Mirrors at People

In Taipei we visited a really cool restaurant called People. When we got to the front door, a giant, massive, heavy piece of metal.. we could not figure out how to get in! Eventually my sister came out to let us in. She'd been watching us through a window from the bar (she could see us, we couldn't see in). It turns out she'd let *Michael* know how to get into the restaurant, but john and I arrived separately and we didn't know! There's a little statue, and you can stick your hand into a hole in it, which sets off a motion detector and causes the door to open. Hmmph! This restaurant was fun - very different from everywhere else we ate. Very modern. I had a drink in a round glass over a pile of dry ice. Heh. Good drinks, good food, elegant modern interior. In the bathroom, EVERY wall and door surface was mirror floor to ceiling. Inside and out of the stalls as well. mirror mirror mirror. All mirrors. What wasn't mirror was glass or stainless steel except for the white porcelain of the toilets. This photo captures it all! It was just wild.

The Dream Mall Cares About You

The Dream Mall

At the Dream Mall in Kaohsiung, we went looking for the bathroom. At first we were a little concerned that both women and men were behind the same door... but behind that door were more doors which separated us. Pretty sign.. The Dream Mall is fun!

First bathroom in Taiwan!

My apologies to my few but faithful readers, for the long delay in an update! I haven't been anywhere with interesting bathrooms in a while. Until Taiwan! I've got a few pictures to share.

Here's the first. From the first restroom I went into, at the airport when we landed in Kaohsiung. This was the sign on the back of the door of the stall, facing me while I sat ...

Dragon Productions

 
This is from Dragon Productions, a great little theater in downtown Palo Alto.

Odd things, eh? Makes you wonder..

Triptych

I've wanted to blog about this bathroom for a long time! This fun 70's homage bathroom is at Triptych Restaurant, not too far from our home.
The food at Triptych is fantastic and they've always got great art on the walls of the main room as well as in the hallway that goes back to the bathroom. On weekend days and occasional warm evenings, you can sit in the lovely garden patio out back. Triptych often hosts interesting events; it's worth getting on their email list.

Midi

This nifty square angled faucet is in the bathroom of Midi Restaurant, where we attended a reception after a screening of Ang Lee's new movie, Taking Woodstock. Pics from the Q&A after the screening here.

The bathroom is actually down in the lobby of the Galleria Park Hotel. I like the interesting tile work, and the floor's got little shiny sparkly bits. But the faucet is the best part.

The Fox

This is from the downstairs bathroom at The Fox theater in Oakland. The Fox itself is spectacularly beautiful. I hear that the bathroom upstairs is palatial and must be seen to be believed. Sadly, I only went into the downstairs bathroom! The materials were high quality and the colors rich and soft. The texture on the shiny black trim is a nice touch. A black counter and stainless sink sometimes makes a bathroom very dark, but with the other color choices here, the effect was very nice and quite elegant, giving both a classic and modern feel at the same time. We were at the fox to see Sonic Youth (pictures here!). I'll update this post with pics and info about the upstairs bathroom next time I go to The Fox! (ETA ~Sep 9/10 for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!)

Universal Cafe

The bathroom at Universal Cafe is in muted green and dark grey, with plain white porcelain. The big bouquet of real flowers is elegant and really very pretty, but oddly, there's a large mirror you can watch yourself in while you sit on the toilet. Not exactly a 'feature'! The most exciting thing is this HUGE poster of a nekkid red guy pouring coffee beans over a blue planet. The striking image takes up an entire wall of the small bathroom.

Floor Detail

Another case of me forgetting where this is. A restaurant in San Francisco I believe. Photo taken 7/9.

Coffee Grinds (Orson)

This bathroom had a unique de-odorizer - a bowl of coffee grinds! I forget where this was. The tiles are dark dark green, and the shelves custom made of steel.
Update: I remembered where this is! This is at Orson, Elizabeth Falkner’s new(ok not that new anymore) restaurant. Elizabeth is known for her architectural cakes. She made one for Micahel Wilson's 50th birthday party. It was stunning, really crazy, hard to believe it was edible. She's pretty awesome, but I am not sure how I feel about Orson. I haven't eaten there yet, so things will change after I try the food. We were there for a reception after I Can't Think Straight at Frameline, and just had some wine in the lounge. They do use very nice very LARGE red wine glasses. The decor of the place felt a little too cliched for me. But I will admit I really liked the open oval bar in the center of the lounge area. And I did like the bathroom's custom metalwork and strange/new-to-me use of coffee.

Nice Curves

This fun bathroom is at Infusion Lounge in San Francisco. We attended the Frameline pre-festival soiree here. The tiles on the walls are small squares of iridescent gold and brown. Rich and gorgeous color.

Straits Cafe

This wok-sink is found at Straits Cafe in Palo Alto. The decor of the bathroom matches the restaurant quite nicely.

A neat sink

How could I forget where I saw this amazing sink? I believe it is somewhere in San Francisco...

The Tonga Room

This is the bathroom at The Tonga Room, one of the craziest restaurants around. In the basement of the super-fancy Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco is a restaurant with a large pool, into the middle of which sails a boat, upon which a live band plays. Every once in a while, there is a thunderstorm, complete with thunder, lightning, and yes, actual rain.

