“See what?” My husband responded.
“That guy by his truck? Did you see what he was doing?” I answered.
“You mean going to the bathroom in plain view for everyone by the roadside to see?” he replied.
“Yeah! What’s up with that?” I exclaimed.
“Oh, I see it all the time.” My husband explained.
And so it was to be, an oft repeated scene before us; a car or truck pulled to the side of the road and the driver using the outdoors as personal bathroom facilities. The more acquainted we became with Autobahn bathrooms and some public restrooms in general, the more we understood these impromptu, roadside pit stops. But, I still never got used to the wide-open, public view, laissez-faire attitude.
Autobahn bathrooms were a complete crap-shoot most of the time. Sometimes they were so incredibly nasty and discussing as to render them completely unusable. Other times, there were attendants and/or pay facilities but we found this was often money well spent to have toilet paper and soap and water at the sink. And sometimes the roadside bathroom facilities were useable but not pleasant. We also discovered that stopping at either Autobahn restaurants or gas stations usually provided better public bathroom facilities.
For our family, with three daughters, plus me, even if our inhibitions were lower, using the great outdoors as a bathroom just wasn’t much of a realistic option. And with a toddler who was in the midst of potty training, we often found the need for a bathroom away from home. Thus, everywhere, we went, we would require a visit to the public restroom before leaving the building from each of our children regardless of their felt “need” for it at the moment. We just never knew how easily or soon we would find another useable one.
One time we went to visit King Ludwig’s famous castles in Bavaria (Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau) and our oldest daughter (age 11 at the time) didn’t heed our advice about using the bathroom before the castle tour began. In the midst of the English-guided tour she suddenly needed a bathroom. Now the guides are very careful to keep the group together room by room and they continually gate, close or lock the doors behind one group so the next tour group can be moving into the rooms just vacated by the previous group. We had waited quite a while in line to get tickets, spent a wad of money and planned the entire day around these English guided tours so we weren’t about to abandon the tour even for an emergency bathroom visit!
There were also ten of our family participating in that castle tour and we wanted to remain together and not get separated. So, my daughter was forced to hold her urge for the remainder of the hour-long tour. By the end the poor child was doubled over with her legs crossed in the middle of the large, beautiful and ornate upstairs ballroom of Hohenzollern. We thought she might leave a puddle on that ballroom floor, but she made it through and we all made a mad dash to get her to the bathroom at the conclusion of the tour.
In fact, we made such a mad dash that we managed to lose track of our five year old daughter in the process. My husband, Cory, thought that she was with me and I thought that she was with Cory. So after everyone used the bathrooms and we regrouped in the lobby near the gift shop, we were all horrified to find ourselves one child short!! We at once split up and I began back-tracking to find her. She quickly appeared out of the gift shop with a new friend in hand. She had found another little girl about her age and latched onto her near the end of the tour. So, though my heart was racing wildly, she was completely unconcerned and thankfully unharmed.
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