I got to pee...real bad!!!

Altho there are admittedly some lousy toilets in Europe, generally speaking they were at least as good and often better kept than American ones. The tp lack is largely a result of the practice there of having attendants, who sell the paper and get a percentage of the monies paid for use. We would rather pay the fee for use than not have the toilet available , as is often the case in the US.

HA! THIS IS A GREAT STORY (according to me and my wife) Without getting into too much detail, I was caught in a very small town in Tuscany and really had to do a "#2". So I couldn't just go behind a building somewhere. Almost no store was open. There was a set of public restrooms near the soccer/futbol stadium in the town. All but one of the toilets was plugged. I had no TP. We found one hardware-type store that sold paper towel. So in the emergency situation I bought some paper towel and proceeded to plug the last operational toilet.

Then we found a small bakery that was open that had a restroom. This is a story that my wife and I will laugh about for the rest of our lives, and this happened about 3 years ago.

Got off the train in Varenna up on Lake Como and had to go REAL bad. The ladies room had the porcelain feet style toilet. I had never used one before, but there's a first time for everything. Then I realized there was no toilet paper. I had my mom toss me a tissue packet over the door and as I was finishing, I saw a Target brand tissue packet lying next to the toilet. I started laughing, realizing that maybe it's an American thing, and how kind of the Target traveler before me to have left the tissues there.

At 1 Euro, i think that is about $1.47 with todays exchange rate to use the toilets.
My husband said that was the most expensive toilet he ever used when we were in Italy in September. A few years ago we had just arrived in Zurich Switzerland and my husband was pickpociket on the train from the Airport to the city. When we arrived at the station, he really needed a toilet, but we had no money until I used my credit card to get get some. Then we went to the police station to report the theft of his wallet and they handed us a pamplet "Beware of Pickpockets" in about 5 languagues.

MARIE; at least you now had emergency TP..[pamphlet]
[jk]

It's called using cafe's, being aware of all fast food restaurants, Mc Donalds etc.

Yes, sometimes you do have to pay, but the restaurant option or even having a multi-day museum pass as in Paris, does have a few extra benefits

Just got back from Italy about a month ago and never used a pay toilet or even saw one. Rick Steves is very good at pointing out WCs and places like McDonalds in some of the areas around the more popular sites and we also used the facilities in the museums and restaurants.

Really don't know how ANYONE can stick up for the toilets in Italy. For the most part they are just awful and unsanitary. How many places in the states have only a hole in the floor for everyone! I've been to just about every state in the US. And many in Mexico. Nope! No hole's there as of yet either.

The foulest restroom I have encountered in several trips to Europe was in...the Louvre! Way out in some remote wing. Bad smelling, poor water pressure in the sinks. On the other hand, it did have lavender TP.

"I couldn't just go behind a building somewhere"

This is why tourists get a bad rap. In the US you would never pee outside a building, don't do it in a foreign country. If you need to go to the bathroom that bad find a cafe or restaurant and ask to use the bathroom. Most will let you use the restroom. If they tell you it is for customers only buy a candy bar or a coke and then go. Public urination should not be an option.

Are there rest rooms along the major highways? I'll be driving from Venice to Pompei with a few days traveling through Tuscany.

There are AutoGrills - think gas station oasis with food shop/cafe - that have pay toliets.

I have always thought that the strangest thing about some of the toilets in Italy is how low to the ground they are. Does anyone know the technical reason for it? There must be one, right? I mean geez, my poor Mom almost couldn't get up a couple of times.

Just got back from Italy yesterday and have to agree with Mark's statement - have some small change on hand!! We didn't run into that situation often but it's the pits if you need a "loo" NOW and the only one available is the pay-the-attendant kind. Spot on about carrying tissue, hand sanitizer or wet wipes too - we needed them more often than not.

Pompeii was particularly bad as far as convenient facilities. In fact, we ran into a dark and distant corner, amidst the ruins, that desperate tourists had evidently been using as an emergency pit stop! Terrible, I know, but not much worse than frequently dodging leavings from the curious amount of stray dogs about the place - watch your step! :)

Until I started travelling, I did not realize there was a difference between a "bidet" and a "urinal". I recall seeing a bedit in my hotelroom WC and couldn't understand why it had both a cold AND hot tap. I thought it was a urinal!

A quote from our beloved Queen of England...
"A lady never passes up an opportunity to pee!" Some good advice that I take everywhere!

Has anyone ever noticed that no two toilets are alike in Europe? On our last trip we stopped at a grocery store/strip mall outside Montepulciano. The bathroom was very clean, but after 5 of the 6 of us had successfully used the bathroom, the 6th traveler came out sprinkled with water from head to toe. The lever she thought would flush the toilet, actually turned on a shower. I still haven't figured out why they would have a shower in a bathroom in a public place.

Every toilet in the hotels requires you to be a semi-gymnast to flush it. Seems the flush lever/button is always behind you since most have the tank in the wall somewhere.

The Toliets/Bathrooms in Europe are part of the Adventure.

Even though some can be Very Interesting.

I loved when I went to Japan years ago and they had 2 signs at a reststop. Baiscally you had a choice of Japanese or western toilet. I was back in Italy the end of Sept. the last time in Italy was 30 years ago. Toilet have greatly improved since back then. I could go on how things were back then but will just tell one story. We arrived at our youth hostel in Marseille France and after an all night train and I asked the lady where the toilets were. I went into a room with guys naked and showering and came out thinking I had made a mistake. She said to me "what is it you want to do". I explained it to her. She lead me past the naked guys to a toilet that was just one of the holes in the floor very common back then. At least it had doors for privacy. I alway carried my own toilet paper with the core removed back in those days. Travel books recommended that back then. The toilet paper then was more like wax paper and you paid by the sheet from someone sellling it if you used public pay toilets in those days.

just got back from two weeks in Italy and only encountered pay toilets twice, both times in train stations, one of them was like a space station, with a mechanical door and an automatic flush/spray of the whole area once you leave. but beware - you only have 5 minutes and if you take more time than that, the door opens anyway! once you get over the unisex toilets and little old ladies or men staffing, them you are grateful for them because they are often the cleanest ones. and ladies, the hole in the floor toilets are no problem unless you are wearing a long skirt, just be careful. it's all part of the adventure!

Yes....the restroom situation in Italy was always a mystery as to what you'd find. Most were cleaner and better equipped than I expected. Now, don't laugh....but there is a product out there called "Urimate" that helps a women be able to stand and " pee like a man ". Ha ! I experimented at home and was impressed, so off I go to Italy with them and ran into hole in the floor toilets a couple of times. All works find...just make sure it is cupped firmly around you , otherwise you end up needing to wrap your jacket around you for a while ! Don't ask why I know......ah yes, the adventure !!!!!