Those unusual restaurant “rest rooms” in Chur

(Off a Tumblr discussion of the irrationality of being bothered by the presence of trans people in rest rooms—which, to be very clear, I’m absolutely not:)

Truly, this!

…Not even in that all-glass ladies’ room in the chicken restaurant in Chur. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

…ETA: I should really explain a little more about this.

I was in and out of Switzerland fairly often on various bits of book and media business in the late 90’s / early 00’s. One part of the country that I/we (@petermorwood was with me sometimes) wound up passing through frequently was the ancient and beautiful little city of Chur, in canton Graubünden.

One time when Peter was with me we finished up with whatever we were doing there that day (I think maybe that was the “Buy Romansch Dictionaries And Grammars” trip) and looked around for somewhere to have lunch. We came across a restaurant that specialized in chicken dishes, and the menu looked promising, so in we went.

When we were pretty much finished with lunch (which was quite good), I went downstairs to use the ladies’ room. Even from the outside it looked surprisingly posh for such a casual place. It had a heavy frosted-glass door, and by the door, a signed certificate stating that this restroom had been created for the restaurant by the renowned Swiss designer Philippe Starck.

“Wow,” I said, and went in.

And then just stopped and stared… because nearly everything in it was made of clear glass. Everything. Particularly the stalls.

“Well,” I said finally, “what the hell?!” Because I really needed to pee. There was no one else in there, though. And (having been a nurse in my previous life) I knew perfectly well how to pee really fast if I had to. If it did…? Well, I’d burn that bridge when I came to it.

So I went into the first stall in the line, shut the door and threw the bolt…

And all the glass around me went frosted.

I don’t do the jaw-drop thing often, but I did it then. This was at the very beginning of the time when smart glass was first being used in some quite expensive architecture. I absolutely had not expected to see it in a ladies’ room. But plainly Philippe was having a bit of a Smart Glass Moment, and in a really playful mode.

So for a minute or three more (I didn’t have to pee that badly, as it turns out) I did what any other self-respecting geek would do: I flipped that bolt back and forth about twenty times, to watch the glass do its frosted/unfrosted thing. It was fabulous. Then I sat down and got on with business; and after, went upstairs to tell Peter what I’d found.

“You go right down there and take a leak,” I said. “I want to know whether they’ve got those in the men’s room too.”

So he did that. And you can read his report on that experience here. 🙂

(FYI: The restaurant’s long since changed hands, and so has the menu, but it was at the location now occupied by this restaurant, named after the supposedly haunted mountain that overlooks the city from the northwest. It’s also the “brewery tap” for the local beer that’s also named after the mountain. The erstwhile chicken restaurant had a huge mosaic mural covered with chickens, which you can see in the banner on the newer restaurant’s homepage, and [hinted at] on the Calanda’s current menu. Whether or not the amazing toilets are still there, I have no idea. But I intend to go back there, some time, and find out. Meanwhile, if you go and find out one way or another, please drop something in my ask box and let me know, ok? Thanks.)

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