Quirky Travel Differences

There are some funny things about travelling in another country. People do things differently. One of those things here in France is that we turn in our key every time we leave the hotel. The key is no card that you slide at the hotel door. Instead, it's a metal key with a big, heavy fob on the end. We might leave the hotel and be back half an hour later, but each time we hand in our key and say, "Bonjour, merci." And the desk clerk responds, "Merci, au revoir" or "Bonne journee." We might be gone the entire day and come back with a "bon soir" before asking for our room key, "Deux cent trois." Or maybe we go outside, find a market, end up buying something and come right back to the room where we have to ask for the key again. I've always been resistant to staying in a bed and breakfast because I feel like the owners are too closely connected to our comings and goings, and the same is similar here in France. That doesn't keep me from wanting to come here and visit, of course. It's just a quirky thing that people might not know about. Another strange thing I've run into the past two days, are signs in the bathroom that warn people not to put anything in the toilet, including toilet paper. That, of course, can be uncomfortable.

I saw that sign in Aix en Provence at the studio of Paul Cezanne. I also saw that sign when we traveled to Marseille today. Earl said the sign made sense at Cezanne's studio since it is on a septic tank, but in Marseille, near the port, it had to use a decent sewer system. We're definitely learning a lot here, and I'll throw in a few pictures that aren't about hotel keys or bathroom habits.

We visited Marseille today. The train station perches above the city. That's me posing.

Doesn't Earl look French with his scarf? We had lunch at this restaurant -- goat-cheese salad, penne and roquefort pasta, dessert of chocolate cake with English cream, followed by tea for Earl and coffee for me. 

I was kind of nervous about travelling to Marseille. It was a place we'd never been and I heard a lot about crime in Marseille, but after we had been there walking around for awhile, we felt confident enough to take the metro five stops out of the old port section of the city. The metro was clean, swift and safe. 

We only ran into trouble when we were in a government building and went out the wrong exit, twice. A guard ended up following us to make sure we didn't break any more rules. 

Dreaming of France -- Bathrooms

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
I'm exhausted after all the graduation hoopla this weekend, but I'm still dreaming of France while watching a House Hunters International with a couple looking for an apartment in Grenoble, France.
Does this bother anyone else who loves France? I'm watching a couple who allegedly are entranced by France, and they are always surprised by the bathrooms.
Yes, the bath and the sink are in one room. The toilet is in a separate room in many French apartments and houses.
Maybe they have never visited France before, or maybe they only stayed in American-style hotels so didn't realize the French frequently separate the toilet from the rest of the bathroom, but surely they've seen it when they watched other people on House Hunters International.
When Earl and I went to France the last time, we ate at a well-known steakhouse le Relais de l'Entrecote (a chain as our French friend pointed out).
Here's the outside of the restaurant:

For some reason, I took a picture, a selfie, in the bathroom mirror. So since I'm obsessing about people complaining about bathrooms in France, I thought I'd feature that.

I took out my phone to take a picture of the strange way the toilet flushes, because in France, almost every toilet has a different was to flush -- chains or buttons or a handle built into the side. I didn't get pictures of enough different kinds of toilets to write a blog post about it though. 

Did you have to adjust to weird toilets in France? Would you complain if you got to find an apartment in France?

Hope everyone in the U.S. is having a wonderful holiday weekend, our Memorial Day. 

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France.