toilets and knives

I'd like like to talk today about toilets and knives. "Toilets and knives, what does that have to do with france??" I understand your confusion. We'll take it step by step.

First "les toilettes"

What is different about bathrooms in France? Location, location, location. There are bathrooms in carved into the rocks, under the castles, and on street corners. Literally on street corners! They look, as Channing puts it, like space pods ready to take off. The other strange thing about them is the toilets themselves. They are shaped slightly differently, and most come with options when it comes time to flush. Depending on the 'job' you did you can do full flush or half (I'm assuming it's to save water). It's not worth the trip just to see the bathrooms but I thought you might find it interesting.

Second Opinel knives

While wandering the streets of Amboise today we went into a kitchen store to escape the rain. The owner was very nice. We were looking at the opinel knives he told us the history of them. They have been made in France since the 1890's and back in the day every man carried one just about all the time. Now days many older men still carry them and families have them in the car or take them for picnics. It was great getting a little history to go with our purchase and keep our minds off the rain. Originally they only came in plane wood...mine is purple.

Keep the comments coming! Miss you all.

-Summer

p.s. I uploaded new pics to my flicker. Click HERE.