00secrets

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Punk Rock Loos with a Dungeon Look – Franken Bar There are millions of cool bars in Kreuzberg and most of them have a special something, a signature element or two. At Franken, I guess, it's supposed to be the nostalgic wooden bar and maybe the American Diner elements which all somehow fit well together. The bar is a really nice hang out with rock/punk rock music, crowded at weekends as it is located on Oranienstraße opposite the famous SO36. Well I would say at Franken the signature element could be easily the downstairs area, which is really just the pass through to the restrooms, but could easily be the entrance to an exciting and adventurous underground club. I really enjoy the dungeon look and feel of it. This concept continues, at least for me, in the ladies toilets, where one can find a long rustic wooden bench and a table to sit and wait before it's your „call“ to pee or whatever... I experienced the toilet twice before I decided to write about it, the first time was March, 7th an empty weekday evening, the second time April, 30th, the evening right before a public holiday and the most important demonstration day in Berlin – so many people were out for a drink. Nevertheless, both times I found very basic yet clean facilities with enough paper in the toilets and at the wash basin as well as soap and bins. At the toilet cabin itself there is a sign saying „Bitte so lange spülen, bis alles weg ist! Please flush completely“ and I was wondering why people need to be reminded so straight forward of how a toilet works. Well, go and find out for yourself. Overall, I must admit, the toilets were in an excellent shape – especially for a punk rock bar in this rather raw district, where people normally don't bother too much about those things. But maybe I am wrong... http://franken-bar.de 52°30'2.238"N 13°25'19.847"E 00secrets by Anne

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A different class of toilets? – Business Lounge at Tegel Airport Terminal A This post wasn't planned. But it happened to be, that I was flying on last Monday, the 9th to Lisbon, Portugal for business reasons. And as Business Class tickets have been available for a good price my company booked me a seat, which means I was entitled to a whole new world of goodies, freebies and exclusive lifestyle....or not. Most of us know that toilets at airports can be challenging in so many ways, starting with the waiting time, because there are never enough of them. The hygenic standards are rough, because the staff is not able to follow up with the amount of people entering the toilets and let's not forget to mention the lack of space of each cabin, in which you just cannot fit in together with your hand luggage. As a business traveller you are most of the times travelling alone, so noone can watch your bags or coats when you enter the public toilets. So as you probably can imagine, I was really keen on discovering the toilets at the Lufthansa Business Lounge at the aiport. When I was entering the Lounge a huge space opened up in front of me, nice furnitures and lots of seats to relax the better way. Many goodies and freebies are available, such as a wide range of newspapers from Germany and America and a very inviting and fully filled drinks and snacks bar with breakfast options from cheese, meat, jams, all sorts of bread rolls, fruits and sweets. Not to mention the drinks choices. So being in this „Schlaraffenland“ of exclusive treatment, I was ready to check out the toilet situation and felt almost devistated and frustated. As you can see in the pictures the toilets are as tiny and boring grey and empty just as any other toilet in the building. It's probably way more clean, but even that is not a viable fact as it was 5 o'clock in the morning and I was the first one using it. Where are the goodies and freebies here? What is so difficult about it to place some extra tampons, sanitary/toiletry things, nice soaps and real towels here? Looking back at the bar it clearly cannot be a price reason. And why on earth is so much space wasted on the lounge seating area instead of making the toilet cabins bigger so I don't have to struggle to squeeze in there with my hand luggage and my three coats? I was so much in shock that I almost missed my flight, I am not kidding! Cause up there in the Lufthansa Business Lounge on the first floor at Terminal A one cannot hear when they are calling for passengers. To sum things up, the exclusive life of a business traveller ends when it comes to the basic needs of needing a bathroom and we are all the same, united again, in the horrible experience of using the public toilets at airports and in planes. http://www.berlin-airport.de/de/reisende-txl/shops-gastronomie-services/services-a-z/h-n/lufthansa-lounge/index.php 00secrets by Anne

