The trials and treasures of toilets

Public toilets found at a rest stop on the Toad (Toll) Road in France.

Most parents, I guess, when venturing beyond home, generally keep an keen eye on where the nearest ablutions are for their small people (who usually, when need to go, need to go NOW). This is a wee post of tips and info about what we've encountered on our travels (inspired by a very long queue at Guell Park today).

Must haves
These are pretty much essential no matter where you go - rationale to follow...

• a face cloth, microfiber cloth or handkerchief (easily accessible in handbag or pocket)
• hand sanitizer and/or wet wipes
• a packet of pocket tissues (with enough tissues for all bottoms under all circumstances)

Toilets in Japan

• In most cases toilets are readily available at tourist attractions, parks and temples. Department stores and shopping malls have plenty available. All train stations have toilets, but their level of hygiene and rating on Miss K's 'good smell factor' is very low.



This website where the photo comes from includes how to use this toilet and other amusing information.

• Generally speaking, there are western style toilets in most toilet areas; there will also be the traditional 'squat' style toilet that requires some practise (see photo above).
• Western style toilets, particularly in department stores and airports can come loaded with a variety of buttons - bidet, bottom washing, some have bottom drying options and real fancy ones include air freshener and 'music' or 'sound' so that others can't hear you while you are busy - it is best to experiment with these buttons while one is seated on the toilet... little people need to make sure their bottoms cover the entire hole when experimenting or it can get rather wet (particularly when the bottom washer comes on).
• Toilets tend to be clean; the worst we encountered was at Ueno Koen in the children's area (a bit pongy and a bit dirty).
• Most toilets have hand dryers. It is rare to find paper or cloth towels to dry your hands, and some toilet facilities do not have anything to dry your hands with. On these instances, it is essential to have a wash cloth/handkerchief to dry hands, preferably located where you can get to it when you've been caught out and have wet hands, or small people have wet hands and are dripping at you.
• Convenience stores, such as 7-11 or Family Mart have toilets available if your child needs to go and can't make the 20 or so meters back home. These are clean and free.
• Nappy change and baby feed stations are generally plentiful in shopping malls and department stores. Baby feed stations are usually apart from the toilet (fair enough too) and may include play areas for the 'waiting children', drink vending machines and microwaves to warm formula. Nappy change zones don't always include a toilet, but they are generally nearby. Most toilets will include a nappy change table in the disability toilet.

Toilets in London and Australia

• Overall, we didn't find too much difference between loos in the UK and Oz with New Zealand. In Primrose Hill there were queues, but the toilets included the expected amenities of toilet paper, soap and hand towels, and were, overall easy to find.

'Relieving' history in the knights' toilet in Dover Castle

Toilets in France

• The biggest issue we faced in France was finding free public toilets. When we explained to our French host family that we had to pay to use a loo on the Champs Elyse, they advised either going to a bar/café or simply finding a bush (not easy on the Champs Elyse).
• Public toilets (such as those found at rest stops along the Toad Road) were without toilet seats (good for strong thigh development) and may have been equipped with soap or hand towels. Not always both.
• What is strange is that although there may not be toilet seats (by design), every single toilet I went into had a toilet brush!
• One public toilet at a rest stop was a squat one. Miss K gave it a very high pong factor.
• We encountered a tardis type toilet box on the street near Montmarte. While free, it required  waiting outside for about one minute after the person who had just exited, to automatically wash the entire cubicle. Only one person at a time was supposed to enter, but we crowded in (small people couldn't wait for full cubicle washes) to discover a wet space, but adequate for our needs.
• Sometimes there are long lines for toilets at tourist attractions. While the architecture in France is phenomenal, there seems to have been a serious design flaw in the number of toilets available (particularly for women) - this also has been our experience thus far in Spain.
• Commercial Centres have free, clean toilets.
• Some places have nappy change facilities for baby - Master T has become an expert at being changed standing up or in his stroller.

