No en suite?

I find it strange that some women have such an aversion re sharing with men, and not women. Are men really that much more dirty than women, or inconsiderate? Not in my experience.

jeni False alarms are better than real ones though

I suppose the posh hotels now provide towelling gowns so most people can grab that to cover their modesty in a nightime emergency exit.

According to my French friends it is an English hang-up! I suppose when I was 'in the market' I thought it was unromantic. Can't claim that now, but I have found in France that many men do not have good aim and I have to clean the seat with paper before I can use it. They also seem to leave worse smells than women. We had a discussion about a school having unisex toilets and many of us thought it could be embarrassing if a girl had an unexpected period. Again, that is no longer a problem for me!
No right or wrong on this subject - I know how I feel and I will continue to avoid hotels which don't have en suite facilities.

Wouldn't know. This was when I was working for the dhss they didn't run to 'posh' hotels. I just used my coat!

Quite an astonishing number of grown men have hopeless aim when in the loo. It isn't nice to wade through someone else's pee in your slippers. To overcome this problem, all mothers of sons should have a loo with something to aim at so that their boys grow up getting it right. Posh version is a trompe l'oeil painting of a bee or fly in the bowl of the lavatory; cheap and cheerful version is a floating ping pong ball.

Must say I feel a bit offended on behalf of the men I know.

I have a very fine and light dressing gown i use when travelling and visiting, in case i have to use the loo at night.

You clearly know some courteous and well-trained men granjura and I hasten to add that I am not describing Mr absent or my son-in-law, but there are some shockers out there.

Not bothered about the out of earshot bit - we all do it! - but I prefer en suite as I can then pee in my sleepwalk so to speak. Traipsing down a corridor wakes me up too much so I cannot get back to sleep.

Jura - don't take offence, your OH is the most courteous and well-behaved man I know! I repeat again - I was just talking about hotels.

The strangest "en-suite" room we ever had was in a small seaside hotel in Singapore in the sixties, where we were staying while looking for a house to rent. The room was at the end of a jetty over the beach (water underneath at high tide - and snakes!) The facilities - a shower and toilet - were in a rather primitive enclosure next door to the room and the whole thing private only in that it was at the end of a jetty! There was a large gap under the door and one morning I was joined by a monkey which came under the door and then exited out the window! I was heavily pregnant at the time and I nearly screamed my son into the world several weeks early! DH had, from then on, to stand sentry outside the door every time I used the place! We looked at photos recently that we took while we were there and it all looks rather romantic in a fifties, oriental, black and white sort of way - but give me four stars at least these days.

absentgrana "even worse when no! slippers on"

I stayed in the Hotel Bristol in Pau - I was exhausted after battling my way through a blizzard over the pass from Spain. It was 9 pm. on a November night. I was red-eyed, hungry and cold. They had only one room left and I was warned that it was very small. I was grateful for anything. There was a shower cubicle free standing in the middle of the room, and a macerator toilet. I was too tired to go out for a meal, so the receptionist very kindly brought me a baguette, several slices of ham, and a big jug of hot chocolate. Bliss.

Greatnan I've always wanted to go to Pau. I follow cycling avidly (and potter about on a bike too) and Pau features often on the Tour de France. Not that I'm thinking I'll take my bike! Plus I like lentils, esp those chewy, meaty browny/greeny lentils from Pau.

When the lights came on in the morning, is Pau a nice place? Summer? Winter sounds a bit extreme and I don't fancy battling through blizzards at my age!!

Yes, it is well worth a visit. I had given myself two weeks to find a house in France, meaning to look in the midi-Pyrenees, around Bagneres as I had enjoyed a walking holiday in Bareges. However, I turned left instead of right out of Touluse airport and ended up in Mirepoix in Arriege. I found a very dilapidated holiday chalet high up a mountain road in Aude, after six days and knew at once it was right for me. That left me eight days before my flight home, so I started driving down towards Barcelona, but the Pyrenees called me inland, so I drove across the Spanish side, map reading my way from village to village. It was November, and after a week of sunshine the weather closed in and I found myself alone on the pass, in whirling snow. Just a taster for my future life in France!

As some of the youngsters would say "respect" !!

isthisallthereis Aren't those Puy lentils?

The Puy lentils are tiny, roundish and darkish brown. Green lentils are bigger than the orange ones, lenticular and ... green.

I have never heard of Pau lentils. I don't think it's a protected name like Puy lentils.

Lavatories to lentils, how very GN!

All my threads weave about a bit - I like it!

Lentils/lavatories - not a thread I wish to explore!

I can only 'fess up as they say. I didn't know my Pau from my Puy. Yes I meant Puy lentils. They are unlikely to come from Pau. Doh! There, I've not a leg to stand on.

Pau looks lovely

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pau,_Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Alphonse de Lamartine said: "Pau has the world's most beautiful view of the earth just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea." Many parks with views of the Pyrenees, Pau is said to have more green space per inhabitant than any other European city.

Though Puy looks lovely too:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Puy-en-Velay

Maybe everywhere with sun looks good today; the weather is horrible outside.

The sun is shining here in Haute Savoie and as soon as The Wright Stuff is finished I am off for a long walk to the crest of the ski slopes at Hirmentaz.
I was torn between buying another house in the Pyrenees, or coming to the Alps, but it is very central here, between Geneva and Chamonix, and I can explore Switzerland and Italy easily. When I lived in the Pyrenees, I was able to use all the different passes into Spain.

I could not bear to leave this wonderful countryside, if it were not for the fact that I will be emigrating to a beautiful part of South Island, New Zealand - and I will be able to pursue my passion for snorkeling on coral on the various islands of the South Pacific.

Pau is lovely and was one of the places we considered buying a house. It has a long British tradition, because officers settled there after the Napoleonic wars, having seen it on the way back from Spain. They built many of the grand villas around the town. I believe there is still a traditional British hunt.

Puy lentils are delic. use them a lot !

I thought of this thread the other day. Staying in the Celtic Royal Hotel in Caernarfon. There was a sale notice on the wall, describing the hotel when it was put up for sale in the 1920s.
"First floor, 21 well appointed rooms, 4 servants' rooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 toilet."
We are spoilt rotten with out modern plumbing and ensuites aren't we.