were an über liberal, live and let live type person ER?

She does no harm, she keeps people amused, and herself clean. Let her be I say.

If someone decided to take a shit on the grass right in front of you as you were minding your own business walking to the store and then screams at you, you don't think that would bother you at all?

Even über liberals (which I'm not) don't shit in the street

BG, if this lady looked like Dita von Teese she'd probably get a grant from the council and sponsorship from Douglas.

If you can't wash your car on the street due to water pollution controls, why should it be different for people?

Aye, don't think I'd be too happy about that either... taking a dump in front of me that is...

ER - Not sure. It usually takes a lot to generate more than a raised eyebrow and a wry smile from me!

Did she at least pick up after herself?

I admit it sounds awful and I'm probably displaying some prejudice here but I see her a lot and she really, really scares me. And yes, I'm usually a very tolerant person.

She is often sitting outside the Minimal at Arabellapark, or the Penny at Herkommer.
Never seen her get naked and bath, but at least she is bathing.
She seems usually very dirty when I see her...
she doesn't scare me, makes me more sad than anything, that there is nobody to look after her.

euhw didn't know she was pooing in public too. that's horrid. the fountain showering is funny but pooing in public is too icky (tho maybe the French peeps who see it may enjoy it )

Admittedly I didn't see if it was poo or pee. I just wanted to get away as fast as possible.

Live hard core sex shows don't really harm anyone but I'm not convinced I'd like to have one in the middle of Marienplatz

Why not just go and wash in the Isar - unless she's doing it as so kind of exhibitionsism

183 fountains is quite a lot

are we certain this is the same person as bathes in the fountains? I have seen this lady at Herkommerplatz a number of times and it doesn't look like she bathes at all, though she is frequently naked. I have also seen her peeing and crapping as well as yelling at random passers by.

I don't think it's got anything to do with exhibitionism, I think she just doesn't have that "thing" that tells us that some behaviours are inapporpriate. She might even have frontal lobe damage which sometimes results in a person displaying behaviours based more on instinct than reason. Much like animals. Which might also explain why she refuses shelter.

From the picture in the link it looks like her although she looks a lot smaller and cleaner in that picture.

I think the police should let her do it because if that's the same woman I think it is, she used to come into a bar I used to work in once in a while to beg for food or money and she did not smell very pleasant.. as you can imagine, since she's homeless.

strange, i couldn't see a photo of her in the link.

edit: ahh th Bild link. seen it now.

mmm not sure. the body is similar in size and bulges but not sure about the face. it could be but i'm not certain.

why don't you ask her when you're on the way home this evening? I'm sure she would like some friendly human contact. She might even enjoy being a celeb!

There was a post a few months ago about drinking from the water in Munich's public fountains. Might not be such a good idea if tramps have been bathing in them.

I cycled past her the other day at Goetheplatz. She has a nice colourful striped jumper I think. I never knew she was a celebrity tramp. She'll propably be on Celebrity Big Brother next year.

@Dangeross: Will they have a fountain there?

OG- I looked at the Bild Photo, and I think its the same women too.

I think she was just resting. On her way to a different fountain I expect.

Munich only has four tramps, so they are all celebrities in a sense. These are specially licensed by the KVR. All other beggars, layabouts and white people with dreadlocks are quickly dumped at the train station closest to the city limits and given a one-way ticket north.

Seen her quite often all over Munich but never even would have guest she washes at all...

Many people here then seem to suffer from frontal lobe damage or something. Recently while jogging in the English Garden, a female jogger in front of me just stopped, stepped aside about a meter, pulled down her pants and took a leak right next to the main path and in full view during broad daylight, unbothered by me or anybody else. A month ago, also in the English Garden, a German looking man was lying naked and wanking right next to the path. I keep seeing people pissing against walls and trees all over. Not to mention the people who don't pick up after their dogs. Or the fact that on average Germans change their underwear and shower only 3 times a week.

Now he is a secret celeb and tourist attraction by now... some tours even have him on their route.

What kind of people do you know?

Clean ones.

I was refering to German underwear changing habits. 'Twas statistically speaking only.

I have a friend from Melbourne visiting Munich this weekend...will be sure to point out the must-see sights then!

Funny how the article mentioned her weight right off the bat. Does her weighing 140 KG (and how do they know), have any bearing on her need to get naked (not an uncommon phenomenon in Munich) and bathe in the public fountains?

And even though she is apparently homeless, and 44, I see she seems to keep up with the German tradition of red/burnt sienna dyed hair.

Nope, but I personally would prefer a fit bird tbh...

I saw her a few years back in Haidhausen and nearly fell over in the car. I had my friend drive around the block so he could see as well. I agree with Carm, sad if anything. I say let he be, let her bathe!

hi MajorBummer, you see, after having lived seven years in Berlin I feel their number here is relatively small!

Living in Berlin WITHOUT frontal lobe damage seems to be the exception...

I've seen this woman a few times sitting on a bench at the bus stop at Herkomerplatz, usually with her clothing undone or somehow pulled back to reveal as much flesh as possible - and at 150 kg or whatever she's supposed to weigh, that is a lot of flesh, and the effect is quite startling. I think she must have some kind of exhibitionist urge. Mental illness is a sad thing.

I've seen her sleeping at Isartor quite a few times, close to the large sizes clothes shop

Yeah, I've seen her there loads of times too and near Lehel - she seems to like bus/tram stops. After seeing her sitting on the seats while half naked(bottom half!) it gives me second thoughts about ever sitting on those seats myself! She doesn't seem particularly clean either but it's definitely her in the picture in the BILD article.

Maybe she has such a low surface area to volume ratio she has trouble dissipating her body heat and strips off to avoid heatstroke. Or maybe she just likes getting a bit of air round her quim.

also goes to show you that it is hard to starve in the West, even if one is homeless.

Considering the amount of piss and whatnot that must be in the fountains, I say let her bathe

If they are clearly marked "This is not drinking water" then its probably ok. I believe all swiss fountains have to legally be safe for drinking though, in which case prosecution would be highly appropriate, dunno if its the same thing here or are the fountains just known as being not suitable for drinking?

My question is has she been paying these fines? Surely if she hasnt, the police would indeed be in their power for take more preventative measures?

Heh if only she had dreads or were middle eastern.

in fact, the fountains are highly likely to be drinking water fountains -- most of the ones in the Innenstadt are, including 8 at Viktualienmarkt alone.

http://www.swm.de/de/produkte/mwasser/wass...serbrunnen.html

I'd rather not have naked people bathing in fountains in the middle of town. Da könnte doch jeder kommen.

How do you know about piss in the fountains...?