Silly French Rules

It turns out that the French have lots of rules. Not that there aren't a lot of dumb rules in the US -- I (Sean) make a point to break as many as I can without incurring a significant risk of ending up in prison. After 7 weeks of being here, we have experienced a few really silly ones. For example:

1) In the Bordeaux region, the only grapes that are allowed to be grown are merlot, cabernet and cabernet franc. Growing other types of grapes, at least for use in wine, is illegal!


2) You cannot take photos at a public pool. I guess they are trying to protect all the pretty women who come to the pool to do water aerobic from all the sketchy men who want to take their picture. Of course, in order to get into the public pool, men have to wear a Speedo suit so, I guess the lifeguards wouldn’t be able to tell the sketchy men from the ones who are their to swim. So maybe it isn’t a silly rule afterall. In any case, we managed to capture a few pictures of Owen enjoying the pool before we were scolded:


ps - Email me if you want a photo of me in the speedo. Meow!

3) The shopping carts are locked and you have to pay (though it’s refundable) to get one. But, if you ask nicely, or if you are standing near the piled-up carts digging through your change purse, the nice man who watches to make sure no one steals the carts will give you a plastic euro piece to use and keep. We don’t have a picture of the token but here is a cute one of Owen hanging out in the cart: