A Bit of a Gamble

A.M.S…
We desperately need a new supply of adjectives to do justice to the beauty, glamour, and plushness of this part of our adventure. The Côte d'Azur put on its best show of brilliant sunshine to illuminate this painters’ paradise. We arrived at Villefranche early in the morning and immediately felt the charm and beauty of the Riviera.

Only Madeira had given the same quick, fall-in-love-at-first-sight impression. First we drove to Nice, only about ten miles, then along the historic Grande Corniche Road at rather high altitude which, mile after mile, provided breathtaking panoramas of the Riviera.

Then we drove to fabulous Monte Carlo where we had the most delicious meal at the Paris Hotel (Winston Churchill staying here). Just lunch, but we understood it cost Cooks US$10 per person, and was worth it! Without discredit to the Caronia, we felt it proved again that the French know far more about cooking than the British.

We gambled very modestly at the Casino. We each put down exactly one chip and saw it go exactly where we expected it would, under the croupier's rake. This was February 13th.

A Visit to Grasse

A.M.S…
The next day we again drove through more beautiful scenery, but this time away from the coast to the little French towns of St. Paul, Grasse, and Vence. This time it was through quaint villages with mountain scenery prevailing even the snow-clad French Alps in the distance. Everything was close to perfect, including a delightful Canadian couple who travelled with us on this tour.

We even had a splendiferous Cadillac part of the time. Everybody asks “how come?” We couldn't answer the question; sometimes you just get all the breaks. Visited a perfume factory at Grasse. The flowers of Grasse cover hundreds of acres, mostly grown in terrace.

Every Perfume Imaginable

A.M.S…
We understand every farmer or peasant owns a jasmine field as well as a potato field. However, the flower crops to make perfume at Grasse come from all over - North Africa, Bulgaria, and Italy as well. Thousands of tons of flowers are ground up annually to make every kind of perfume imaginable - jasmine, rose, orange blossom, violet, lavender, jonquil, mimosa, carnation, hyacinth, to mentions a few.

It seems there are a lot of ways to capture these aromas, such as distillation, maceration, extraction, etc. All sorts of animal products are required in the manufacture of perfume. That is why perfumed soap becomes a byproduct of perfume manufacturing.

Here we had a French girl to steer us through the factory and explain, in colourful and witty English what it was all about. When asked how she acquired such a splendid command of English, she said: “I had a G.I. education and you know, they were on the ball”.

If any of our group lagged behind, she called out, “Come on kids, follow mother”.

Immaculate St. Paul

A.M.S…
The little hilltop village of St. Paul with its narrow, winding streets, tiny little shops, its one gay small restaurant (spotless) just couldn't be real it seemed; it was so quaint, so picturesque, and yet so utterly untouched by tourism that it was hard to believe. A real high spot.

Another Perception Changed

A.M.S…
This excursion to France changed all our preconceived prejudice against possibly some day motoring through France. Odd how one can so easily learn to like the most expensive places. How come Cannes with its older Hotel Carleton, world famous, appeals more than the more modern, far less expensive, Hotel Des Espeda at Torremolinos?

Maybe we haven't the simple tastes we could better accommodate. The French Riviera was the only place so far where Lois said: “This I would like to come back to”. Somehow, at this point, I feel that the beauty spots of Spain and France, all escapist spots, are a rather poor preparation for India and perhaps even Egypt.