It was 1997, just outside Siena, one of the best meals in my life in a tiny place I honestly cannot remember (damn that chianti) with only 12 tables. I kept coming back to tell the waiter I couldn't find the "bagno" or "toilette" and he kept saying latrina and pointed to the tiny kitchen at the back. Finally, I walked through the kitchen, and out the back door to see a horse stall that had been converted.(I vaguely remember the restaurant was a converted stable).
Inside the stall was one extremely low toilet designed for standing,(or leprechauns) crinkle 1960s toilet paper and the front door only covered the area from shoulders to knee. I couldn't stop giggling (which didn't help) as I tried to maintain my balance. All I remember after that is that I stopped drinking any water with the wine.

To narrow down the location of Julius Caesar's assassination for your son go to
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34646917

Scroll down to 'Part 6' 'Curia Pompey'.

Great trip report! Regards, Walter

This is great - I had a friend many many years ago who made a point to photograph urinals while traveling. At the time I thought it was weird. I retrospect I wish I had done the same over the years - there is an amazing assortment of the things out there in our world!

Glad I’m prompting memories down bathroom lane! Thank you for your encouragement – it prolongs the pleasure of the trip a little, I must say. And Walter, thanks so much for your detailed report on Julius Caesar – my son will so appreciate it.

CORRECTION: See, this is what the wine does to you. The restaurant we ate at with our guide from the Sistine Chapel was La Soffitta (Piazza Risorgimento 46, 06 688892977). Le Sorelle was later in the week.

Our first good night’s sleep, the breakfast buffet and we were ready for our 2nd day in Rome. We made reservations at Galleria di Borghese for 11 that morning. We got there a little early, booked an English Guide, pasted a number on our shirts for them to find us when the tour started and wandered outside. The Villa Borghese itself is absolutely beautiful – it was really the first spring day we had, lots of sunshine, not too hot and the gardens and grounds were gorgeous. As our guide came to tell us, this once was the retreat of the elite. Scipione Borghese’s little place in the Hamptons to get away from hustle and bustle of Rome and show off his art collection and do some serious partying.

And art he had! Caravaggios, amazing Bernini sculptures, the Raphael painting of The Deposition of Christ among many. Some of our favorites were: Canova’s sculpture of Paolina Borghese – for those of you who haven’t seen it, she’s sitting on a daybed, lounging and the intricate detail of the marble is incredible. And then there’s Bernini’s Pluto and Proserpina (Sometimes called the Rape of Proserpine) – Pluto’s hands are squeezing the leg of Proserpina and her skin is indented, the sheer size of it is overwhelming and the fact that it’s carved from one piece of marble is astounding. Bernini’s sculpture of Apollo and Daphne is fantastic as well. I so recommend hiring the guide – we got so much more detail than we would have on our own. We also got information that wouldn’t have been on the audio guide. We could have stayed for hours, but in order not to have crowds like they have at the Uffizi where I felt like a sardine, they do move it along. (http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm)

Hungry and needing a place to rest, we headed out to look for lunch. We thought we’d hit one of the cafes in the park but after several wrong turns, my kids started sniping at each other about who should be in charge of the map. It got a little heated in the middle of the lovely gardens and as they were arguing, I realized we all still had our numbers pasted on our shirts. Nothing like a stern parental, “Number 5, give the map back to Number 6 and calm down.” It broke the ice, we all laughed and for the rest of the trip our kids were forever Number 5 and Number 6.

We left the park at Via Veneto and stopped at the first outdoor café we saw. We gave our drink orders and as he brought them with the menus, we realized we were at Harry’s Bar. We should have left then but we were tired and cranky. We had really just a snack and it was by far, for what we got, the most expensive food we ate in Rome. There are so many fabulous places to eat in the city and although the service was good and the food was fine, it was a total rip off. Only ourselves to blame.

