OUR TINY TOILET TOUR

     You might have heard that the bathrooms in Europe are small.  Well, "small" is too big a word to describe closets with plumbing.  The good news is that the toilets are the same as what you are used to. Unfortunately they are crammed into tiny vestibules that try your contortion skills.




    Consider the first one we encountered on this summer's expedition. It came with our hotel room in Rennes, France. Like many of the bathrooms we encountered, it was hard to cram a guy my size on to the seat.  When I would lean forward to stand up my head would hit the wall. 

      One alternative was to sit sideways and I gave this a try in a similar bathroom
when my summer beard 
was longer. 




 This particular bathroom at least had toilet paper you could reach.

     It was not visible in many sitting situations.  To grab some you had to reach somewhere behind and grope around. It was reminiscent of swatting a mosquito on your back.  
    
 In the old days land was cheap. You could build a bathroom big enough to let your guests have leg room. The odd thing was the water stored over you head.  When you yanked a chain it rushed down  sounding like an angry waterfall.
        Two toilets in Josselyn, France
  

 This place had big windows too. This one let the sun shine in and let the neighbors see what you were up to.






 
In Barcelona, our Air B&B apartment was shaped like a slice of pizza.  The bathroom and the bedroom were one,  no curtain or door separated them.   Convenient as well, you could roll out of bed and into the tub.

      Our room in Rome had two toilets.  Because they shared common leg space we didn't try using both at the same time.

     In France they frown on urinating in public.  You see these "Don't Pee Here" posters all over the place.



   

    To alleviate the problem they place plastic urinals on sidewalks that invite you to "Whiz here, show off your junk, and add your initials".



Thankfully, our Paris apartment had its own bathroom (with a door!).  What was great about this last place on our tiny bathroom tour, was the phone booth-size shower was so close I could sit on the throne and wash my feet at the same time.
    The toilet paper, who knows?  I think it was in the kitchen.
                          ____________