Finding A Toilet In Paris

The first few years we were here in Paris, I carefully timed my water drinking to avoid needing a toilet while out and about. The possibility of dehydration far outweighed the difficulties of finding and using a public toilet.

Toilets here are scarce and dirty. They are often down a perilous, dark flight of stairs inside a brasserie. If you're in an unfamiliar neighborhood, you have to go inside and ask where the toilets are located since they're never clearly marked. That's always a little embarrassing.

Once I was with a friend from the US who needed the toilet and we went downstairs together only to find that the urinal was in the hallway leading to the toilet, so we had to pass within centimeters of several men as they were peeing. As we walked by, I thought to myself, "where should I look, don't make eye contact, but don't look down..." We just kept walking. I had planned to wait outside the toilet for her but changed that plan since I would have had to stand right next to these men.

We don't tour around Paris that much any more unless we have visitors. We've seen most Parisian monuments several times. If we go to a museum we are usually OK since they have toilets. If it's a busy day, the women line up to get in, but that's another blog post.

Yesterday guests arrived from the US including our grandson who is 5 years old. Pushing jet lag back for a few hours, we decided to get outside. It was a beautiful day, sunny, breezy, almost warm. We had a couple of errands to run before catching the cruise boat on the Seine.

While we were walking on a crowded street, he announced that he had to go to the bathroom. We quickly clarified "which one" did he have to do. The inevitable answer came back to us. Trying to act like this wasn't an emergency, we scanned the neighborhood. One very busy and old cafe. Probably not a good bet for a five-year old. But, across the street there was a small, nice looking hotel.

We set the plan. Terry would go in with them and distract the person, asking questions about the rooms, price, etc. Then, he would, almost as an afterthought, ask about using their toilet. The first part was completed but when Terry asked about the bathroom, the woman replied, "it's complicated". Not as complicated as a five year old needing a toilet in central Paris. Finally, she gave in and showed the them bathroom.

Minutes later, our afternoon was back on track, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.