[custom_adv] The newest sight in Paris isn’t one you’ll find in a guidebook: an open-air urinal. Pillarbox-red urinals topped with a flower bed on the streets of Paris have provoked disgust among locals, who’ve branded them “immodest”, “ugly” and “horrible”. [custom_adv] The recently installed “uritrottoirs”, a blend of the French words for urine and pavement, line some of the busiest and most glamorous streets in Paris. [custom_adv] A urinal placed on the Île Saint-Louis at the end of July overlooks the tourist boats on the River Seine and is not far from Notre Dame, one of France’s most impressive landmarks. [custom_adv] Other flowering urinals can be found across Paris in locations where public urination is deemed an issue. They’re currently installed on trendy Boulevard de Clichy in northern Paris; Place Henri Frenay near the financial district La Défense; next to busy Gare du Nord; and Square Tino Rossi on the banks of the Seine near the pretty Jardin des Plantes. [custom_adv] But they are environmentally friendly. The odourless urinals are filled with straw, with the idea that the urine-soaked straw will eventually be used as compost. The Paris government has branded them “intelligent”.