Harry’s Bar Bathroom: in the basement, quite nice, push button on back of bowl, great hand towels with the Harry’s Bar logo imprinted and I took one, no idea why, but mainly so I wouldn’t feel so bitter about my 11 Euro (yes! 11 Euro) Coca light…

2 PM – “Pretty Woman’d” on Via Babuino….

My family wanted to read but feeling a little restless, I headed out for some shopping. I will tell you that on a whole, we tend to dress nicely when we travel mainly because we hardly do at home but being in a European city makes me want to try a little harder, be a little more fashionable. So I strolled up Via Babuino, one of the trendier shopping streets in Rome wearing my three quarter length black leather coat, nice pants, cool boots, great scarf, killer purse and bought a few things. On a whole, everyone in the shops was very nice, tolerated my feeble attempts at trying to speak Italian and I actually bought a couple of things for myself and as gifts for friends. A shirt in a storefront caught my eye and I wandered in. Immediately, I felt like Julia Roberts fresh off the streets of Hollywood in “Pretty Woman.” No, I didn’t look like a hooker but still felt the icy stare from a haughty salesperson who radiated, “what do you actually think you’ll find in here that will suit you?” Undaunted, I checked out their clothes, saw a shirt I really liked and politely asked, since there wasn’t a price tag, in Italian, how much did the shirt cost? She looked at me first with perplexity, then, as if talking to a three year old in pre-school, she said slowly in English, “It’s a shirt.” Dang! I had asked her, “Che cos’e questa?” (what is this?) instead of “Quanto costa?” (How much is this?). I thanked her, slunk out and immediately walked across the street for my first glass of wine of the day. It made me appreciate how hard my husband had worked the last year to learn Italian and made me want to work harder.

Later that afternoon, we walked down the street to Ara Pacis Augustae. It was something that caught my eye in the guidebooks and having just finished the biography of Augustus Caesar, definitely wanted to check it out. It’s a bas-relief from 9BC to celebrate Augustus’s success in battles abroad. It’s intricately carved and depicts in life size figures all of the people in his life that were important either socially or politically. Romans have mixed opinions about how it’s housed. Famed architect Richard Meier built a glass, stone and steel, very modern building and it leaves some people a little cold. The bas-relief was pretty interesting and promoted a discussion amongst us and I put it out to you: When is the last time you can remember an American having a monument built in their honor while they were still alive? There are scores of things in Rome and other ancient cities that are built during the lifetime of someone famous. For us, Mount Rushmore was at least ten years after Teddy Roosevelt died. Although we might rename airports and schools, we don’t tend to build monuments in our honor. We launch magazines like “O” or “Martha Stewart Living” instead…
http://en.arapacis.it/

That night we had reservations for one of our fancier dinners in Rome at Agata E Romeo. Great food and unlike Harry’s, worth the price. Some of the dishes we had were:
Flan of Aged pecorino Cheese with Pear sauce and honey
Risotto with fresh Fava Beans and lamb with braised artichokes.
And the wines were great and not too pricey as well.

For those of you with kids who might be a little finicky, I will say that every restaurant we went to was willing to prepare plain pasta for my son when he wasn’t feeling adventurous.
Agata E Romeo (Via Carlo Alberto 45, 06 446 5842)
http://www.agataeromeo.it/homepage_in.html

Restaurant bathroom: Had a seat, wall panel, but had to step on a pedal to wash hands.

NEXT: STRADDLE THE HOLE, COLE – the joy of Pompeian bathrooms
And Ancient brothels & the Amalfi Coast…

Your report is so informative and entertaining - I'm loving it!

I have always commented that one could make a great picture book of all the flushing mechanisms. I remember a unique way on the Train between London and Paris (unique) to say the least but of course the very worst are the holes in the floor in some places in Italy. At the Swarovski factory, their seats whirled around a bit and were sparkly (somewhat like their crystal jewelry). Always very interesting but at times challenging. Halfpint.

What a coffee table book the pictures would make!

Quick side bar about my husband and our dinner at Agata E Romeo.

Since our first trip to Italy in 2006, two of my husband’s favorite stories to tell around the dinner table that didn’t involve art or monuments had to do with food and sex, sort of. The food story is about the famed porchetta truck that travels from market to market in Tuscany and on it, sits a whole cooked pig. They slice thick slabs of pork and put in on crusty bread and it is, to this day, the best sandwich either of us has ever had. We chased that truck from Greve to Radda but never found it again. Like Harry Lime in “The Third Man,” it would disappear around corners leaving us in an empty town square, mouths watering for more pig.