Toilets in Spain

• As mentioned, there seems to be a serious absence in plentiful toilets in public places, although if you ask, staff at businesses are often okay with allowing you to take your small people to staff loos (we found this today at the car park building in Barcelona). Both Dali's museum and the Guell Park had a shortage of loos for the number of people visiting. Miss K and I queued for ages for what turned out to be only three toilets for women in a park that can have up to 25,000 people a day visit!
• Toilet paper may not be topped up regularly - always take pocket tissues!
• Soap sometimes isn't available - need for hand sanitizer!
• Often there is nothing to dry your hands on - washcloth comes in handy.
• Big supermarkets have free toilets and restaurants/cafes have loos that are pretty clean.
• Bars/cafes are happy for you take small people to the toilet, but generally you would buy a drink/coffee/snack for the privilege.
• Some toilets have bidets. Never, ever, under any circumstances pee in the bidet.
• There are hardly any places for nappy changes, but no one seems particularly bothered if you change baby in public, with discretion.

 Public loos have become an area of somewhat trepid exploration: "what's it like?" before one of the children venture in... but they are also a great lesson in cultural differences in something that all humans have to do... we do it the same, but different :-)

We'd love to hear any of your interesting/funny potty-stop stories too!

The Toad Road: Travelling South through France

One of the challenges we've faced on this adventure is sometimes having to sacrifice budget for convenience. When deciding between an extra hour (or more) in the car to save the cost of a toll road between France and Spain, we always opted for the toll option. There are only so many squabbles parents can survive, and then there's the fighting amongst the kids.

On our second day of travel, Master A asked if we were going on the Toad Road. It's become one of those 'family things' that happen on a trip. A bit like the 'zunda mochi' pose you see the kids striking in many of our photographs. Zunda Mochi is a Sendai delicacy of green bean paste and sticky rice cakes. Sendai has adopted this phrase as the new 'cheese' for when you take a photograph, and our children, fascinated with the ninja pose they learnt at the same time, have incorporated it into pretty much every photo... but I digress...

The road from Paris to Barcelona can be driven in around nine hours (according to Google Maps and if you are able to whizz along toad roads without a dozen toilet stops). We decided to break up the trip, travelling on average two hours a day and stopping at little villages along the way. The Man of the House (MOTH) was in charge of sleeping sites, which he arranged via booking.com, with varying outcomes.

Day one - we departed Paris and visited Versailles on what had to be the wettest and windiest day we'd encountered in France. Having started out a bit later than intended (packing for five who have spread out over an apartment is time consuming), we opted to visit only the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. The queue for the palace was LONG. Usually, visits to the garden are free (except for Sundays and Tuesdays) and as it was Tuesday we had to pay (kids 5 and under are free) and we were also treated to displays of the water fountains.

Weathering the wind and fountain in Versailles

The gardens are massive and excellent for small people to run around and let of steam. We'd packed a picnic lunch (must be eaten in designated areas) and admired the beauty of the site. Miss K enjoyed the history of the palace, particularly a diluted account of the French Revolution, being in Versailles made history come to life. If doing Versailles without small people, I imagine taking the two day passport to see garden, palace and other buildings option would be well worth it. Miss K suggested in 10 years she and I come back and do so - here's hoping!

From Versailles, via the toad road, we headed to Jargeau. A small quaint town near Orleans, where we stayed in a small, quaint, but clean hotel (Cheval Blanc), ate ok Pizza at a local restaurant and discovered that Joan of Arc had a historical moment here.

Statue of Joan of Arc in Jargeau

Day two -We missed breakfast at the hotel (overslept) and wandered hungrily around the village, searching for a wee café. Found a boulangerie and it was croissants for breakfast. Having embarked on discussions about St Joan we decided to visit the city of Orleans.

