Oh, Doru, I'm sorry to say that I beat you to posting photos of these unique devices. (See my SlowTrips Member Gallery.) I found them quite amazing, too, and was impressed by the manager's personalized instructions!

It seems we both considered them photo-worthy, but I didn't consider all the configuration options, so perhaps your photos will be more illustrative than mine. LOL

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Originally posted by Colleen:
Oh, Doru, I'm sorry to say that I beat you to posting photos of these unique devices. _(See my SlowTrips Member Gallery.)_ I found them quite amazing, too, and was impressed by the manager's personalized instructions!

It seems we both considered them photo-worthy, but I didn't consider all the configuration options, so perhaps your photos will be more illustrative than mine. LOL

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Help! How do I get to the photos? Did you stay in Room 11?

Doru
Go to "Photos" at the top of the page, which takes you to SlowTrips. Click on "Member Galleries" and then click on mine to see the "Murphy Toilet!"

I was in a single room, #8 I think...

In the "memories" line, here's one. During our honeymoon trip in 1968, my husband and I stayed at the Lungarno (which was then $12 a night*!). There was, of course, a bidet. But this one emitted an extremely powerful upward spray, so powerful that to use it was to risk injury! Other than that, the hotel was great .

* We started out at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como, which was then about $25 a night. However, we could not afford to eat there, as breakfast cost about as much as the room!

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Originally posted by Colleen:
Doru
Go to "Photos" at the top of the page

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Got them! Mine would not be better, just more of them. Still, we'll see.

To some degree I've tamed the "water everywhere" problem inherent in shower concept and design in Italy. I pack along with me in a large zip-lock bag a thin vinyl shower curtain. I attach each end to the shower and adjoining walls by means of rubber suction cups with hooks. You can get real creative and thread a nylon line through the eye-holes of the curtain and attach each end of the line to the wall hooks. This way the curtain hangs more-or-less straight. Not a perfect system, but has worked, I estimate, 90% of the time.

www.alfonsiana.edu

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Originally posted by Sam:
To some degree I've tamed the "water everywhere" problem inherent in shower concept and design in Italy. I pack along with me in a large zip-lock bag a thin vinyl shower curtain. I attach each end to the shower and adjoining walls by means of rubber suction cups with hooks. http://www.alfonsiana.edu

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OMG..that it took so long for such a simple solution to be verbalized! I love it, but thinking back, there are a few places it would not have worked. We stayed in a Castle outside Assisi, where the bathroom was round and the shower was in the middle. Didn't dry my hair for fear of electrocution, but loved the place nonetheless.
Pat

[This message was edited by Chris on 27 September 2003 at 04:42 PM.]

This thread was hilarious!

I can't help but add my own encounter with an unusual toilet. It was in Paris, at an inexpensive hotel with mostly shared baths. However I splurged on my own bathroom. The toilet in there had a ominious warning sign that was poorly translated I think. Anyways it warned of "teeth" and loss of limb if you stuck your hand in the toilet. It apparently had some kind of garbage disposal type feature! Its other unusual feature was that the seat was entirely enclosed in plastic. Upon flushing, it wrapped around putting new clean plastic all around the seat. Can't say that I've encountered one of these since.

In a strange case of slowtrav synchronicity, I was watching the Sutherlands on the Fine Travel channel the other night, and they had ads for that Toto bidet/toilet thing.

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Originally posted by Brittney:
Its other unusual feature was that the seat was entirely enclosed in plastic. Upon flushing, it wrapped around putting new clean plastic all around the seat. Can't say that I've encountered one of these since.

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I've seen this! The restroom in the airport at Bozeman, Montana, has this kind of automated plastic seat wrap. I have no idea whether it has teeth--there was no sign and I never had occasion to stick my hand in the toilet.

Not really relevant, but I think the Bozeman airport is the most beautiful airport I've ever seen. A beautiful, massive log building with magnificent bronze wildlife sculptures and breathtaking mountain views out every window. And it's small enough to have only one tiny newstand/gift shop and one restaurant.

I've seen those automatic seat cover thingies too. I'm always afraid I'll slip off the seat!

One unusual bathroom I encountered was in Meteora, Greece. We were on a tour, visiting one of the monasteries atop the stone "needles". (The monasteries were in one of the James Bond movies.) Before returning to the tour bus, I used the restroom. It was a tiny closet, with only part of the ceiling intact; the rest was open to the sky. A small sapling grew out of the wall beside the toilet. You had to duck to avoid it! I didn't take a picture, but my friend did. Wish I had it to post here.

I know that this thread is a thing of the past and that Colleen already beat me at posting the pictures of the toilet and bidet at Casci, but this is just an excuse for me to boast with my newfound skills with posting pictures. As to photo quality; these are images digitised off film negatives so some quality is gone.

and another...

...and the last:

Doru's photo-posting capability run amok!

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Originally posted by Carol M:
Doru's photo-posting capability run amok!

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I owed this to myself, if not to the world...

And I have started my photo gallery (project in progress, also colour print film-based. The 2004 digital trip is still in hibernation...).

I do it all for the pride of the old alka-seltzers.

With thanks to all who helped me get here, although this may not be quite the result they expected.