Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Touristas
- Blog
-
-
Location Date Paris 1343775600 Reims 1343689200 Marseille 1343343600 Aix-En-Provence 
1343257200 -
Location Date Thu, 26 July 2012 1343297280 Wed, 25 July 2012 1343239440 Tue, 24 July 2012
1343147460 Mon, 23 July 2012 1343030580 Sun, 22 July 2012 1342989420 Sat, 21 July 2012 1342902360
Tuesday 24 July - Aix-en-Provence - 34C
An early start today with a 170km drive east to the towns of Grasse and Cannes on the Cote d'Azur. Our first stop was Grasse, a few kilometres back in the hills above Cannes. Grasse is the centre of France's perfume industry and although very few of the ingredients are grown in the area these days, there are still a number of perfume factories in the town itself. We visited two factories/studios, Fragonard and Galimard and tried a variety of perfumes which seem to come into 3 categories, flowery, fruity and oriental. It was very interesting seeing how perfumes are made and there were lots of perfumed soaps, perfume bottles and other perfume-related paraphernalia.
After testing 50% of France's perfume, we headed south. Cannes is amazing! The beach was covered in sun lounges, umbrellas and bathers. At the private beaches, the cost for a private sun lounge and umbrella for the day was 40 euro in the 1st row (closest to the water), 30 euro for rows behind, but on the private jetty it was 50 euros - a somewhat foreign concept to Australians.
The shops were all the famous brands, Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and many more. We strolled along the promenade, put our fingers into the bronze hand-prints of film-stars on the footpath outside the film-festival hall and posed for photos on the red carpet in front of the theatre doors.
We then climbed to the clock tower in the fort on a hill at the western end of the port in the old part of town. Great views and great photos over the harbour and township. Then strolled down again, had some lunch and visited some shops in a street back from the beach - even spotting some Australian Yellowtail C******nay in an upmarket (?) wine shop.
Decided to head back to Aix around 4.30 p.m., so put the top down on our convertible and drove down the main promenade like all the best posers do (or so we are told) before hitting the tollway and making our way back home again.
The drive took some 2¼ hours each way so it was a long day and once home we made a delicious tart for dinner with goats cheese, rocket, tomatoes and olives as well as one with chicken, Parmesan, olive tapenade and rocket. And one or two glasses of wine. A very sound night's sleep followed .....
An early start today with a 170km drive east to the towns of Grasse and Cannes on the Cote d'Azur. Our first stop was Grasse, a few kilometres back in the hills above Cannes. Grasse is the centre of France's perfume industry and although very few of the ingredients are grown in the area these days, there are still a number of perfume factories in the town itself. We visited two factories/studios, Fragonard and Galimard and tried a variety of perfumes which seem to come into 3 categories, flowery, fruity and oriental. It was very interesting seeing how perfumes are made and there were lots of perfumed soaps, perfume bottles and other perfume-related paraphernalia.
After testing 50% of France's perfume, we headed south. Cannes is amazing! The beach was covered in sun lounges, umbrellas and bathers. At the private beaches, the cost for a private sun lounge and umbrella for the day was 40 euro in the 1st row (closest to the water), 30 euro for rows behind, but on the private jetty it was 50 euros - a somewhat foreign concept to Australians.
The shops were all the famous brands, Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and many more. We strolled along the promenade, put our fingers into the bronze hand-prints of film-stars on the footpath outside the film-festival hall and posed for photos on the red carpet in front of the theatre doors.
We then climbed to the clock tower in the fort on a hill at the western end of the port in the old part of town. Great views and great photos over the harbour and township. Then strolled down again, had some lunch and visited some shops in a street back from the beach - even spotting some Australian Yellowtail C******nay in an upmarket (?) wine shop.
Decided to head back to Aix around 4.30 p.m., so put the top down on our convertible and drove down the main promenade like all the best posers do (or so we are told) before hitting the tollway and making our way back home again.
The drive took some 2¼ hours each way so it was a long day and once home we made a delicious tart for dinner with goats cheese, rocket, tomatoes and olives as well as one with chicken, Parmesan, olive tapenade and rocket. And one or two glasses of wine. A very sound night's sleep followed .....
- comments