ALCATRAZ, SAN FRANCISCO

Here's a sneak preview of the new series of historical toilets A Toilet Visited will feature in the future. The photo from the prison of famous Alcatraz Island is courtesy of a dear friend of mine. 

At the typical cells of Alcatraz prison measured the 5 feet by 9 feet and served as living room, bedroom and toilet at the same time. The toilet seat was located at the back wall with the bunk in front of it (not in the picture). In other words that's the shortest distance from bed to toilet seen in the history of A Toilet Visited so far! No need for pis pots here definitely!

  

The story behind the broken toilet seat is unclear; the history doesn't tell stories of successful escape attempts through toilet drainage.

FINNAIR, IN-FLIGHT OVER FINLAND

Hi and foremost apologizes for a long period of silence, I'm back again and I hope to bring some more great reviews for all the toilet lovers out there. This time I bring to the table another cubicle high above the ground on a long aluminium tube, Finnair Airbus A321. Unsuprisingly the resemblence to the Norwegian in-flight toilet experience is high. Next time I should try to get into one of the underfloor toilets onboard the A340-600, or on some (probably) more lukuxrious toilet of Middle-Eastern airlines like Emirates to break the conventions of the European short-haul airliners. But before that let's review the product of Finland's trademark and icon!

The colour palet of the toilet (same for the whole interior of the aircraft) is rather uninspiring mix of different shades of white and grey found on many airliners. Sure though this neutral choice is less prone to visible dirt than let's say different shades of white. As an experience toilet visitor I am not easily intimidated just by the general first impression; I always try to dig under the surface to expose the genuine nature of each piece of restroom.

So let's try to uncover the real character of this individual. First of all my attention is focused on this rack that contains covers for toilet sheets. I can't remember Norwegian supplying the same items so Finnair definitely has an edge here.

The sink is quite ordinary style found on any airliners. On positive side the soap bottle Finnair is providing has a bit of high-end feeling compared to your ordinary soap.

The toilet seat itself is beautifully minimalistic - in line with the Finnish kind of branding and even the new livery of Finnair. Good brand management here definitely! Did I mention that white is one of the national colours of Finland?

Once again no smoking in this toilet either. Smokers still have to hold their horses as some proposed airlines for smokers like Smintair haven't materialised yet.

Well to be honest, even this cubicle actually has an ashtray on the wall, which is quite confusing with the obvious prohibition sign. The unofficial story behind this is, that airlines reckon that some passengers try to smoke in the toilet every now and then, in spite of being forbidden, and thus it's better to have an ashtray instead of passengers stashing the smoldering cigarettes for example to the trash can full of tissues.

Though I was having great time in the toilet, soon we were approaching the Helsinki-Vantaa airport and I had to leave for my seat, instructed by this smart icon.

ROVANIEMI AIRPORT, ROVANIEMI

Finavia manages practically all the commercial airports in Finland. One of them is in Rovaniemi, which also  the fourth largest in Finland in terms of annual passengers. The Arctic Circle also happens to cross the runway of the airport.

I was happy to travel through the official airport of Santa Claus (who resides in Rovaniemi), and visit one of its toilets. The toilets of most Finavia airports, as was the one at Rovaniemi airport, are of the type of those well-managed clean toilets that has to be in good shape, as they serve at the gateways through which tourists enter the countr.

Upon entering this compact relief room one is quite overwhelmed with all the grey shades of the walls, floor, roof and cubicle doors. Thanks to the colour palet choice, the toilet has tough a clean, professional, and somewhat cosy atmosphere.

Another touch of toilet professionalism is the sink level made of pure stainless steel, which I'm sure will satisfy the needs of even the heaviest/most demanding sink users.

 Finavia engourages all the white guys to practice their basketball skills in the premises.

 
The airport authorities are kind enough to remind the average international visitor (who at least has knowledge of Finnish, Swedish or English) of the importance of closing the door, while one is conducting one's business inside the cosy cubicles. I apologize for the blurry picture, I was hurring for my flight (good excuse for average photographing skills and camera). 

OPENBARE BIBLIOTHEEK, AMSTERDAM

First post of the year, this time I'd like to present the toilet of the new Amsterdam public library, which itself is of cool design. Moved to its current location in 2007, Openbare Bibliotheek claims to be the largest public library in the whole Europe.

In any case onto the business of toilets. The main toilets are located at the bottom of the building near the entrance of the library. Upon entering the men's lounge area, for conducting business, one can not be noticing the large wall, that separates the toilet from the corridor, which is actually a large piece of canvas made of white knitted rope; in line with the marine surroundings of the library building. With this ingenious design the toilet area manages to have an airy and open atmosphere, not often found in any other toilets than those in outdoors.

The cubicles and urinals continue the light, airy design. The walls of the toilet cubicles are interestingly made of some sort of semi-transparent glass, allowing the artificial light to spread around naturally.

The urinals themselves pose timeless round design, which is a pleasure for any toilet visitors' eye, on condition the urinals are kept clean (Openbare scored well in cleanliness). A small modern touch is a motive of 1:1 size fly at the inner back wall of each urinal, which serves as great target spot to keep the toilet visitor entertained during conducting his business. Unfortunately I don't have any close snap of the fly at my hand, have to take one with proper camera equipment the next time I have the pleasure to visit Openbare Bibliotheek.

