Things that make you question your own sanity

You know how some people are very particular about the over/under placement of the free end of the toilet roll? Take Mel, for example. I'm not very territorial about the powder room, myself, but my vote is with the over group. Not that it matters.

Now in France, they dispense with all debate and provide a very specific picture tutorial on the toilet roll holder. If the picture isn't clear enough, all you silly Americans who spool it backwards at home, it says "yes" under the proper way and "no" under the wrong way.

TP tutorial in the can in Cannes

To be fair, I found this in Cannes, where they obviously experience high volumes of Hollywood traffic every year and some of those people clearly aren't to be trusted with simple verbal instructions.

In Paris, we saw this crustacean street tile art. What, pray tell, is the meaning of "I crab Paris"?

Oh yeah? Well, I <3 crab cakes!

The world may never know.

Les Chats de France

Cats live the good life in France... or at least, they do in Angers. In America, cats are mostly indoor pets, but their very nature makes them so much more entertaining in public than dogs.

This cat was scoping out the street foot traffic from perch on a second-floor balcony. I imagine he waited for an unassuming prospect aimlessly wandering down the sidewalk, then pounced like a furry ninja from on high. Fight to the death and all. Either that or he dropped his lunch.

High dive kitty contemplates the plunge

We also saw more than one person walking around town with their kitty on a leash, or perched on their shoulder like a pirate with an alibi for their secret catnip habit.

Fur epaulet

If taking your cat out on walks and letting them people-watch isn't enough, by all means, buy them some kitty-drugs. My cat's personal highly annoying habit is eating vegetation... potted plants, bouquets in vases, dried flowers and grass. When she sees this picture she'll probably kill me in my sleep for not hooking her up with a pot.

I think the hostile cartoon kitty on the pot inserts adds a special touch.

I think our strangest animal encounter goes to the camels in the château moat, however.

Even the French drink boxed wine.

And whiskey.

Oregon is beautiful

Britta and I stayed with her parents the night before we left, since they live conveniently closer to the airport than we do. This is vital when you take as long to get ready to go anywhere as Britta does.

We woke up bright and early for our flight. Dragged Britta out of the house, tried to check in at American Airlines even though we were flying United. Finally got on the plane, looked out the window, and saw our beloved Pacific Northwest whitecaps.

(L-R) Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood

On the way back, we flew through 14 hours of daylight, and when we reached the Portland area in the early evening, we passed so close to Mt. Hood it felt like we could touch it. Britta took this picture with her blackberry as it fell behind.

I want to climb this mountain.

I love the Ring of Fire.

Because my friends know people...

I'm back.

Very strongly considered not getting on the flight home. Then I almost missed the flight home, which actually turned out to not be my fault, but United's... but calling in to work from Paris wouldn't have been so bad. ;)

I'm editing my plethora of pictures. It'll take awhile.

I went to a wedding in the Loire Valley. The groom is an ex-footballer, and he has a friend who played Ligue 1 football (highest professional soccer division in France) for Caen. He transferred to AS Monaco during the summer, but when a heart murmur was discovered during a physical at his new club this week, he was forced into early retirement. Very sad.

But he has a nice car.



Obviously.

God bless Spain and their almost-English keyboards!

Hola! I'm in Barcelona!

I'm lisping my S's and ignoring all marriage proposals.

I also swam in the Mediterranean today. You know you're jealous.

I don't think I'm coming home. If I don't blog again and say I'm in Nice or Paris, you know where to find me. In a tapas bar. Or bullfighting.