I got a kick out of the infinite mirror effect in the bathroom.

Bubble Tea and Fishing Cats

This is a framed jigsaw puzzle which is hung on the wall in the bathroom at Tea Era in Mountain View. Tea Era is our favorite bubble tea place! Best bubble tea around, the staff are great, and they always hang interesting art from local artists in the main room. In the bathroom was this unexpected adorable find.

Philz in the Castro

Philz in the Castro is located in front of a laundromat, and the bathroom is actually inside the laundromat. The laundromat itself is just ordinary, but the bathroom is striking in brilliant iridescent green tile and pure white porcelain.
PS: A big thank you to Anna, for lending me her camera for this photo and for her encouragement.

Stadtcafé Ottensen

The bathroom at Stadtcafé Ottensen in Hamburg. We joined our friend Rike here for breakfast before a tour of the port and other sightseeing in Hamburg. The bathroom was really fun. The mosaic work is done in the style of Hundertwasser.

103

Here's the bathroom tiling at 103, a restaurant our friend Anke recommended. At this restaurant we had a Rhubarb dessert that was exactly like the dessert my Oma made!

Off Center

A very pretty bathroom; somewhere in Berlin. I love the unusual faucet and off-center sink basin. Wish I remembered where exactly this was!

Sagrantino

Here's the hallway & doors to the bathrooms at Sagrantino, a favorite Italian restaurant we went to a couple of times in Berlin. Below, john through a wine glass, at one of the outdoor tables.

Black and Silver

This was the first stainless steel toilet I actually have liked using. The entire bathroom was really gorgeous, too, with stainless sink and toilet, black tiles and deep brown wood paneling. I'm always amused when the art in a bathroom is of bathrooms or bathroom related, and this was true here. Alas, I don't remember any more where this bathroom is, but it's somewhere in Berlin.

Printed paper towel

This is the first (and so far only) time I've seen advertising printed on the paper towels in a bathroom! This particular bathroom is in Corroboree, an Australian restaurant located inside the beautiful and fun Sony Center in Berlin.

blur

This is the door of a bathroom stall in Berlin. Sadly I forget where exactly. The texture of the metal on the door resulted in this fabulous blurry reflection.

Die Toilette spülen

Toilets in Germany are generally flushed by pressing a button on the wall. Sometimes the button has two parts - usually one larger than the other - for little flush (1) or big flush (2). This button on the wall affords a toilet designer another opportunity for artistry.

The Pergamon

The bathroom at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin is cool because it's an incredibly rich vibrant deep green, and has the feel of being built into a tunnel. But it's not cool that it stinks. Really quite nasty smelling. Ick! Not a good introduction to public bathrooms in Germany! Fortunately it also turned out not to be representative of public bathrooms. This is the only German bathroom that I really have a negative memory of - and only due to the smell.

Actual Badezimmer - Bathrooms from our trip to Germany

Partly as a nod to the blog's name, and partly because I've got lots of German bathroom photos and stories to catch up on, this blog will begin with actual Badezimmer.

This first photo is of the bathroom aisle at Germany's "Home Depot", Bauhaus.

Down the aisle you can make out a really cool tub/shower combo, with a curved glass wall that slides around to enclose a round single-person shower area.



Here's the story of how we found ourselves at Bauhaus. We were staying in Berlin at the lovely apartment of our wonderful neighbors Themis and Dare. Somehow, I broke the holder of the shower head! Yikes! I like to leave a place better than I found it, not broken! We had to fix it before we left. But how? Was this even going to be possible? We asked our friend Laurenz where to go, and he suggested Bauhaus. I felt certain that a broken shower head holder had to be a common problem, and that we'd find parts at an appropriate hardware store and be able to fix it ourselves. Sure enough, Bauhaus had exactly what we needed. While I would never have planned to need a hardware store, I'm glad we wound up needing to go to one. Bauhaus was a bit further outside the city than we had previously gone, so we got to see some interesting less urban sites. John got to use some German to get help from the employees, and of course, it was just funny to find that the home hardware store is called Bauhaus. We brought home a little wooden folding ruler with the Bauhaus logo as a souvenir. It was a bit odd that Bauhaus was so identical to Home Depot, right down to the orange and white signs inside! But when I saw the very cool tubs and showers... I knew I was not in Kansas any more.

Introduction

I've been wanting to have a bathroom blog for years. I may even have tried it once or twice before. Maybe this time is the time?

The Bathroom Blog contains my stories and comments about the various bathrooms I encounter in the world. When I visit a new restaurant or bar, I'm always interested to see what the bathroom is like. A particularly good (or bad!) bathroom can make a big difference to my enjoyment of the experience in a place. I've generally got an opinion, and I always like to share it. Sometimes people actually seem interested! For all of you who've expressed interest, and for my own memories and history, I'm creating this Bathroom Blog.

There are a number of bathrooms I've visited in the past which deserve retroactive posts, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum as I get started, and only post about new experiences as I have them. Enjoy!

PS: This blog has nothing specific to do with German or Germany. I like German, and "thebathroomblog" wasn't available. This was the only alternative that came to mind that I liked!