Our European bathroom stories or should I say Europe...peeing! (Be forwarned....it's not a pretty picture!)

** Always be prepared to pay 30-50 euro cents to go to the bathroom.  We've been caught without the correct change and it is not fun.  Once the girls and I only had 3 ten cent pieces for all of us to go to the bathroom (there was a coin collection device on the stall door) so we held the door for one another.  When I came out of the stall there was a man (the bathroom attendent) standing outside my stall looking at me.  He didn't say anything, just looked at me and walked into a room that was directly attached to the inside of the women's toilet.  It was uncomfortable to say the least!! **Many bathrooms have bathroom attendants standing at the entrance. They have a plate for your bathroom "donation".  If you don't pay, expect a dirty look and an unfriendly comment. This may be the one time it's a good thing not to understand German. **Don't be surprised if you all of a sudden find someone of the opposite sex in the bathroom.  This has happened to both Bill and I.  Ususally they are the cleaning people for the bathroom and they just walk in whenever they feel like it. I would have liked to see the look on our faces the first time this happened. **The toilets here leave something to be desired.  Many of the German toilets are not designed to hold water, and have a porcelin shelf inside the toilet instead of a hole with water....I'll let you imagine what that means.  We have these in our home and we call them "observation" toilets (Tee Hee). There are usually NO fans in any of the bathrooms we have been in so far in any of the European countries. Open a window if you can. **When we drove to Italy we found we didn't have to pay for going to the bathroom, but there were no toilet seats.  I think I would rather pay. **Our trip to Paris showed us that you also don't need to pay to go to the bathroom in France (except in the Eiffel tower), but many of the toilets also did not have toilet seats and several only had a hole in the floor to go to the bathroom.  I just can't even imagine having to use that. **Rest stops in Germany usually only have a couple of picnic tables and garbage cans....no bathrooms, but lots of woods in case you really have to go.  Only if the exit sign for the rest stop has a WC on it, are you sure that you will find a bathroom. We found that rest stops in France had bathrooms......but then again you might just find a hole in the floor in the bathroom.  We did. **It is best to stop to get gas and go to the bathroom at the same time.  You may have to pay to use the toilet, but it is usually clean. These areas are called "Rasthofs" **There is no such thing as modesty here in Europe.  Often the entrance to the men's bathroom is the same entrance to the women's bathroom.  You pay the same attendant.  Often there is no door to the men's bathroom or it is wide open.  You just can't be shy here fellas. **It is not unusual to find a man "taking a leak" anywhere at any time.  I saw a man in a business suit pull to the side of the road, stop the car and go to the bathroom.  It is very common here. I don't think I will ever get used to "the world is my toilet" concept.

Here is a hole in the floor toilet.

OK, so here is a normal urinal, what's the big one for?

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