The hand dryer is one of those types, where you slide your hands into and which turns wet skin into normal in few seconds. A Toilet Visited gives two dry thumbs to this machine (of course after using it), as it both saves energy and precious toilet visitor's time compared to conventional hand dryers.

Finally "an alphabet mirror" blends in the legitimate library context.

UMESHU, HELSINKI

A small review of one special toilet for the celebration of Christmas. Umeshu is a popular sushi restaurant in Töölö, offering decent quality raw fish experiences for sushi lovers. The restroom of the small restaurant offers one of the most harmonic toilet experience the author has encountered so far.

The restroom features one small cubicle and a designated sink area. The floor is made of small round stones, which creates a down-to-earth atmosphere with a bit of a Mediterranean twist.

  

Korhonen Oy has provided the cubicle with a compulsory early 90s touch with this garbage pin next to the toilet seat. In a truly cosmopolitan manner the instruction text is provided with three different languages taking into account the needs of international customers.

After finishing the business on the beautiful raw toilet side of the restroom, the guest is however still about to experience the best part of the facilities; that is the sink area illustrated below. I won't go into too much details as the pictures will speak for themselves.

However one of the coolest items on the whole setting is the faucet, which has a plate on which the water runs, creating a waterfall  like experience to wash hands.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Freie Universität, Berlin

A quick review of toilet paper roll storaging at Freie Universität. The university has decided to save some money by using the toilet in a dual role as a storage and as a place to conduct your business. The way toilet paper rolls are stored reminds of my earlier encounter at Karstadt. I sure would prefer the prewarmed rolls above the radiator over the ones on dirty floor.

Too bad none of the rolls had made it way to the holder.

NORWEGIAN, IN-FLIGHT OVER FINLAND

"Blogging online in-flight at 30,000ft, above the clouds!" could I have said if I had one of those Norwegian new planes with free wifi. But not this one. It was though the 6000th Boeing 737 produced (written on tail) so hey I'm setting some milestone here! So instead of blogging in-flight, I set to lie on the floor, spread my hands, pretend to be flying like an aircraft and start typing. Read the report below:


The private rooms to join the mile-high club, or just to conduct your ordinary business, are notoriously small and put a challenge for my modern photo equipment. Upon entering one of the lavatories at the rear end of the aircraft I'm greeted with shades of white, cream and light grey.

The toilet seat features some extra handles on the wall helping those who has problems conducting their business at altitudes under different air pressure than at your ordinary home office.

The sink and surroundings has around 20 different holes and gadgets fulfilling all the needs you can imagine.

 Smokers! Better stock up some US dollars, even though it would be a EU flight.

Smokers again! Ignore this sign, for the nominal additional fee of $2200 it is allowed!

Once again, nice touch having a hook in the lavatory, though I suspect not too many passengers have their coats on on-board.

 Do not stash you garbage into the toilet, the seat pocket is for that, understood?

And the final note for the less experienced toilet users: Always remember to stand up before flushing! Or you may end-up like her:

airplane-vacuum-toilets-an-uncommon-travel-hazard

KTV CLUB, BERLIN

I want to share with you a recent toilet experience I had.  As my readers surely know, in bars and clubs the toilet quality varies greatly and one can never know beforehand what to find in terms of cleanliness, accessories and toilet ware. The toilet concept of Berlin’s KTV club was however a positive surprise.

The most interesting part was the layout of the toilet area itself, which is shared by both genders. The area consists of a corridor forming a square around the toilet area, entered from the right hand side on the photo below. Upon entering the guest is greeted with the sink desk. Continuing from the sinks to the left and right, four toilet cubicles form the middle part of the section, while on the back side is the dedicated zone for urinals. An interesting concept and the club was great too!

The entrance to the toilet. Notice the nice touch of up to date club fliers between the sinks.

The toilet cubicles on the sides of the square. The doors lock and close snugly providing a space for diverse private business.

Authentic zone for the guys with relevant tags on the walls.

KARSTADT, BERLIN

I’m starting my report with a short review, subject of my most recent visit to a toilet. Generally speaking one can expect to find decent quality toilets in most department stores and that was the case with Karstadt as well. The pros of the department store toilets are that they are cleaned and maintained frequently and provide plenty of options to choose your favorite toilet seat or urinal.

The toilet seat I had the pleasure to use was a clean example of the kind used widely in Germany.

Most exemplary public toilets provide the quest with a hook to hang your coat on, improving the toilet visit experience. That was the case with Karstadt, but instead of just one, as a nice touch they provided two hooks!

The toilet paper roll and appropriate holder. I prefer having the paper roll the other way around with the paper unfolding from the top of the roll.

The only minor complaint I have is about the piece of cardboard below one of the urinal which was obviously leaking.

Nice way to store the paper rolls. The lucky one using a fresh roll will enjoy some warm sheets of paper during the winter! Not the first encounter with this style as I will later report.

As evident from the photos, the pattern of the materials and colors provide conditions for a harmonized and pleasant stay and the toilet guest can take the time needed in no hurry. At least I was happy to have chosen Karstadt toilet to conduct my business.