The other story involves Italian women and their ability to walk across cobblestones, bumpy roads and dodge Vespas in the highest of heels imaginable. My husband would watch from a café in awe as if he were figuring out how they built the Verrazano Bridge. Not to be outdone and as a goodwill gesture for his new found Italian language skills, I decided to buy the spikiest of high heels to wear out to dinner on a few Roman nights. I thought to myself, I’m an American, dammit, I have the “can do” spirit, I have the “audacity of hope” that I won’t topple over and make a fool of myself. So after some heavy research, I bought the Cole-Haan Nike Air patent leather Fiona high heels. Nike Air! They’re BOUND to be comfy! I’ll be able to run across Via Del Corso and yell “Ciao, Aldo!” with the best of them! They felt good the 30 seconds I had them on in the store so I forked out the dough and left. As we stepped out for dinner that night, my husband looked down at my shoes and couldn’t be happier. We walked up to the taxi stand at the Spanish Steps and I would say within 5, oh, 3 minutes, I could no longer feel my toes. What gives? Does some sort of Novacaine come with Italian high heels? Or is more alcohol involved so they don’t care? All I know is, that as soon as we got to the restaurant and my feet were hidden under the table, I took my shoes off. And in the several hours we were there, some small Italian cobbler must have snuck under the table and replaced my shoes with a pair that had to belong to a toddler. I could barely get my Nike Air comfy high heels back on my feet. It’s the one time I didn’t feel bad about ordering grappa – it was what got me home that night. My Cole Haan Fiona heels have now been retired to “sitting shoes.”

Your stories are marvelous- would you write my trip report when I get home?

Spinch, where are we going and when do we leave?

Aah, that we could all get paid for what we love doing best....

Sicily for 5 days, then 2 weeks in Greece. If we were paid for it, I would keep traveling!

I love this report!
Of, the joys of finding the flush in my first Italian bathroom... that made me feel like I am actually becoming local :)

Agata E Romeo -- my husband and I had a great meal here, too, on our first trip to Rome. (we left our kids, 14 and 11, in the hotel with room service!)

The funny I thing I remember about that place was we were knocking and knocking on the door, and no one would come. we waited and waited and almost left, then started banging and someone finally answered!!

very chic place...

I'm enjoying this report a great deal and planning to pay more attention to the various facilities available on our next trip.

But I have to say that what I recall most clearly about several toilets in Italy was being stuck inside the stall or room because I couldn't under any circumstances figure out how to unlock the door!

Once in one of those modern hotels I used the bathroom attached to our room while my husband went to the desk with a question, without taking his key. By the time he got back I was in the bathroom, yelling as loud as I could through the doors that I was locked in. I think he finally went back to the desk and got someone to let him in the room and tell me how to open the bathroom door, but I can't swear to it; I think I've suppressed that memory!

Another time my sister disappeared from the table at a restaurant for an inordinately long time. I finally went to look for her and she was furious because she couldn't figure out the mechanism to unlock the stall door and thought it had taken me entirely too long to come look for her.

I don't think it's some familial genetic disability; someone else must have run into this problem, right?

dina4

That's bizarre! The other thing about Agata E Romeo and one other place we had dinner, is they had what looked like little foot stools next to the table. I wasn't sure if they were actually for my throbbing feet (doubtful) or a place to put your purse so it wasn't on the floor. We set our purses on it...

Italy06, you said, in speaking of showers,

"But still, when I stepped out the door of the hotel, I wasn't in the San Fernando Valley... Worth the inconvenience as I'm sure you agree!"

Absolutely! That's why were going back for the 15th time!

italy06,

Really enjoying the trip report. What a great theme! Isn't it the truth? I've been hugely entertained by the variety of flushing methods in Europe, not just Italy.

My best was the one in the British Pub in Montemarte, Paris. Yes, the plastic covering tube over the seat revolved when you flushed. WHERE did it go???? I was the first to use and could hardly stop laughing as I told the others to "wait and see"!

Do continue!

Dayle


I thought the same thing! Where did it go? Plastic revolving seats coming in our next restaurant and surprisingly one of the most efficient bathrooms was the Autogrill on the highway. Pompeii and Amalfi next....

And Charnees, when do you leave?

What a great trip report italy06, I just read it today and chuckled the whole time.

I always remember my first experience with the hole in the tile floor..back in the 1970's, I was sooooo glad I was wearing a skirt and not pants, lol.

italy06, my husband and I, along with 2 other couples, will be in Italy for 2 weeks in September. Your report is immensely helpful (such an anemic compliment) and I plan to send this thread to my friends.

I am loving this report . . .

Reportage splendido! Keep it coming.

must hear about Pompeii bathrooms! i'm worried about drinking too much to find my way out of the bathrooms, sounds like its hard enough sober! my 15 yr. daughter & i leave june 5 for 3 weeks of Rome, Capri, Greece, Greek Isles, back to Rome then fly to Paris.

i am soaking up every single morsel of information here, thank you so much!!!!

Thanks so much for your patience - silly things like my job keep getting the way of what I love to do best next to actually traveling. Pompeii coming up@

Not Europe, but about 25 years ago in Seoul, Korea we were at a fairly nice local reastaurant, and I had to use the WC.

After several turns and twists thru dark corridors, I find the nice, new, clean urinal attached to the wall right in the hallway. OK, fine--I'd had a lot of OBs, so modesty was out the window.

I start up and immediately hear splashing sounds. When I'm done, I peek under the urinal--there's no drain pipe. The liquid simply poured out the bottom with most of it pouring into a 6-inch diameter hole cut into the floor--at least the portion that didn't splatter onto my shoes.

I thought I had done something wrong, but was assured by the men waiting in line behind me that this was indeed the set up that this restaurant provided.

I always wondered what was beneath that hole in the floor as the restaurant was on the 3rd floor of the building.

My husband had some of the same fun you did with toilets on our first trip to italy. His favorite story is from an Autogrill stop. While standing at the urinal the elderly lady attendant came in and cleaned the one next to him.

I'm sure your employer will understand if you finish this report before your work...

Thanks for sharing.

Oh, I forgot the cool March day driving on the Autobahn on the way to Cologne from Amsterdam. Stopped at a rest stop. Stainless steel, seatless toilets. Difficult not to touch that COLD steel with some portion of exposed skin. Would normally have taken the train for that portion of the trip, but some special stops on the way made that very impracttical.

Bookmarking

I know I have wasted about 20 hours of my life trying to figure out how various European toilets flush! My daughters didn't believe me until we were having lunch at the Taverne Henri IV in Paris and my oldest daughter Alex was taking the longest time coming back from the loo. Finally my second daughter went looking for her. Alex had spent so much time looking for the flush mechanism that the timed light in the bathroom went out, and she was trying to find her way out in the pitch black! Maybe they will believe me in the future!

Italy06, your trip report is really fun to read. As is your conversations with other posters.

FYI you asked when we were going back for the 15th time: We leave in a week!! May 14!! Florence, Lucca, Orvieto, Rome. Come home June 4.

Someone mentioned being glad they were wearing a skirt in some of the bathrooms -- I think I will slightly revise my packing list! Had forgotten about the logistical problems in some places ----

mnapoli, your story reminds me about an experience my sister, b-in-law and I had in Italy. We were in Pisa at on out of the way restaurant. After we ordered, my sister decided to visit the ladies' room. She had been gaone a short time, when a linking light went off and all sorts of alarm bells. All sorts of people were running toward the toilet. BIL and I looked at each other, but no one seemed to be carried out feet first, so we sat tight. Pretty soon, sis reappeared. It turns out that once she was in the room, there was no light and as she felt around for a switch, she grabbed a string. She thought it was one of those kinds of lights, so she yanked on it. Turns out it was the "Help me; I've fallen and can't get up!" alarm.

After a crazy work month, I finally am able to get back to my report – thanks for your patience.

Bright and early on a Friday, we left Rome for all points south. After reading everyone’s helpful posts about Pompeii, we debated about taking a train or renting a car and decided instead to book a car with an English-speaking driver.