Miss K and I on a fountain in the plaza near the Cathedral of Orleans

This township is beautiful. Its cathedral inspired questions about different biblical stories, we saw a peaceful protest march and lunched at a local creperie. There is also a Louis Pasteur Park here, which Master A was thrilled about: "I know him," he announced (we'd read about him last year), although it was too wet to go to the park. A short stop here and we pressed onto a little hotel on the outskirts of Bourges. Our hotel (ACE) was new and clean. A family friendly restaurant was located nearby and breakfast was relatively cheap and plentiful.

Travelling France reminded me to be grateful for my (and my children's) love of history and stories, my high-school French and the MOTH's fearless driving skills.

Day three- We pressed onto Clermont-Ferraund where I suggested that our two star hotel room reminded me of a hospital. The MOTH's response was that that was an insult to hospitals! Inspired to escape our dreary accommodation, we headed out to explore the volcanic region, taking a train from the base of Puy de Dome to its gusty top, buffering ourselves against the wind and cold. It was thrilling.

A Zunda Mochi pose in front of the train for the Puy de Dome

It's cold up here Dad!

Day four - Most hotels have a stand with brochures enticing you to local visitor attractions and Vulcania in Clermont looked amazing. Touting itself almost as a  volcanic Disneyland, we joined throngs of locals to visit this attraction that draws on the natural landscape for its theme. We 'rode' two rides, queued for lunch and watched an ecological film. Unfortunately Vulcania didn't live up to our expectations with very long queues, inefficiency and too many people for two few attractions. Over priced, while we mostly enjoyed ourselves, we wouldn't recommend a special visit.

Zunda Mochi at Volcania

Leaving Vulcania around 3pm meant we arrived at our next destination of Le Caylar (a remote village in the mountains) a little late for our tired and hungry children. The hotel proprietor was a warm and welcoming lady and directed us to a nearby quirky restaurant for a home-cooked meal. This was probably the best meal we had paid for in France, aside from the reasonably priced breakfasts we'd enjoyed at the hotels (this one included).





Day five - Across the border on the Toad Road to Bascara (Hotel de Les Roques) where the food rocked and the host rocked and the price was pretty rock bottom too for two rooms, plus a playground for the children! The sun was shining - bliss!

Amazingly good food - 'pica pica' in Catalyuna

Tama discovers 'planking' in a play ground in Bascara.

Day six - Before heading to Barcelona for the week, we stopped at Figueres to fulfil the MOTH's dream of seeing Dali's Museum. While not overly recommended for children (particularly on a Sunday and the place is full of people), our small people enjoyed looking at the various installations and creations for a few hours before becoming tired. Wee Master T (nearly 2yrs) points out his favourite display in his Dali book he chose from the gift store and talk continues about Dali's art and life.

Dali would have loved the eclectic Zunda Mochi in his Museum!

 Plans for Barcelona include visiting Gaudi's famous works, but today, we supermarket shop and rest in our lovely casa. Buenos noches amigos!

Bonjour Paris

There is a certain difficulty in balancing number and length of posts with travelling, secure Wi-Fi connection, small people's needs, need for sleep, work and fear of boring people with endless travel stories. I'm never certain if it's best to go for a long rambling post and several shorter rambles - let me know and I'll do my best, although I think this is one of those long ones...

The last five days we've been travelling through the South of France from Paris (more tomorrow) and have just arrived North of Barcelona. But I wanted to share some of the highlights and experiences of Paris from a 'family' perspective.

Miss K at the Natural History Museum

Paris was not particularly kind in its weather while we were there. It rained. Quite often. On our second day, we paid a visit to the Natural History Museum in the Jardin de Plantes. A mainly 'traditional' museum in its presentation of wildlife, the children adored the interactive children's section (particularly an exhibit where a photograph of the child was taken and included in a short animation of a historical episode of Paris. Master A returned to this exhibit several times over). They were also impressed with the displays of Kiki the Giant Tortoise, the Dodo and detailed visuals on taxidermy. While we spent a good part of a day here, the Japanese Natural History Museum in Tokyo still superseded it (see blog post). Having said that, the gardens surrounding the Museum are beautiful and a full day (in sunshine) can be had adventuring around the Jardin de Plantes.



