Sightseeing places not made for the Lonely Planet! (A female bathroom matter)

If books talk about cultural differences, they often talk about business related matters like how much tip to give a waitress or weather you should wait to get seated in a restaurant or not. Whilst these things seem to me truly differences people should be aware of there is something in my opinion also important, nobody really mentions. 

Toilets!

Just friends may talk about the place people immediately get acquainted with once they placed their feet on the ground of another country and which seems a unavoidable place for us to visit ;)

I remember, that I as a little girl often feared not being able to unlock the toilet doors again at public toilets (in Germany these locks can sometimes be fairly old and tricky) and that I would need to scream my lungs of to get my mom or whoever else to help me. If there even would be gaps above or beneath such a door in Germany, the gap would be usually as small as in the image below. Whenever such a door lock would strike to open you know that your body will wipe this floor by trying to escape through this gap… and regardless in which country you are, your body (or face) never wants to wipe that floor!

In the US I never made any experience with this kind of my childhood fears, because to me there seems sometimes to be so much space and gaps in the single toilet doors that I from time to time  wondered why there even are some ;) I mostly feel more privacy in any dressing room in the US than at the places I wished it most for ;)

Why are these gaps to the right and left of theses doors mostly about an inch wide and the gaps below and above the door so huge that the person outside can nearly see your knees? I have to admit there are moments where I get so jealous of guys.

I Have to admit that as it’s nice on one hand to know that I’ll get rescued in case I become unconscious is a nice and comforting thing but besides this aspect … I try not to waste any time there ;)

Therefore my conclusion here would be privacy vs. getting rescued in an “emergency”. 

The towel nation

Come on, I’m sure you did it as well, at least once if you are German. Taking a piece of your clothing or stuff and place it silently on an table, chair or maybe even on one of these plastic couches at a pool? The first time I heard about Germans being the towel reserver nation was in my early 20^th in Ireland. People explained that they prefer to travel to Furteventura, a Island less preferred by German tourists, because they can get up whenever they want without finding the pool couches empty and covert with towels of Germans. Back in Germany for a few weeks I had a similar experience today which made me smile inside after just being not used to it anymore.

I went into my favorite little coffee place across the main university of the town I used to live through my studings. I planned on sitting inside enjoying a coffee, writing some mails and thinking about the times I’ve been sitting there with my partner who is still in the US and I won’t see for a little while. So I went inside and saw that three tables in this little place have been unoccupied and my heart jumped in anticipation of my quite time here, because this little café can fill up very quickly through lunch time. Also there was just one person with a coffee to go queuing in front of me so when the cashier asked me if I would like to have my coffee for here or to take away of course I said for here.

I added a little brownie piece to make sure my stay will be just perfect! Meanwhile they prepared my order the queue became longer and I all the more happy I made it in early. Receiving my hot steaming coffee and walnut brownie on nice white porcelain dish I turned around, walked toward the firs table and saw two gloves and a stocking cap suddenly lying on it. Turning around to the second table I found two jackets hanging over two of the chairs which certainly appeared after I passed them 3 min ago. Glancing to the last of the three tables I already guessed what would come next… a bag!

I turned around, back to the cashier still holding my coffee plate in one hand and the brownie plate in the other and said:

“Excuse me, it seems that gloves, hats and bags already enjoy coffee at your tables I haven’t noticed earlier. As there is now no place anymore I could sit, could I sneak over to your other coffee place across the street? (they have another one, where you have some bar chairs and a little counter you can sit/stand on. Not nearly as comfortable ;)“

She just replied: …I see everywhere towels... he? Of course if it wouldn’t be to inconvenient for you? ;)

We smiled understandingly at each other and I clattered with my dish to the other side. I have to admitt I like the American way here a little better: ‘first come, first served!’

And what was running through the mind of the last person queuing and placing silently its hat on the last available table? Maybe: “Ha, ha – I came later but against my hat you can’t do anything this table is now mine!...” or “ My hat is faster than your hat?” followed by the quite laugh of a villain… ;) ?

I guess when other nations see this kind of towel reservations of swimming pool couches when Germans go on holidays, they see just one expression of  this behavior. In Germany our towels are gloves, hats, jackets sometimes even mobile phones or wallets… I’m just happy I never witnessed someone so far getting undressed through summertime, to place their T-shirts or pans there… ;)

Please let me know what you think?