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A hallelujah to this bar - Krüger Berlin I wanna apologize right away that especially in the beginning the visits of the reviewed places are not from the near past. When I came closer to my decision to do this blog, I was starting to take pictures of places and collecting some data. So now I have a few pics in my stock which I still wanna review for you. Also I rarely find the time to sit down and write, so I hope at some point I will have a better routine. My first review here on 00secrets has to be a real highlight, a toilet that makes me wanna scream “hallelujah”. There are bar owners out there who know exactly what it means to enclose the bathrooms in the customer experience, to have a full concept and are playful and caring with these spaces. One of these places is Krüger, a 70s retro looking bar with many cool details and fine drinks situated in Lychener Straße 26 in Prenzlauer Berg - one of Berlin’s best areas to go to for a great drink. At least in my opinion. So it happened that I went there on February, 18th with friends who have just arrived late at the airport and who wanted to have a first glimpse of the town. The bar itself is already worth a visit, but when you go, make sure you drink a lot, cause the toilets are even better! The ladies toilet - yes it’s just one but the bar is small - is a big room full of a weird combination of pictures, a body scale, 2 comfortable chairs, a dressing table with candles and flowers, plants and Mr. Proper watching you. A disco light and a big heart with the Grease actors bring the 70s motto back in here. And the red colour on the upper walls makes it really cosy and comfy. The design is just so funny and entertaining that one almost can forget to check the hygienic details, but don’t worry, I have it covered. Or let’s say Krüger has it all covered, cause it’s all there: soap, paper, enough toilet paper. The sink, the toilet bowl and even the floor is well cleaned and I probably should mention that I was there at 2 in the morning on a Saturday night. Last but not least I was also able to take a look at the gents room and although it’s less pretty and playful, the bar owner also tried to make it special with a table close to the toilet bowl in case a guy wants to spend more time in there. So, well done, I am clearly impressed and in toilet heaven - HALLELUJAAAAAAH!!! But please go, check it out yourself, enjoy and I am happy to get your feedback and comments. http://krueger-in-berlin.de 52°32'33.828"N 13°25'0.166"E 00secrets by Anne

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Introducing 00secrets

Hi,

Yes, this blog is about reviewing toilets!

It’s my way of changing the world so it's hopefully becoming a better place and while doing it I want to have fun. Lots of fun!!! But let me explain from the beginning.

Who am I:

My name is Anne. I was born and raised in Berlin and also currently living here again. I lived several times abroad and I also travel a lot privately and for business reasons. Although I am not a native English speaker I decided to write this blog in English, so many people, especially tourists, can read and hopefully enjoy it. But please be nice to me if you should find mistakes. Any help is welcome.

Why toilets:

So I do get to see lots of venues, restaurants, hotels etc. all over the world and I saw many rough, fancy, weird, artistic and funny places. But some time ago I started to wonder, do owners of these places think about the appearance and installations of their bathrooms?

Especially for women I believe toilets are important. It’s not only because we cannot pee in a standing position, it’s also because we spend much time in there. Some of us use public toilets to change whole outfits, try to fix our faces and hair styles and also we want to feel comfortable when we have to exchange other things while having our period.

So I wanna make sure that any owner of public toilets realize that the customer experience doesn’t stop with the interior design, the food and the drinks. No, I believe that most customers want clean and comfortable toilets. So why not including it in the overall strategy of the whole location? I am sure that customers are most likely to come back when they also know that the toilets are great. Moreover, an old saying (Idk where it comes from) goes “check out the toilets and you know what the kitchen looks like”...

About the name:

I decided on 00secrets because of these three meanings:

I talk about rooms that no one else wanna talk about, but why keeping these so important spaces at a venue secret. In fact they are public, so let’s don’t have secrets anymore. Zero secrets!

As an agent, just like 007, I might risk my mental and physical sanity to investigate and uncover all secrets behind that closed doors.

00 used to stand for the toilet room in a hotel. Back in the time, when the hotel business started, the hotel rooms didn’t have a private bathroom. There was one on every floor. And because these rooms could’t have a room number, they had a sign saying 00.

But there are also many funny versions and explanations why the 00 stands for a toilet facility. These explanations and other words for toilets (in German) can be found here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilette , https://www.stern.de/panorama/wissen/natur/kw-49-2002-warum-verwendet-man-das-zeichen--00--fuer-die-toilette---rosemarie-schoenweiss--kassel--3301362.html and https://www.scheisse-museum.de/ins-museum/rund-um-die-toilette/etymologie/. More information in English on this can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet

My main aims and target groups:

So I am starting this blog to tell locals and tourists about nice and special toilets and to warn them about really not so nice bathrooms. The ones in between are boring. I also hope that restaurant, bar and club owners read this and that they are following up on this. 00secrets will mainly review toilets in Berlin, but if I find something interesting during my travels I also will let you know about it. Of course there is always room for discussing and pointing out other websites, articles, blogs, reviews etc. on this subject. I need to clarify here, that I am not a professional in this field, everything written and reviewed are my personal judgement and opinions. I am doing it only out of fun and I hope to develop some judgement criteria soon that work for me.

Be a part of it:

Please let me know if you have places that I should go and have a look at. Send me pictures and opinions. I am curious to know what you think about all that “shit” here ;-).

00secrets by Anne