On Pont Alexandra III

Day Three in Paris and our intent had been to visit the Jardin de Acclimitation, but upon learning that a 'rue' on the GPS can lead you to an entirely different location, discovered ourselves in the midst of hundreds of mad Parisians and tourists driving down the Champs Elyse. After several terrifying trips around roundabouts and down side streets  (kudos to the MOTH again for awesome driving) we found a car park and decided that serendipity had granted me my wish to meander along the Seine so we'd make the most of it, despite the weather. We wandered down the Champs Elyse spending €2.50 to visit the loo! There is a whole blog posting on toilets to come, but as parents with small children, Paris can be very irritating on the public toilet front.

Notre Dame

We crossed Pont Alexandra III (a glorious bridge), admired the buildings and made our way along the Seine where we engaged in some funky interactive art installations. We crossed back along the river and paused at the Louvre. The children we amazed at the crowds of people and very fascinated by hawkers who jangled Eiffel Tower key rings at us. The Man of the House (MOTH) wanted to show us Notre Dame. The gothic grand lady looking particularly striking with the ominous rain clouds above.

Playing with the installations on the Seine

 

That distance is quite a walk for wee legs and we hopped onto a batobus (water boat) to head back to the Champs Elyse. If you do consider making this journey with small people in tow, it's worth getting a pass for the batobus early in the day as the ticket allows you to hop on and hop off at about eight different sights along the Seine as often as you like for the whole day. It's also a picturesque way to view the city.

Akira admires Paris from the Batobus

Day four led to the weekend and we decided on a few 'quiet days', popping out for lunch and playing in the park near our accommodation. I visited the local market with our host, Nadia... not quiet and somewhat overwhelming - a real cultural adventure for the senses.

Artists at Montmarte

On the Monday, our seventh and last day in Paris, the MOTH turned 40. He chose to visit Sacre Coeur on Montmarte. Many stairs to climb, a breath-taking cathedral, artists offering to paint your portrait, lots of tourists (despite the rain) and some good baguettes! The birthday was topped off with cake, gifts and Moroccan tea with our fabulous hosts.

The highlight of Paris had to be the beautiful family that hosted us. We discovered Nadia through www.airbnb.com. Over the week she and her family helped us with our French, shared much of their French and Moroccan culture and fed us well! By the end of the week we felt as if we had arrived as guests and were leaving as family. If you are thinking of heading to Paris, Nadia's home is one we would recommend.

Miss K adores Moroccan style meals!

 

Mummy Musings

While the children have been picking up small amounts of French throughout their time here, I think the biggest learning comes in the form of tolerance and cultural relativity. Miss K has commented on the what she calls the 'rudeness' of French people (our hosts aside of course). Cars and people will 'push in' in ways she considers to be unfair and there is a lot of waiting (some systems are less than efficient). There have been many discussions about how and why different cultures have different ways of thinking about and doing things, which I think is kind of the crux of being on this journey.

Next post... the journey South! Let me know what you're enjoying and what you'd like to know more about...I'd love to hear from you!

Rest time before Europe

The Man of the House (MOTH) is a very, very brave person. He survived Paris rush hour traffic and managed to get leased car and entire family from one side of the city to the other in-tact (although it has to be said that I think my life-span has been shortened by a good two years due to stress from that experience!) I should also mention that it was raining and the three children were hungry following an afternoon exploring the La Cite des Enfants (part of the Science and Technology Museum). Sadly I forgot my camera, so no shots of what as a very cool interactive place for the children. Even wee Master T (22 months) got completely soaked at the water play activities!

