Today we left Aix-En-Provence and drove to Grasse to go to a perfume factory and learned how perfume was made. Grasse grows some of the best flowers for making perfume, which is why it is considered some of the best in the world. A chemist who learns how to make perfume spends 8 years in schooling to identify over 3500 scents and the chemistry behind it. An average human can only identify 500 scents! The factory had a school set up for weekly lessons. The tour guide said that in first year usually 48 students sign up, and by the end of it there are 4-8 students left since it is such a hard program. The scents that we tried were mostly very good, especially the last one that smelled like candy floss and fruit – my fav!
After Grasse we continued on to the St. Paul de Vence medieval village – by far my favourite part of the trip so far!! It was located in a hilly setting at the top of one of the hills overlooking the city of Nice. The St. Paul de Vence medieval village had a wall around it, which was used to protect it from enemies during the medieval times. Inside the village were “roads” (really walkways) about only 10 feet wide at most with little shops, cafes and restaurants on either side. When you walked to the edge of the village and looked out beyond the large stonewall surrounding it, you could see the many villas along the countryside up the side of the hills, and the Mediterranean Sea and French Alps in the distance. The view was probably one of the best yet. My mom and I then split a ham and cheese baguette for lunch while sitting on a bench in the village. Total cost of our lunch was €4.50 – you need to save money whenever you can while travelling! It was nice because it was about 17 degrees Celsius out (warmest day yet!), there weren’t many people around because it is the low season in tourism, and we took in the atmosphere of the cobblestone narrow walkways and restaurants and shops around us.
The next stop was Monte Carlo in Monaco (country within France that is pretty much only a square mile). This place is where the rich and famous can only live and it was a completely different world there. As we drove into it we were up on the hillside looking out at the Mediterranean Sea with buildings all along the hillside. The marina had giant yachts in it – some worth €30 million or more! We then went on a short walking tour over 100 steps up the hill to the Monte Carlo Casino – the casino of all casinos. The architecture of the building was so gorgeous and you could tell rich people were there by the cars all parked outside. We saw many Porsches, Mercedes, Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, and Ferraris. There was one Lamborghini that was parked in the middle of the road right outside the casino blocking a lane of traffic – shows you how much power that person has. We saw the palace in Monaco that Princess Grace of Monaco once lived in. When we had free time, my mom and I went to the mall in the area. It was definitely not your everyday mall. There were chandeliers, and fancy interiors in the hallways and shops. The shops tended to be upscale stores as well. One shoe store we stopped at had VERY sparkly shoes in the window that were some of the prettiest shoes I’ve ever seen. We went in and discovered that the prices were rather pricey but we continued into the store. My mom then picked up a pair of high heels with rhinestones all over them and looked at the price – they were about €2650.00!!! That is EUROS, not dollars. They seemed like shoes that movie stars would wear if they were expected to win academy awards. We left them behind.
Finally we headed to the city of Nice where our tour guide is from. Our hotel here is definitely the best one yet. Our view is of the main square downtown with a large Ferris wheel and pretty Christmas lights too. Thank goodness we’re staying here for 2 nights! We are right on the Mediterranean Sea and there are many pedestrian streets with shops on either side. After we got settled in we went to dinner and had one of the best dinners yet. Thin pieces of roast beef, with some of the best roasted potatoes I’ve ever had and green beans. We just went back to the hotel to relax after dinner, and tomorrow we have free time in the morning for once until 11:30 am and a tour of the French Riviera. Definitely won’t be as busy a day like today was!
