This morning we all got up, some of us more well rested than others, depending on whether or not you went to the Casino last night! Eventually, we were packed up and back in the car headed to explore a few more towns along the Riviera on our way back to Aix. We had a nice drive out of Nice, all along the Promenades des Anglais. Here is the famous Hotel Negresco, just a few blocks from our hotel. Soon, we joined up with the Autoroute and drove to Cannes. Here, we exited and drove north to Grasse, the day's first destination.Grasse, a 20-minute drive from Cannes, is the most fragrant town on the Riviera, though it looks tacky modern. The drive up to the hill top village is really enough to make you want to turn around. The road is super twisty and the buildings, setting, etc nothing to write home about. Nonetheless, it has been the capital of the perfume industry since the days of the Renaissance. It was once a famous resort, attracting such royalty as Queen Victoria and Princess Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's promiscuous sister. Today some three-quarters of the world's essences are produced here from foliage that includes violets, daffodils, wild lavender, and jasmine. now, we all thought, that's worth a look-see!
When we arrived in the centre ville, no one wanted to smell a thing until we'd first smelled some coffee and croissants! Fortunately, after a bit of searching, we found an outdoor cafe, L'Ariel, where they would serve us their delicious coffee and agreed to run down the street to buy us fresh croissants to go with it. Talk about service!
Would you like a little fruit with your petite dejeuner? No problem, this little open market right next to the cafe had plenty of fresh produce so we added some juicy clementines to our table. Now we had a complete breakfast!
After our petite dejeuner, we were ready to go take a tour of one of the local perfumeries, our whole reason for coming to Grasse. As far back as the Middle Ages, Grasse was an important economic center. It was well known throughout Europe for the fine skins the local tanneries produced. During the 16th c. Catherine of Medici introduced the fashion of perfumed gloves. The cultivation of the aromatic plants which supplied the tanners with the raw materials to perfume the leather contributed to the birth of the perfume industry. Slowly the perfumers and glove makers grew apart and the perfumers gained an independent status. There are several large perfumeries in Grasse who offer free tours of their factories; we chose Fragonard based on a local merchant's suggestion. The Fragonard Parfumerie, named as such after WWI as a tribute to the famous Fragonard family from Grasse. Early in the 18th century, Francois Fragonard was a perfume-glove-maker and he was the father of the world famous painter, Jean-Honore Fragonard who was born in Grasse in 1732. The perfumery is still owned and run by the same family today. The Fragonard factory itself was built in 1782 and it has clearly been added to and updated since then. Here are some photos from our tour.
This apparatus is in the museum....
Here, similar ones being used in production today...
Containers of many of the essential oils...
The room where the essences are poured through paper filters to purify them....Lindsey trying to identify a scent?
So many fragrances--- it's hard to choose....
Busy show room...
We left Grasse and headed south to the hill town of Mougins, situated between Grasse and Cannes. Our main reason for going to Mougins was to visit our friends, Michele and Pierre. We met them 15 years ago in San Francisco at a Bates' family wedding. They had come to stay with us in Aix in the Fall, where they met Sarah for the first time, but now we were going to visit them. We thought we were just stopping by to see their home and have a short visit....however we were invited to stay for a delicious, relaxing French lunch which Michele had prepared. It was a wonderful time.... They hadn't seen Nicholas and Lindsey since they were just little kids dancing at a wedding reception so they enjoyed getting to know them better. We certainly never thought back then that we'd be reunited years later...living in France. Here are a few photos of their lovely home...
As you can see, they have a marvelous view of the country side below...
Unfortunately, we were all having such a good time visiting, we forgot to taking any group shots, oh, well...la prochaine fois!
For more information on the history of perfume or Fragonard http://www.fragonard.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment