We're getting ready to shove off to Paris next week and it just dawned on me, I can't remember if the tap water is potable or if I need to start hauling in H20.<BR><BR>And on another related subject, since we drink a lot of water, how are the facilities? Is it pretty easy to find a public restroom while we're touring the city?<BR>

yes, tap water is potable, but not always very cold. As for public restrooms, you usually have to pay a couple francs to use one, but they're almost always very clean and well-managed. Or you can opt for the port-a-pottys you'll find on some of the streets, which you have to pay for as well and are also very clean.

I drink a lot of water too, and I always feel awkward trying to get tap water in the restaurants in Europe. They don't seem to want to bring you regular water. I don't want to buy the expensive mineral water and I don't drink beer or wine, so...I keep trying, but I'm tired of feeling like a nerd for wanting plain water. Why does this seem to be frowned on so?

On my first trip to Paris years ago, I stayed with a friend who was born and raised in Paris. I asked her in my best French if anything would happen if I drank the tap water, and she responded in her best English: "You will not be thirsty anymore".<BR><BR>The only water that you should not drink is the tap water on trains, or any other place where it's clearly labeled "non-potable".

We order a pitcher/carafe of tap water in restaurants in Paris without any problem. Ask for "un pichet d'eau, s'il vous plait"--French speakers feel free to correct, but it seems to work.

H2O, you must have misunderstood something. I always drink tap water, as a matter of fact that is all I drink with food. Never beer, never wine. I just ask for a pitcher or garaffe with icewater, and in 50 years time nobody has frowened.

I don't know of any restaurants in Paris that serve long necked African wildlife....

European,<BR> whew! I am so glad I'm not the only one! <BR>I usually ask for a garaffe w/ a side of elephant and gorilla when I"m in Paris. I thought it was just me. They never can accomodate my request. I can say too that in 5 years, nobody has frowned, but they do give me funny looks.

You can lead a Giraffe to water,<BR>but a pencil must be led.<BR>

Bon jower garson. Vouleys vous bringey me unn girafe de low sills vous plate.

Why try to replicate home? The story behind water in France is not that the tap water isn't good. It's quite good. It's that France has many excellent bottled waters and they serve different purposes. First of all, the very best water you can use to accompany your meal (imo) is Volvic which is drawn from the central volcanic region of France. We continue to use it exclusively here in the U.S. for our daily drinking water.<BR>Even better is to ask for a bottle of Badoit to accompany your last course before coffee. Badoit is a very softly effervescent water that aids the digestion.<BR>I understand the American habit of being suspicious overseas, but like a number of other areas, France has us beat in the world of waters.

It's not exactly frowned upon to ask for tap water, but a lot of waiters tend to be insistent about bringing you bottled water for obvious reasons : you pay bottled water, tap water is free.<BR><BR> Also,AFAIK, in a lot of restaurants, they make more money with the beverages than with the meal itself. Their profit on a dish is small as compared to their margin on a bottle of wine. That's why they often don't like that much patrons who drink only tap water.

Many years ago, when we began to travel to Europe, my wife and I had not ever had mineral water (being southern hicks) but when we observed it being served at every table in every restaurant, we decided it was the thing to do. Now we are hooked, mainly on the naturally effervescent types, and can't have a meal without some kind of fizzy mineral water. As already mentioned, the French water Badoit is very good, and in fact is our favorite. There is a lesser known water in Germany called Gerolsteiner that is also remarkably good. And of course, the very popular San Pellegrino in Italy is excellent. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that most of the mineral waters actually have important trace minerals (that's why the name) that are beneficial to your health. I have to laugh every time I hear one of the terms in German that describes effervescent mineral water: "prickelnd" which of course means prickly, and that is the way the water feels in your mouth. Other ways the Europeans describe the fizzy stuff is "with gas" or "gassy" but I've never heard the English term "sparkling" translated into any European language to describe fizzy water. Sorry, perhaps a lot of nonsense, but thought you might like to know.

The Paris tap water is safe to drink and we really like the taste. It also feels much better on the skin and hair than the water here in Brussels. But if you want to experience the full joys of bottled water in Paris, go over to the Colette store where they have a "water bar" selling more than 40 different types of flat and sparkling mineral water! FYI, in France they call sparkling water "eau gazeuse" but in Belgium it's "eau petillante". Except for Perrier, which everybody in both countries seems to ask for simply by name...<BR>As to the second part of your question, yes, facilities are not hard to find but you may be asked to pay, so have some change handy. The big department stores and the Carousel du Louvre on the rue de Rivoli have good free facilities (but there may be a line). You're not *supposed* to use a cafe's bathrooms if you're not a customer there, but when the larger cafes are busy, no one will notice...Deux Magots is one where we've stopped into when absolutely necessary because it's almost always packed. I have not used those freestanding pay facilities, so no idea what they're like (what do they cost now in euros?)