He picked us up at 7:30 AM and we hit the road. As most of you who have been there probably know, getting out of Rome is not a quick trip to the local freeway entrance. It takes some winding around before you actually get on the highway. And our wandering around took us up the Appian Way, which was a treat in itself. Nick was our driver and more. My husband used the opportunity of being in the car for a couple of hours to sharpen his Italian skills and Nick was patient and helpful and he also wanted to sharpen his English skills so we all learned a lot.

As I mentioned earlier, before we left, we rented a BBC documentary on Pompeii. The first part was a dramatic interpretation of the events leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius and apparently before it erupted, there wasn’t even a word in the language for volcano. The premise of the dramatization is based on artifacts and bodies that they found and what their stories could have been leading up to the moment of eruption. Interesting though fairly fictional with some real citizens thrown in. But it is followed by the scientific explanation and here’s my question: is there not an unattractive woman in Italy? Even the volcanologists look like Monica Bellucci! As most of you know, what killed the citizens of Pompeii was not lava but a pyroclastic flow of gas that reached up to 1800 degrees, killing people instantly. It traveled down Vesuvius at over 60 miles an hour and although earthquakes and raining pumice stones preceded it, most citizens did not leave, unaware of what was about to come. Because it was not lava, the town was virtually preserved under the ash and rediscovered centuries later. Out of their tragedy, we are able to see an amazingly preserved town that was once a rich seaport.

When we arrived at the site, there were a few people lingering outside the gates who had badges and our driver walked up to one of them – a woman named Elvira (pronounced Elveera) and found out she was an official guide. After we paid 90 Euros, she took us on a private tour of the site. Well worth every Euro spent. She was terrific, we could ask lots questions and we were with her over three hours.

What an amazing, advanced town. They had running water (although in lead pipes that some surmise led to disease and death among many citizens in Italy.) They had the equivalent of fast food places – you can still see the kitchens and urns that contained food. They had a red light district (it was a seaport, after all) with a brothel that still has intact frescoes detailing what pleasures you might get in any particular room – very efficient, in my mind…
And in case you had a little too much house wine at the café nearby, the streets had sculptures of penises leading the way. An early GPS system perhaps. And the brothel had a bathroom – a marble hole in a room that no doubt had some ancient tourist wondering why all the bathrooms in Italy were so different….

There are plaster casings around people and animals that were quite literally caught dead in their tracks. We actually took a picture of a living dog lounging near the plaster cast of a dead 79 AD dog. Must have been cousins. And houses and temples and amphitheatres galore. You can easily spend a day there. I don’t know about the rest of you, but Pompeii is one of those places that just calls out to you from your 4th grade history class. I can still remember my teacher telling us stories about the events that led up to that terrible day. It was really a privilege to finally get to see it.

And it’s easily doable on a day trip from Rome.

BATHROOM IN POMPEII - Nothing special (no seat BUT there was a bathroom attendant and it cost a Euro to use.)

Since it was also my mother’s unrealized childhood dream, I bought her a beautiful book about Pompeii and asked our guide what else would be a keepsake of the area. She mentioned a hand carved cameo place and the second we walked in, I could feel the Murano Glass cold sweat pouring down my forehead. You know when you’re offered something to drink in a store that sells cameos that there will be a pitch involved. You’re not buying a cameo! You’re buying history! The same thing happened to us on Murano in Venice and we barely escaped buying champagne glasses for 300 Euros apiece. We ran away and bought postcards instead….

Since we got there fairly early, we decided we had enough time to explore farther down the coast. We headed towards Sorrento and as the cliffs started dropping off at alarming rates, we found a great restaurant hanging on the side of a cliff that had an outdoor patio and stunning views of the sea. It was in the Hotel Mega Mare. After a nice lunch of fresh fish and a bottle of Vino Bianco, we headed back to Rome.

RESTAURANT BATHROOM: Quite homey and the most American bathroom we had seen so far.
Hotel Mega Mare – about 30 minutes south of Pompeii on the coast
http://www.hotelmegamare.com/index.p...guaNew=Inglese

It was an uneventful trip back as we slept most of the way but we did stop at the Autogrill for a soda and a bathroom break.

