In France there’s some really nice gas stations on some of the popular highways. In the summer there’s so many tourists going on vacation through these that some of them even set up temporary art exhibitions or special activities like bouldering, bow&arrows, etc. I remember doing my first “dive” in a special water cube on the parking lot of Montélimar’s station when I was a kid, good times. Of course none of that is even remotely similar to putting a beaver themed slop-shop and calling it a day, the shops mostly just sell local products and the usual essentials.
In my lifetime the French petrol station toilets went from horrible squat toilets where you needed to bring your own paper to pretty well maintained, mostly really clean experiences.
There are still some stops without petrol stations that have unmanned toilets. Those can be a bit rough, but generally it’s really good.
Yeah these days the standard on the toilets have gone way up (and stayed free, looking at you Belgium/NL), TBH for me even the unmanned ones are okay in case of emergency, it’s more that these stops lack a simple row of vending machines imo so I only use them if I really just need a quick bio break, they could be so much better as a more nature/calm alternative to the ones with shops.
The big stations along “autoroute du soleil” have been huge for a while though, at least since my childhood over 30 years ago. Beaune, Montélimar, etc.
That’s a nice obscure reference there, lots of interesting trivia around that film and as a french living in NL, sounds like I should watch this. Looks pretty janky though haha.
France is doing it correctly, that sounds awesome. I wanna go to a gas station, get hopped up on some fumes and then start blasting arrows in every direction
In France there’s some really nice gas stations on some of the popular highways. In the summer there’s so many tourists going on vacation through these that some of them even set up temporary art exhibitions or special activities like bouldering, bow&arrows, etc. I remember doing my first “dive” in a special water cube on the parking lot of Montélimar’s station when I was a kid, good times. Of course none of that is even remotely similar to putting a beaver themed slop-shop and calling it a day, the shops mostly just sell local products and the usual essentials.
In my lifetime the French petrol station toilets went from horrible squat toilets where you needed to bring your own paper to pretty well maintained, mostly really clean experiences.
There are still some stops without petrol stations that have unmanned toilets. Those can be a bit rough, but generally it’s really good.
Yeah these days the standard on the toilets have gone way up (and stayed free, looking at you Belgium/NL), TBH for me even the unmanned ones are okay in case of emergency, it’s more that these stops lack a simple row of vending machines imo so I only use them if I really just need a quick bio break, they could be so much better as a more nature/calm alternative to the ones with shops.
The big stations along “autoroute du soleil” have been huge for a while though, at least since my childhood over 30 years ago. Beaune, Montélimar, etc.
French gas stations just make me think of ‘The Vanishing’. Such a great film.
I would be so interested to see what a gas station bouldering popup looks like…
That’s a nice obscure reference there, lots of interesting trivia around that film and as a french living in NL, sounds like I should watch this. Looks pretty janky though haha.
Oh then you definitely should watch it! So long as you are okay with disturbing films that will stick with you.
Speaking of trivia: ‘The film was disqualified from the Oscars due to too much French.’
France is doing it correctly, that sounds awesome. I wanna go to a gas station, get hopped up on some fumes and then start blasting arrows in every direction