Bar Bahia, Badalona

Bar Bahia had beautiful flower arraignments in their bathrooms and the coolest orange tiles, giving a sophisticated feel to their beachside bar.

Restaurant Rosso, Zurich

Restaurant Rosso reminded us of Melbourne restaurants. Located in an old industrial building the restaurant specialises in pizza & has an excellent wine list.

The bathrooms appear a little dirty, but I think that comes from having many of the original fixtures, adding to the charm. The flowers are an elegant touch & the new trough sink maintains the industrial feel.

EMP, Seattle

The Experience Music Project is in a building designed by Frank Gehry, so the loos were bound to be good. The primary colour tiles are fantastic & the toilet paper/bin/seat covers were built into the cubicle walls. No elbow banging on bins right next to you, just sleek goodness 

Restaurant, Latin Quarter, Paris

Wandering the Latin Quarter in Paris, we stopped & had dinner in one of the cute 'French food' restaurants where they have set three course dinners for tourists. I tried the escargot, garlicy! The loos had these cute patterned tiles seen above. 

Cafe, Prague

We were on a walking tour of Prague & as we neared the Charles River Bridge, we all needed a pit stop. We ducked into this cafe on the right as you approach the bridge. I don't know it's name. It didn't have many toilets & with so many of us needing to go I ended up using the men's. It had a pretty prison-like view from the cubicle.

Mexican Restaurant Prague

Pink doors & green tiles, hell yes!

This Mexican restaurant was fabulous & the pink doors in the loos & green tiles were just the icing on the cake.

Kavarna Kaaba, Prague

Kavarna Kaaba is a cafe bar elegantly decorated in fifties garb & the loos certainly match the bar's theme, with rounded mirrors & pastel tiles. Even a bit of black & white check tiles thrown in. 

Luzia, Berlin

After  a big day exploring Kreuzberg it was lovely to come across Luzia, a bar on Oranienstrasse. It had some of the best patron toilet art I've ever seen. I do have to apologise for the terrible mobile phone photos. But you get the idea.

Canteen, Bristol

Canteen in Bristol has bright artwork to lighten up the space. The loos are shared & somewhat dingy but the artwork & green tiles go a fair way in making the area a little more pleasant. 

Shelter Bay & Galena Bay, Canada

'Availability of free & unrestricted use of the toilet remains one of the most basic requirements for good health & public safety' (Greed 2009:45) 

When out for the day in a city or town, a public toilet is often the hardest thing to find. Unless you buy a coffee from a cafe or find the nearest mall shopping centre or department store, then work out which level of the centre/store has the toilets, you often can't find a toilet. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were toilets on the side of the road as we waited for the ferry at Shelter Bay and Galena Bay in British Columbia. Since we had arrived just after the ferry had taken off, we had almost an hour wait for the next one and the toilets came in quite handy. While the toilets on the Shelter Bay side were snowed in, the Galena Bay toilets were accessible. 

Galena Bay Public Toilets

 As we drove onto the ferry, I was more than a little surprised to see that the ferry also had toilets! Including a disabled toilet and baby changing area! Free and unrestricted public toilets. 

Ferry Toilets

Reference 
Greed, C. 2009. The Role of the Public Toilet in Civic Life. In Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets & Gender, edited by O. Gershenson,& B. Penner. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Ta Cabron Taqueria - Berlin

Ta Cabron has the best Mexican food in Berlin. Real Mexican, no Tex Mex here. Ta Cabron is a small restaurant with great food and friendly staff. The loos are located in the basement, down a narrow flight of stairs. As you descend the stairs, the first thing that hits you is the striking bright orange paint. 

 I love the bright colour and white tiles that makes the toilets bright and airy. The exposed plumbing gives it that slight industrial feel. 

Ta Cabron - Skalitzer Str. 60, 10997 Berlin XBerg

Random pub in Bern, Switzerland

 The stalls here had a space under the door. Many loos I've come across on my travels don't have the space, the stalls go from floor to ceiling and I find myself a little claustrophobic in them. 

This is the first place I've found where a novelty toilet seat has been in use. I like the funkified touch. This is a pub that served beer in fish shaped jugs so it is only fitting that the toilet seats have fish on them.

Also there doesn't seem to be 'Feminine Hygiene Bins' in the loos in Europe. Just regular old bins.  

B52 - Berlin

B52 is a cool jazz bar in Mitte. 

 The loos, located downstairs in the basement, had the obligatory toilet wall art.

 A cramped cubicle, door opening in, complete with heater

Cute red bin

Love the big white tiles against the cream & green.

The Corner Hotel - Richmond

This floor began my interest in loo floors. I just love these small tiles, so cute & pastel. Like something from a bygone era. Similar in size and colours to these tiles. 

This loo is off the old bar at the Corner Hotel and hopefully is still there as the picture was taken over a year ago and you just never know in this renovation era.

2nd Hand Ski Place, Calgary

It was one of those days where I was running errands with my husband's Aunt. We'd driven half an hour to drop the kids at Calgary Olympic Park then we headed to the nearest ski consignment store to see if they could take a few things. By the time this stage we needed to use the bathroom and we were delighted with the country themed bathroom. Rustic wood, framed photos, and big enough to swing a cat. I would never have expected a store like this to have a bathroom for customers, let alone such a nice, themed one. 

Chi Sing, Berlin

This restaurant in Berlin embraced Carla Greed's philosophy of 'fabulous, glamorous toilet architecture'. It had Japanese style rock gardens and a cool grey atmosphere. As funky as the restaurant itself.  

Angouleme, France

We had lunch at this lovely cafe in Angouleme and of course, after lunch we needed to use the loo. The male with us went first and reported back that the toilet (there was only one) was disgusting. He had cleaned it before he used it. I went next. The loo was located at the top of a small narrow staircase, behind a small narrow door. If you were of any significant size or disabled you wouldn't have been able to use it. The state of the loo made you not want to linger at the restaurant much longer and if I'd used it before lunch we probably wouldn't have had lunch there. Dirty loo, how's your kitchen?

Cafe Rouge, Manchester

We'd just come off a 24hr flight, drove into the Manchester CBD and headed for a coffee at Cafe Rouge. I needed to freshen up and so I headed upstairs to the loos. To my delight, the loos had black and white tiles that reminded me of Harris Scarfe in Adelaide's Rundell Mall....

El Torro, Surry Hills, Sydney

The El Torro is a fabulous Spanish Restaurant in Surry Hills, Sydney. The loos had gorgeous little tiles which gave me the idea for this blog. Sometimes loos can be pretty ugly and othertimes quite cute. Loos never get the recognition they deserve for the shitty job they have to do. So why not explore the loos of the world in all their glory?