Paris at last!
After several days in Switzerland, we were on our last fling with a side trip to Paris.
We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in the mid-morning, took a train into Paris, and lugged our suitcases to Hotel du Square d'Anvers near Sacre Coeure. Then we took more public transport down to the Eiffel Tower to start our sight seeing.
Stay tuned for my epic toilette tale at the end of this post.
After a snack of Nutelle crepes in a cafe near the base of the tower, we walked a little bit to board our Seine River cruise.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral |
From there, we took a bus down to the vicinity of Notre Dame. We both needed to use the facilities, if we could find some! It's hard to find free public restrooms sometimes. And you're lucky to find them with toilet paper and working sinks.
This one was extraordinary and free and ultra clean. And ahem...
So there's a little story which is amusing now, but embarrassing then! Well, I have to say it was even funny then. I do try to have a good sense of humor.
Here's the deal. The toilette is fully automated and self-cleaning. You press the button on the outside of the unit. You wait until it says it's ready. You walk in, the door closes, you get ready and sit down on the toilet, and then do your business. You get yourself decent again, flush the toilet, and exit. The door closes. The unit then thoroughly cleans the toilet and the floor (!) before it's ready for the next patron, or in my case, victim.
You see I got a little flustered after I shimmied my leggings and undies down. I saw this big red thingy on the inside of the door and thought I was supposed to lock it. Instinctively, without trying to read the French description, I pulled it down.
It was the emergency release for the door.
So the door suddenly opened, and there was absolutely no way to close it and finish up my stuff inside. This fully automated monster had no mercy. I had to waddle out of the toilette with my leggings and undies around my calves - fortunately covered by my longish skirt. And then I had to wait out there for five minutes on a public sidewalk doing a very constricted potty dance until the toilette was sanitized. Only then would it let me enter the sacred chamber once again.
So if you're ever in Paris and see one of these things, be forewarned. Don't pull the red lever unless it's an emergency!
Au revoir - at least until the next post on Notre Dame!
Virginia
This is post #16 in my Europe photo series.
My Switzerland posts:
#1: Off to Europe!
#2: Our First Afternoon in Geneve
#3: On the Shores of Lake Geneva
#4: All Around Geneve, All by Myself
#5: Sweet Sunday Morning in Geneve
#6: Saint-Pierre Cathedral
#7: Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
#8: On Our Way to the Swiss Alps
#9: O Little Town of Lauterbrunnen
#10: Mürren and Gimmelwald by Cable Car
#11: Staubbachfall in Lauterbrunnen
#12: Foggy Days in Lauterbrunnen
#13: Trümmelbachfalle, Ten Waterfalls in a Big Swiss Cave
#14: St. Beatus Caves at Lake Thun in Switzerland
#15: An Evening in Bern
My Paris posts:
- Eiffel Tower and Seine River Cruise
- Notre Dame Cathedral
- La Sainte-Chapelle, the Glory of Paris
- A Little Louvre Love
- Musee d'Orsay in Paris
- Arc de Triomphe and a Late Night Dinner in Paris
- Basilique de Sacré-Cœur in Paris
- Palace of Versailles
- Gardens of Versailles in Autumn
No comments:
Post a Comment