Montmarte...sacre coeur

Sadly, it was raining when we went up to the Sacre Coeur but it made the view no less spectacular. Carrie probably has some city views from the Montmarte that she may wish to share...

Lavender Madness

As Jenny reported earlier, you really expect to see fields of lavender everywhere in Provence. Since this is not the case, we had to go looking for it. It is a testament to our friendship and sense of decorum that neither one of us flipped out and there were no attempted stabbings during this truly hellacious car ride in search of lavender. (Jenny's lucky I didn't have my shiv on me.)

Guest Post: Carrie

comment from Jen: i had my shiv on me...i was just saving it for dire circumstances...then we came upon the lavendar fields. carrie was lucky...

carrie at Grasse

The mad scientist at work...please note that I am not the cause of all the bruising that you see...

all ready for her session as "Ms Floral/Fruity"

Adding additional scents to the mixture

I have to admit that I've never been good at chemistry but this was really easy! If only high school Chem was this much fun!! I would've actually paid attention.

One side note to the photo below in Carrie's blog about Grasse...I nearly attacked the puppy because he was so darn cute. The father of the guy who was holding his leash told him to just let me pet the puppy so they can get on with their shopping...

Galimard at Grasse

Best part of the trip. We made our own perfume at Galimard (a famed perfumerie) in Grasse. It was a great experience. The "Nose" at Galimard uses about 2,000 different scents every day. He works 15 minutes at a time to preserve his finely honed sense of smell. In the class we were given around100 choices, which are all of the scents combined.

The store at Galimard

They refer to this as "the organ" (like a musical instrument in church, not like a liver or something).

They have you smell about 10 little bottles and then pick 2. As Jenny stated before, I am floral fruity. Those that know me are saying "no shizzle". Anyways, then they give you other choices based on what you pick, and so on and so forth.

The Nose's organ

Perhaps the most special thing about France - it is a dog country. People take their dogs on the metro, the train, to cafes, and into stores.

Fini

Guest Post: Carrie

Lucerne Lake Trip

Here's our charming view of a little boathouse on the Lucerne...it was so adorable I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap this photo...

Ok, here was the real reason why i took the photo. If you look up at the first photo on the very right hand side, this is the image that I have blown up for your enjoyment. We were so fascinated (carrie says she was THRILLED so it was just me who was fascinated) that anyone would actually sit out looking like this, it was QUITE mesmerizing.

Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is definitely an impressive site (unlike an aforementioned, totally famous French landmark). The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct in Provence, and a remnant of the Roman empire. For those not up on their French history, Provence was a Roman province and is an amalgam of French, Roman, and Greek culture.

Being a minimalist, I find it amazing that something so beautiful (and lasting) could be built with limited technology.

View from the Pont du Gard.

Guest Post: Carrie

Cannes Do

Cannes - we spent less than 24 hours there but it was one of the highlights of the trip. It is completely beautiful. As one of my friends said when I sent him a photo, "It's easy to understand how a guy could look at this and think 'I'm going to stay inside and watch movies all day'...".

Jenny in the Mediterranean (literally)

Guest Post: Carrie