AUTOGRILL BATHROOM – very efficient. The soap dispenser was automatic, the faucet was automatic and the dryer was automatic – all in one convenient package - no need to touch anything. Of course, it made up for the seatless toilets….

After a quick nap at our hotel, we headed out to a delicious dinner at 59 (Via Angelo Brunetti 59 – 063219019)
http://www.ristorante59.it/indexing.html

Their fish dishes are wonderful as is their rolled veal breast stuffed with Parma ham, sage and saffron.

59 BATHROOM – Panel flush- but had a seat!

NEXT: COVER THE BOWL. JOEL
And hurricane hand dryer from hell….

italy06,

I'm so glad you decided to continue! I'm laughing out loud already. Can't wait to hear about the hurricane hand dryer from hell. I can just imagine.

Your report is wonderful! So glad you're continuing your tale.

I read an article on Pompeii in a Weekly Reader newspaper back in 4th grade and had wanted to visit there ever since. We took a day trip to Pompeii from Rome in 2005 and loved every minute of it of our time there. We listened to an audio tour downloaded from iJourneys.com and uploaded to our iPods as walked around Pompeii, and we enjoyed it a lot. It was truly one of my favorite travel excursions ever (I was going to say one of my favorite travel days ever, but on the way back to Rome from Pompeii, we stopped in Naples, which I absolutely HATED).

I loved your retelling of your high heels in Rome debacle. I had a similar experience in Rhodes, Greece, trying to navigate cobblestone streets in little stiletto sandals on the way to dinner. I think I ended up taking off my shoes and carrying them much of the way because it was apparent I was either going to break a heel or my ankle if I continued wearing them.

Looking forward to the rest of your story!

Eloise

OHMYGOD! I am totally relating to this thread. The first time I went to Europe was in 1967, and I was 5 months pregnant with our son. I had morning, noon, and evening sickness, so puked at every stop. I titled my journal "Europe As Seen Through The Bottom of a Toilet Bowl". BTW, I felt great the rest of the time, and we had a fabulous time.

When we got off the plane in London I went to the "loo", and came running out with a strip of toilet paper (what we called crepe paper in high school)---laughing to my husband all across the airport. Every little square of the paper had printed on it "Property of Her Majesty The Queen" or something to that effect. That was my very first impression of Europe, and I thought it was hysterical.

We just got back from Italy last week, and you are sooo right. Every time we asked where the "toilette" was, we were told it was downstairs. Usually very dark and steep stairs! My sister and I would just roll our eyes, as if "Of course, it is downstairs"! The same with everything being being "A 5-minute walk" or "It's about 50 meters" when it is actually a few miles away!

Ah, one of the great adventures when traveling .... the squat toilet. You're more likely to encounter these in other parts of the world; nevertheless, older buildings in certain parts of Europe, the occasional aged train station will still have the 'hole in the ground'.

And if you've not had the experience, here's a how to on Worldhum website.

http://www.worldhum.com/how_to/item/...oilet_20060923

Recently, I saw a listing for a pensione in Naples. Yet, when I went to look it up again, I couldn't find it. Does anyone know the name. Thank you.

not toilets, but urinals in Germany. The basic one was a trough at the base of a wall. You would go against the wall and it would run down to the trough where it went down a drain.

Next I ran into a restroom with a nice porcelain urinal like in the U.S. You went into it, but the bottom was not connected. The urine would run out the back where plumbing would normally be connected. It would then be directed against the wall, where it would run down to the trough at the base of the wall!

ttt

Thanks for topping this post. Love the trip report, italy06.

FYI - the smaller panel on the wall which flushes the toilet is for "liquids." The larger panel, which will usually push down the smaller panel as well is for "solids." ;)

I can't wait for my return trip to Italy next year!

I'm still waiting for "Cover the Bowl Joel" (As I'm sure are others)

Please continue when you find the time. I depart for a 3 week trip Sept. 27th and I need more flushing information!

italy06, these reports do take forever to write, especially when written as well as yours. Thanks for posting and hopefully there's more to come!!