European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse Water sports As Well As curative Mineral Waters Are a popular feature of evian Les Bains on the Southern Shore of Lake Geneva. Now is the Peak of the spa season when the French go in Masse to their famed watering places1 t in search of health happiness or just fun a Fri spa hotels most of them with their own Mineral Springs Dot the hillsides and lakefront to fashionable Aux Les Bains. Queuing up for glasses of Mineral water in Vichy s Spring Hall is a local ritual. Thi stars and 5trip6s a Steback Riding As part of any americans who can afford it go to psychoanalysts to get their complexes ironed out. A much larger num Ber of frenchmen spend a few summer weeks every year at one of their coun try s Hundred Odd spas drinking or bathing in a variety of Mineral Waters which Are reputed to be effective in treating almost any ailment that flesh is heir to but principally liver disturbances. In both cases it s the socially accept Able thing to do and the indulges wind up convinced that they feel is the season of the year when the Waters Are gushing full blast a France s Villes d Eaux the watering places that this year will attract close to a Mil lion visitors. From May to mid october these health resorts almost always situated amid scenery of exceptional Beauty receive jurists from Many countries but by far the greatest proportion Are French. Andy no Means All of these will be ailing or even act like people Bent on restoring body tissue. Every notable French spa has Asad Juncos to its therapeutic facilities a Gam bling Casino elaborate nightclubs wit Talent imported from Paris and top flight restaurants that can enlarge the diners livers As fast As the Mineral Springs can deflate them. For the open air minded thespis provide for Golf Tennis horseback Riding and similar a foreword to an English language brochure describing French watering places m. Henri Florin honorary presi Dent of Thermal and climatic federation states that they represent unique therapeutic wealth thanks to the great diversity of maladies for which they Are the remedies As Nice a tribute to 111 health As was Ever written. According to the chemicals in their Waters each spa.,specializes in the treat ment of specific maladies some in liver trouble others in digestive difficulties of the nervous system Bones joints and Godown thei list their medicinal Worth a matter opinion although health authorities Jfe generally agreed they do i have some remedial Powers if Only to the thousands of a Glades image As that French Call hypochondriac who descend upon them. By Don Walter staff writer accommodations at the spas of France Are As varied As the Holiday resorts that Cater to non jurists. There Are the Plush ones and the Ordinary and the big ones that Cater alike to the millionaire an folks of modest Means. Undisputed Queen of the French spas i Vichy which Calls itself the world Capi. Tal of the liver As indeed it is. But for size renown and social prestige there Are several others than run Vichy a close race notably Vittel Aix Les Bains con Rexville and evian Les Bains on the French Shore of Lake Geneva. All of these Are so copiously endowed Spring Wise that there is More than enough for their armies of visitors and each spa annually bottle millions of Gallons of its Waters for off premises consumption. Situated in Central France on the Banks of the Limpid Allier River Vichy average about 200,000 visitors during its june september these Are generally divided into two groups the ones who Glass in hand file daily to the big Halides sources and dutifully gulp the Healing Waters and the smart set who come inquest of a different tonic. These prefer Gin fizzes to Mineral water and make for the grand Casino rather than the grand Stabli Slement Are hotels offering special diet menus to the dedicated health seekers but for the Gayer crowd dinner is no such grim affair As a Grapefruit a dish of Yogurt and a Vitamin Pill. In fact Vichy s classier restaurants can compete with the gastronomic shrines of Dijon or Lyon. Vichy has Broad tree shaded streets studded with carefully tended Parks and gardens. The natives live on the Periphery of a Cluster of 9ran 3 hotels Spring water Halls bathing establishments and modes boarding houses. The architecture ranges from Rococo to Disneyland and smart shop shoulder souvenir stands on the Commer Cial streets. Signs everywhere enjoin silence in deference to the sensitivities of the Many bilious visitors and children and dogs Are not really Welcome in any of the Public gathering places. For All the inducements to gaiety Vichy and the other leading spas have a certain stuffiness about them because so Many of the guests Are elderly and gout burdened the cure usually takes about three weeks. The True Christ s Day in a resort the stars and stripes like Vichy begins Early in the morning atthe Hall Des sources with a plastic Glass. At this hour most of the jurists look alike Clad in Robes pyjamas and carpet slippers. You can Tell a real trouper at the min eral water fountains or Buvet Tes by the Little Glass he carries which is stained with Mineral deposits. If you Don t have your own Glass you re a newcomer or Aone timer. Another telltale Mark of the Vichy Veteran is a Little Basket covered Jug carried to fetch Mineral water at the Spring to last throughout the Day. In the larger resorts jurists visit the first second and third class Thermal Baths according to their Means or the extent of their ailments. In a first class establish ment in Vichy the Man taking a mud Bath right beside you might be a Paris Diplomat or a Breton Coal dealer. Mud knows no rank. Serious jurists Are classified in two Type by Thermal Bath managements. There Are the actives and the the first consists of patients supplementing the Waters with the help of peddling machine Sand various kinds of physical culture gadgets. More numerous Are the passives rep resented by the fat girl who sidles close to a vibrating machine which requires Naundus exertion of her strength. True jurists disappear to their hotels forthe night when the fun Loving element takes Over. Royalty movie stars and millionaires have popularized some of the spas. In fact it was Napoleon Iii who made Vichy Chic. He visited there in 18 51 for the first time liked the place so Well he returned As a frequent visitor even though he had no trouble with his liver. Until the Middle of october French spas will have the tap wide open. The romans started the fashion 2,000 years ago when they found French hot Springs soothing to their rheumatism Royalty got Relief 100-years ago and popularized the watering. Places. And today frenchmen Are still indulging. There Aren t so Many americans at the spas the French explanation for this that americans Don t have bad whether it s for liver trouble or just fun the French Are visiting Vichy Evia Vittel or even Little Pouges Les Eaux sur lore in droves. It s a tradition that draw every segment of society. Page 1$
