Paris--Public Urination and SMOKING
 

Just arrived back from a weeks trip to Paris, France. With all the previous posts about public urination, I have to say I'm a little disappointed to report I saw none. Where have people witnessed this? and who was the culprit--business men or the homeless? Maybe I just was in bed too early; I tended to be asleep by 10 or 11 pm.

I was last in France in 1999 and remembered always seeming to be in a cloud of cigarette smoke: train/metro stations, restaurants, the time the only seats left on a TGV were in a smoking car(THAT was bad). It seemed to be a bit better now though--no smoking on TGV trains. Restaurants still seemed a little smokey, but I tended to eat early, so it wasn't so bad. What have others experienced with SMOKING IN FRANCE THESE DAYS?

We noticed less smoking in restaurants than in the past, even in Paris. Good trend.

I thought this was going to be about people peeing and smoking at the same time in public...would spinning plates on a stick be far behind? Now that is interesting!
Oh well~

And I've been content with merely being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

LOL, in Paris they might be able to do it while playing an accordion ! :D

On my first trip to Paris this Feb, my TC kept asking "Where are all the smokers???" I'm very sensitive to cigarette smoke and I never once noticed it.

Oh, we didn't see any pee-ers, either.

Cripes, Paris is really going downhill from the sounds of it. No fun at all!

I saw the public pee-ers (both male) at the gardens near St. Eustache church, and right on the street at the Place de la Bastille. The latter gentleman had a most impressive arc. I think he was drunk. Neither looked like distinguished businessmen, but both were middle-aged.

We saw a few pee-ers when we were there in January. I couldn't tell if they were businessmen, homeless, or tourists because I didn't look at them long enough. It's funny how they sorta hide in the corner, then look around while they're doing it. Do they really think they are being discreet?

BTW, universitylad, did you put on your PJ's on the flight home? That was a great thread. :-)

PM:
I only wore them on the flight there. I was awake for most of the flight home; they would have been comfortable though!

Did you notice others wearing similar clothes/pjs?
I saw a couple of girls this past weekend, walking around town in tee shirts and pajama pants..all the were missing were the teddy bears :)
Did you have a grand time in Paris, lad?

Hi universitylad! Glad you had a good trip to Paris. When I was there in January with fellow friend and Fodorite Marcy, we ran into a few really smoky resdtaurants. One of them was a cafe/bistro that we wanted to eat lunch at, but decided not to. Too stinky.

Last fall I was in Paris with my husband and we met up with IndyTravel, who was on his way to Greece (another poster who is a neighbor of ours). We were walking by a church--St. Severin, I think--and Indy pointed out these little metal wedges that were bridged onto the inside corners of the church building. He said their function was to discourage public urination to all, save those who liked to get splashed. :D

A walk around the Latin Quarter toward the market at Place Monge on a Sunday morning revealed lots of signs of Saturday night activity running down the sidewalks. Have to assume that the people responsible were sleeping it off by the time we walked by, so we didn't witness the activity first hand. As it were.

And why doesn't it surprise me that Indytravel knew the function of those little metal wedges?

In 20 days the only public pee-er we saw was a late afternoon construction worker at St. Jean Cap Ferrat. He was far off in a corner and we just happened to see him from a 3rd floor window.
Our only 'ugly Americans' were the lady in baggy sweats who informed a waiter in an outdoor seating area (loudly) to not seat her near any smokers.

Re: those metal corners. After walking smartly into one of those 3' high chopped off parking meter looking things in Rue Danube, I have to ask, what are they? To keep cars off the sidewalk? Every town had them and some were only 3" high bumps so I had to relearn to navigate every day.

weellll.. I haven't tried to pee in public yet, here or there... but do so enjoy a cig with a caffe, a glass of wine, a pastis...blahblahblah...cough yak yak...

I know, bad