Getting in some play time in Kent

The MOTH and I have also realised that we are just over half way through this international journey and we seem to be getting into the flow of things. In the past four weeks there hasn't been all that much 'sight seeing', more 'people seeing'. Sometimes it's hard not to get agitated about the fact we're on the other side of the world watching the kids run around a garden or play Monopoly, rather than visiting some must-see monument or building, but these times are must-dos as well.



Travelling - the physical act of packing up belongings, sending luggage ahead, shedding stuff you don't need and squashing newly acquired 'can't live withouts' into existing luggage space is hard work; the physical act of saying 'goodbye', getting on trains, sleeping in hotels, flying in planes, waiting in line at customs, finding luggage, moving said luggage through security checks (and on and off trains) is tiring. I worked out last night, we've slept in 13 different beds since March (including campervan and our current abode) - unsettledness is to be expected, Recovery time is really, really important. Being conscious of small people's limits and cutting them some slack is something we're getting better at.  (Check out Miss K in this photo - even a sunny day in London is not an antidote to feeling displaced and tired sometimes).



Hooray for trampolines and cousins

Because it took almost two days to travel from Sendai to London (two hours via shinkansen, a night in Haneda, 12 hours on a plane (British Airways (AirNZ co-share) was not very child friendly)) and add to that a 3 hour car drive to Broadstairs (Kent) and an 18 hour time difference, it took all of us almost  five to six days to find' normal'. The children's jet lag and tiredness manifested in rounds, rather than all three in one go (there's a silver lining somewhere in that), so there was quite a bit of grumpy for a
while.

New friend

Yet we relished the time to meet old friends and make new ones. Rita and Willie (family friends) hosted us all with much love and laughter. We took walks on the beach, a windy day at Dover Castle and explored Broadstairs' village. Three days in Norwich involved being cloistered indoors because of the wet weather, reading magazines and a visit to Tane's Great Aunt Pat and her mother Great-Great Aunt Frieda (99). Miss K and Master A made a great many comparisons of nursing homes in Japan and the UK, the first being that they didn't have to put slippers on in the UK.

Looking out from the London Eye

The MOTH's generous sister and her gorgeous family opened their home to us in St Albans for a week. We got in one day 'sight seeing' around South Bank in London, where we discovered a fantastic café on street back from the Globe Theatre, rode on a city river ferry and looked over London via the London Eye. The simple pleasures of engaging with street performers and eating an ice cream, before hearing stories of the Tower of London as we crossed the river, were what the children enjoyed most.

Yesterday we arrived, via Eurostar in Paris. I'd booked Blacklane Services (a private shuttle company) to take us to Orly airport for our leased Citroen. Two important things to note here: 1. A private shuttle, while perhaps more than a taxi, is a stress free way of travelling in Paris with a group of five. We were met at the station, assisted with our luggage and safely taken to the somewhat obscurely positioned car pick up point near Orly airport in a nice big black limo-style van. 2. We're in Europe for eight weeks. It works out cheaper to lease a new car than to rent one for this length of time, particularly as we pick up and return the vehicle in the same country. We arranged this through Citroen DriveEurope New Zealand and so far, aside from driving on the opposite side of the road to that which we're used to, it's been pretty hassle free.

We were welcomed to Paris, by our host Nadia,  with a Moroccan feast for our hungry tummies (photo to come). With much laughter, we are all learning French (Miss K has quite an ear for accents, even picking up a touch of an English one from her cousins) and Nadia's two girls (3 and 2) and her husband are all teaching us new words. Brioche for breakfast, huge chunks of camembert and other cheeses are less than two Euros, bread is amazing... with such wet weather and such good food I think we might come rolling home!

The children continue to delight us with their observations and questions...Miss K is curious to know why Big Ben got its name, and Master A wants to know why, when travelling through the tunnel between London and Paris on the Eurostar, it didn't feel like we went down a slope under the sea? Responses imagined (preferably not googled (yet)) are welcome!

Bon nuit!