Pee? Oui!

by Neil Woodburn on

For most of my life, urinating has always been free.  It was something I took for granted and never really
thought about.

And then I went to Europe. 

That’s when I discovered a strange pee tax where I actually had to pay money to relieve my bladder. 
This was especially true in Eastern Europe where little bathroom ladies stood guard outside the facilities.  You
had to pay, or you didn’t get in.  For a few extra crowns or rubles, you could purchase 3-4 squares of
toilet paper off their little card table.  Otherwise it was just you and your Frommer’s. 

I was equally shocked to discover a pay-to-pee policy in parts of Western Europe as well.  This was truly
surprising in the oh-so-very-cultured city of Paris.   75 million tourists a year visit the city of
lights and most every one has had to reach deep into their fanny-packs to dig out 40 euro cents for the privilege of
peeing in this glamorous capital.

But now this is all about to
change.  Starting February 1, the city’s 200 public restrooms will now be free, thanks to homeless
advocates who really didn’t have tourists in mind when they pushed through this measure. 

The city hopes to compensate for the lost revenue by cutting back on street cleaning.  With less people now
urinating on the streets, this makes perfect sense to me. 

 

Word for the Travel Wise (01/09/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Many of you were probably wondering whether I was going to duck and dodge, steer clear and avoid what seems to be American’s least favorite language to even attempt to speak on Paris streets. Or when we do our accent slaughters the word entirely. I’ll admit I’ve never tried to learn this romantic sounding lingo whole-heartedly and it’s pretty low on my list of tongue to learn, though it could be ten times more helpful than some of the others. Anyhow, that’s just me. There are probably tons of you out there with a little more common sense than myself mastering the French language.

Today’s word is a French word from France:

confiture – jam (used on toast)

Who would have thought? There are some French words that are fairly similar to English and one can easily guess what their meaning may be, but this would have been a tough one. Unless of course, I saw a jar of nicely labeled ‘confiture’ sitting on the table or shelf in the market.

The French language can be heard many places aside from France. I’ve often seen many American’s return from certain parts of Canada surprised by the amount of French spoken. Several African countries like Cameroon, Senegal, Chad and Togo have long embraced French as the official language. Guadeloupe in the Caribbean is also French speaking so your choices of picking French language schools abroad are numerous. STA is a good starter for learning overseas. Free online sources are France-Pub, French Assistant, and the BBC Languages.

La Sabranenque

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

I received something in the mail from La Sabranenque today, which I must have requested awhile back. I’m very interested in vacations that have a restoration or preservation component to them (although I’ve yet to try anything like this myself) so find that I’m often drawn to reading about these hands-on vacation programs (like the Forest Service one I mentioned the other day). Maybe it all goes back to those camping trips I took as a young Girl Scout, when we were always building something or frolicking in the woods searching for firewood. I like to be active when I travel…most of the time. La Sabranenque offers a variety of weeklong sessions in France and Italy that keep visitors moving while still enjoying a relaxing, vacation-like atmosphere. Some weeks are purely volunteer driven, and others combine volunteer work with hike and tour options. The two locations are in Provence, at St. Victor la Coste, France and in the southern Italian town of Altamura. All activities, housing and home-cooked meals are included. Yum. They have some off-season sessions that I might actually consider doing if my itinerary and budget allow. I’m off to investigate this further…

C&Z Traveling French Food Fest

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

Even if you are not a super foodie, you may enjoy reading the wonderful world of Clotilde Dusoulier, on her food blog Chocolate and Zucchini. All year long Clotilde serves up the tastiest recipes from her home in Paris. And because the source of where each ingredient comes from is so integral to her cooking descriptions, I often feel as if I’m reading a niche travel blog as well. She provides wonderful details about the origins and history of all sorts of edible goodies. The travel tone is especially strong this month, as Clotilde posts about her recent vacation to south-west France. For the past two weeks, she’s been sharing fantastic travel/food tales each day about a particular variety of chocolat, pepper, or cheese tasted along the way. Her Travelling Gourmande archive is another great place to browse for wonderful travel food writing, and includes links to her trip to NYC earlier this year.