Wednesday, September 9, 2009

It's all in the details

I'm suffering from jetlag, but wanted to leave you with some amazing shots of a public bathroom behind Notre Dame. This small little building is built of boring concrete but the details of its construction are amazing. Faux Bois! isn't it intriguing?
Even the roof 'shingles' are concrete (not cement, which is an ingredient IN concrete) and the artisans took great care to create realistic wood graining and details. Little treasures like this are what make Paris so special! Stay tuned!

20 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing. Can't wait to see what you have to say.

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  2. welcome back Stefan. I'm sure you had a great time and am looking forward to the details on your visit to Paris. And yes, even the public restrooms are given aesthetic consideration by the Parisians! love it.

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  3. Oh I just cannot even imagine traveling with you...all of the architectural details must be like candy for you.
    Now, how was the papier de toilette?
    pve

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  4. Patricia, luckily I didn't have to use the public toilettes much (we stopped at enough cafes for snacks for that!) but the one I tried was pretty disgusting and 3rd worldish. I must say though that it's a nice amentity to have in case of an emergency!

    David, somehow everything in the whole city was amazingp; down to the bathrooms!

    Julio -thanks! As amazing as the trip was, there is nothing like coming home!

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  5. Stefan-Welcome back! Your first post back is on public toilets-LOL!!!!!!!!

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  6. LOL, good point, Beth! Well, I suppose I could have put it like this: everything in Paris was so beautiful -that even the bathrooms were beautiful! I just love faux bois.

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  7. Welcome home. "Everything in Paris was so beautiful -that even the bathrooms were beautiful! is a bit like Mark Twain's comment that "in France even the little children speak French," no? Can't wait to hear about your trip.

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  8. LOL -thanks HBD -good point ;-)
    AND they eat french food at every meal! *wink*

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  9. Enjoyed the pix of the Faux Bois potty facade so much, I put a link to them on my site (an art & craft site that has a great deal of info regarding Faux Bois- www.thegardenartforum.com) Hope you don't mind, I just wanted to share the images with an interested group of folks. Thanks for sharing your travels.

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  10. Welcome home, hon! Can't wait to hear all about the trip.

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  11. the little extended cottage roof in itself is quaint and so appealing, but isn't that such a clever idea to create the design in the concrete, warming it so wonderfully! the attention to detail extraordinaire is a flare so often missed in this part of the world ...
    i really appreciate when some areas actually have building codes in place to preserve the culture or history of the area ... forward thinkers!
    it is very special ~ thanks, even if it is a biffy ...
    prairiegirl

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  12. Prairie - a new vocabulary word for me today -I had to look it up! Biffy is an outdoor bathroom!

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  13. Love Heather's Black and white photography! What a wonderful trip...

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  14. how fun- two dirrent views on one trip- b & w tuileries and concrete toiletries! love them both!

    also love learning the new things on the internets- i have used cement and concrete interchangeably for years. feelin' kind of stupid, now! ;-)

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  15. Pee-cturesk...
    Love your little prelude of a post to come!
    Can't wait to see all about it!

    XX
    Victoria

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  16. I do think that little cute toilet is new!
    I was in Paris last year and did not see this cutie!

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  17. Ok, so for those of us not in the concrete/cement know....which one is it when it has those little sparkly crystals in it?

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  18. semigloss - that is concrete. Basically concrete just means rocks encased in cement. Cement is a sort of paste made out of limestone that is the glue that holds the rocks together. Thats what concrete is - rocks & cement.

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  19. Or do you mean terazzo - the flooring? thats marble chips and cement!

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  20. I love this too! I do think you can tell a lot about a place by its toilets. I'll never get used to the Turkish ones though - which I never saw in Turkey, by the way! Thanks for the lesson on concrete!

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