Being the cautious traveller I am, and a girl all alone in a foreign city, I wasn't brave enough to use them before my protector ;-) arrived in Paris - there's something about a very public space, being in a compromised state in an automated cubicle, that just screamed NO to me in a very loud voice. It made my first week here interesting though - cold, cold weather, out walking for hours at a time.......... But sometimes you don't want to have to buy yet more frites from McDonald's just so you can use the loos.
So it was a relief, once I had an ally standing outside guarding the door, to find that these public amenities are actually quite acceptable :-) Mostly the cubicles are pretty clean - not my standards of cleanliness, granted, but clean enough - much easier for blokes, of course, but a few strategically placed strips of toilet paper is all it takes and we girls are good to go too. I've never yet come across one that's run out of paper (the curse of public toilets for women) or has an empty soap dispenser - it's all automated, you just wave your hands under the sensor for a squirt of soap, a stream of (cold, cold, cold!!) water, and a nice long blast of hot air. Just for the record, my winter tip is to make sure hands are thoroughly dry before you exit into the icy breeze, and my extra precaution is to carry and use an antibacterial gel and dry under the hot air again - ok, yes, what can I say, I'm a very cautious traveller!!! ;-)
(Who's that taking a photo of the public toilet???...........must be a foreigner.........)
After each use, the cubicle goes into it's lavage (wash) cycle (so don't think you can quickly duck in after the last person..........) and you may have to wait a few minutes before it's ready for the next use. But there's comfort in knowing it's just been washed before you step inside............ :-) There's also a 20 minute limit on cubicle use, which makes the mind boggle about potential motives for spending longer in there........ Occasionally we've come across a cubicle where the queue is long, or there's been an unfortunate incident inside that makes itself known when the doors open - ooops, not that one then - but we just quickly move on and find the next, which isn't usually that far away. Except for Sunday night, it seemed........
After decent amounts of green tea with dinner, then a fairly long walk in the icy breeze, and having planned to stay at the tower from sunset until when we thought the first light show would be likely to start (an hour later than previous nights because of daylight savings...........) we want to find a familiar grey tardis so that we can be comfortable and relaxed to enjoy the Eiffel Tower at her finest. Having walked that walk recently, I'm pretty sure we saw no amenities along the river, and tonight confirms we're right, so we take a detour a few streets away, towards a main road, an intersection, the usual suspects. Nothing, nothing, and nothing........
Can we hold on until the show ends (it's only about 5 minutes of sparkly lights, after all) then hop on the Metro for a quick trip home? No, too much green tea and an icy breeze will do it every time.
We can't believe the ubiquitous public loos could let us down just when we need them to come through!! We're running out of time to get ourselves sorted before the 9pm light show, and don't want to have to wait another hour for the next one. Eventually we decide the best plan is to go into a cafe or bar, order a couple of hot chocolates, use the amenities, and cut our (financial and calorific) losses. We quickly scan the menus that all bistros have outside on the footpath - can't find hot chocolate, but they have other options (not cheap......) so.......oh well, it's the price you pay for comfort....... in we go. We find a table for two near the back, and wait to be served. Service is really slow tonight, and honestly, we probably could have got away with ducking into the WC and departing before anyone noticed and without having to buy anything at all. But our moral consciences say "do the right thing", so we make a quick change to the plan - you go, I'll go to the counter and get something to take away, you come back, I'll go, then we'll be on our way.
Ok, the plan works...........aahhh, that's better. But that little toilet break has just cost us 9.50€!! Oh well. Outside again we turn to head down to the tower. Right in front of us is a sign pointing à gauche - Toilettes 50m. What? Where? We didn't see them before!! How could we have missed it???
Darn it, now we'll just have to eat that caramel éclair and chocolate macaron (quite possibly the most delicious I've had............) while we view the sparkly lady tonight - such a shame ;-)
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