Finding Ice

Have never seen ice for sale except for very, very occasionally at a gas station. Your best bet is any restaurant or bar. They all have ice machines.

I go to any fast food places for ice! Gotta have my ice!!

Thanks for the pleasant and helpful replies! Those are both great suggestions, my only question is, say I don't want to eat at a fast food or other restaurant every night, how can I avoid being rude when asking for/collecting my ice? Is it OK etiquette just to go fill up a bag in a restaurant where I don't purchase anything? I'd hate to appear like a rude tourist!

You don't need to eat at a fast food restaurant or a bar just to get ice, but it would be polite to offer 1 or 2 euro for some large takeaway cups of ice. You may also want to
purchase a gel wrap you can stick in the hostel freezer and use (or ask the front desk if they have a freezer in the back). This might save you from having to look for a bar every night.

You may find places will not give you ice. It is not really done,, this just collecting of ice,, and frankly I would be surprised if you had no trouble getting it. As noted, you may get ONE cup of takeaway ice,, on occaison,, but no way can you expect anywhere to just load you will ice every night.. do you really need ice everynight?? I would explore finding some sort of gel wrap that you could ask at your hotel for them to put in the freezer for you( even if they don't have a restaurant,, as most budget places do not,, most offer breakfast and have a small kitchen in back somewhere.. .

Good luck though.

Good points. I always buy something even if it's small.
Cups cost money for them, so I do offer to pay extra, but I never get a whole bucket of ice! Great idea about the jell wraps. When I'm in London, I'm staying in an apartment with a full kitchen. They say they furnish everything, but I wonder if they furnish ice trays. In my case anyway, if a drink is cold enough, I really don't need ice that badly. But for Marie, it's for a medical reason. Finding ice is so much more important for her!
Good luck Marie, and have a wonderful trip!!!

It is impossible to state what "European grocery stores" do. Europe consists of many different countries and cultures, as well as types of grocery shops.

Our local supermarket sells bags of ice, and you may find the same at large stores in other countries. However, it may be more difficult if you are staying in city centres where the shops are smaller. Most of the customers will be locals who will have walked to the shop, and will not want to carry heavy bags of ice. Therefore, the shops may not sell bags of ice.

You have to make a choice. If you want the facilities of a large hotel, then you may have to pay for them.

Some Europeans like some ice in their drink. Americans seem to like some drink in their ice. You travel to sample different ways of life.

Try a Monoprix food dept.or Carrefour (large supermarket chain). Bothe of these are all over France. I would look for one of those things you freeze and stick in a bag to keep your good cold. In
Paris, you have to go to the outskirts to find a Caarefour but Monoprix are all over. There is also a chain called Picard that only sells frozen food.
If the place you are staying is reluctant to stick this in their freezer, you could offer them a small financial incentive!!

Too much of a pain to find ice every night!! I have never seen an ice machine in a hotel in Europe but then I don't stay in large hotels.

All of the above-named stores can be googled to find locations in France.

If worst comes to worst, you can wrap you feet in cold towels, and elevate them which helps to reduce swelling.

Anothe store in Paris that wouls probably sell a cold pack is BHV on the rue de Rivoli down a few blacks from the Louvre near Carnavalet (opposite direction from the Place de la Concorde.)

You could also bring one with you although I don't know the security rules on this. (probably not if it is jell-filled)

I can confirm that they do sell soft drinks with ice. Out of curiosity what did you find so different about the bathrooms?
Looked like the usual urinals and toilets to me:)

Swan, I think we have to be careful when we generalize. Bathroom on McDonalds in Paris on Rue St Michel is downstairs, ,and does not require receipt. ( I think receipt code is required only at a few busy McDs where they are trying to keep out people who just pour in for WC like the one on Champs Elysees.

Bathrooms otherwise seem identical to those here ,, maybe different where you live.

If you goal is mainly to get ice to cool your sore feet at the end of the day you could also get a bag of frozen peas from the grocery store. Don't open the bag just place the entire bag on the body part that needs cooling. Because of the small peas that don't stick as much to each other as big ice cubes do that package does actually wrap around nicely on your foot or shoulder or ...

The bathrooms in the McD's I visited in Spain were on street level. The ones in Ireland I have been to have been on street level (Limerick) or downstairs (Dublin). Oh, and both were handicapped accessible. No receipt needed.

Beatrixs idea is excellant,, you will have to throw out the bag every am,, but for a few euros you will have a perfect "ice pack" for your foot each night. YOu just have to figure out the closest store to you that sells frozen veggies..

Why don't you pack a few of those instant ice packs in your checked baggage? Or you can probably buy them at a pharmacy. That way you won't have to search high and low for ice.

Thanks again for the help everyone, I really like the frozen peas idea as it eliminates the restaurant issue, and also the issue of bringing gel as a carry-on (I take only carry-on)! Also, thank you for suggesting grocery stores where I might find ice in the Paris area! That is also very helpful! Lastly, I don't mean to be rude, but Bob, I did specify which country I was concerned about in the original post, and I am also wonderfully aware of the benefit and joy of experiencing other cultures while traveling in Europe, and believe me, I wish I didn't have this stupid sore foot so I wouldn't have to worry about the ice! But doctors orders are what they are I guess :P anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

Also, thanks Swan for your comment, I'm not sure where it went, but i understood what you meant about the bathrooms!

You might have better luck with taking one of those old fashioned ice bags that are plastic inside, with cloth on the outside to keep your skin from freezing and with a metal cap. If you take that into a restaurant or bar, you will have much better luck with getting it filled up. Plus it stays cold a really long time. Peas, frankly thaw out quite quickly, and if you are in France for 2 weeks, this means going through 14 bags of peas!

Freezer gel packs are available in France and seem to make better sense then buying peas every day, though peas are great at home in an emergency. If you do not have to keep your foot elevated, you could even sit for a while on the edge of the bathtub with your foot in cold water. Or buy a cheap dish pan or bowl at one of those cheapo Euro stores (do they have those in France? They are all over the place in Germany) to put cold water in and then you can just soak your foot.

Marie - I have taken gel ice packs in my carryon several times with a note from my doctor. Haven't had any problem in the US but I haven't tried bringing them back from Europe. I ended up tossing them out on the way home to make room for some purchases.

Most of the hotel staff I encountered in Europe were really nice about putting them in the freezer for me. Some of the budget hotels also gave me ice. Just bring some extra zip bags just in case. The most challenging part is changing locations and having a late arrival. My doctor suggested next time taking a few of the disposable instant cold packs that Michelle mentioned for those occasions.

In Macdonalds, try asking for a large coke with lots of ice and no coke. :-)

We spent 8 weeks in Western Europe and Czech Republic. Ice was rare and when we did ask for ice we got about 3-4 cubes the size of a penny. We offered to pay extra...often times the answer was NO. Our 1st experience was in A'Dam at a McDonalds...not ice to be had...but the fellow did say the other McD's had ice. It was a constant search for ice.....not much luck.