Paris

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Just returned from a 10-day trip to Paris with my girlfriend.  Of course, I had to take pictures of any plumbing and heating I came across:



<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622408074634/">[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622408074634/]http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622408074634/</a>



Click on "slideshow". 



All of the bathrooms were very small; none, except at airports were handicapped accessible and hardly any of the toilet seats would stay up so you could pee; you had to stand beside the toilet and hold it up with your knee or just sit. down.  All the bathrooms were very clean.



We visited a museum called Musee Nissim de Camondo that was a house built by a wealthy Turkish banker to live out his life in splendor, but as it happened, was filled with tragedy.  His son died as a pilot in WWI, his wife left him for the Italian trainer of her husband's horses and his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren died in Auschwitz.  He died alone in an empty house.



He loved everything 18th century and his house was built and furnished in this style.



<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622409992580/">[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622409992580/]http://www.flickr.com/photos/11835125@N04/sets/72157622409992580/</a>



I was intrigued by the toilet in the master bathroom; it must have had the oldest flushometer I've ever seen and the actuator seems driven by differential water pressure via the plunger to the side of the toilet.  See picture below.



Also, in the kitchen pantry was a device above the sink called a ozoneator which sterilized the drinking water.  I'll let you figure out how it worked.

bob_46

Photos

Alan, great pictures thanks for sharing. How does that ozone thing work? bob

DanHolohan

Ah, the Saint Louis neighborhood,

right behind N.D. is wonderful, isn't it? Next trip, I want to stay in one of those little hotels on that narrow street. Thanks for sharing the photos. Long flight for you both!

Robert O'Brien

Great pics!

Nobody commented on you taking pics in the Men's room? Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Ozone

Ozone is oxygen gas with an additional oxygen atom - O³.  My guess is that they bubbled ozone through water in the cylinder and then dispensed it.



Robert: No problem taking pictures in the men's room; I made sure I was alone.  Some of those bathrooms were so small I had to step outside the room to get a picture with everything in.  BTW, Parisiennes like their hot water very hot, like 150°, 160°, unheard of in this country with our lawsuit mongers.



Dan: I could have easily spent another 10 days there.  We hardly touched the list of things we wanted to do. 



At night - any night - people would head down to the banks of the river Seine with a picnic dinner and plenty of alcohol and party until very late and watch the tour boats go by.



We managed to snag an apartment that a friend of mine let me stay in. I wanted to be able to prepare some meals at home and not dine out all the time.  But what he didn't tell me was that it was a walk-up 5th floor apartment - no elevator.  Even with all the stairs, I managed to gain 4 pounds.



We visited the Pere-Lachaise cemetary; wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave, but they moved him because of all the unwanted attention and theatrics of his fans.  But many others are buried there: Alice B. Toklas, Gertrud Stein, Oscar Wilde, Chopin .............