Toilets of Belgium

Belgium is the home of surrealism. Sometimes that connection is suggested by its toilets.

Here is Saint Catherine's Cathedral in Brussels, just across from the statues of the vomiting goats.

I have a separate page dedicated to the toiletological statues in Brussels, click here to see it.

Hmmm. What's that under the portico on its side?

Ah. It's a row of open-air urinals.

While that Belgian cathedral encourages urinating against its side, another in Saint-Hubert in southern Belgium explicitly prohibits it.

Speaking of open-air urinals, European toilet facilities often have a common hand-washing area shared by women and men. That makes sense, why waste space on duplicate sinks?

The urinals are often in an open alcove off that area. This example at Brussels' Mappa Mundo bar shows the view from the common sink.

See my separate page dedicated to the toiletological statues in Brussels for further Belgian toilet-related imagery.

The Belgian Thalys trains are similar to the French TGV, and connect Belgium with France, the Netherlands, and Germany.

It's great service. Both Thalys and TGV trains run at 300 kph with a very smooth ride, connecting Brussels and Paris in about 80 minutes with a train leaving every 30 to 90 minutes.

As you can see here, the Thalys lavatories feature toilets with stainless steel bodies connected to a holding tank.

The opening at the bottom of the bowl is sometimes rather small, as seen above. However, these toilets use vacuum flushing, eliminating almost all of the waste with a minimal use of the blue chemical solution. They're similar to current aircraft toilet designs.

The Thalys trains arrive and leave Paris at the Gare du Nord station. The obvious end point in Belgium is the Brussels Midi Station.

The Belgian Thalys and French TGV trains run at 300 kilometers per hour and give you a very smooth ride.

Of course, not all Belgian trains are luxurious high-speed ones.

This is a regional train in Dinant, in the northwestern Ardennes Forest.

It has the standard foot-operated flapper valve opening directly onto the track.

Click here for pictures from Namur and Dinant.

Click here for several pages with pictures and descriptions from around Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge.

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box."

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet, by Julie Horan, contends that civilization began with the toilet.

Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Laura Noren and Harvey Molotch, has essays by anthropologists, sociologists, and architects on the importance of the toilet, especially for urban dwellers.

Latrinae Et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World describes the toilets of the Roman Empire from Iberia to Syria, and from North Africa to Hadrian's Wall in Britannia.

Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroom, explains the history of personal cleanliness and hygiene to children in grades 5-8.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

• Travel suggestions
• To Bob's main site