| Grasse - was asleep this Sunday afternoon... |     |
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This is the last freakin' bumper sticker I expected to encounter... but I met a couple Mormons in Arles, so I guess I should just be amazed at how far ideas travel... The church is the Cathedral Notre-Dame-du-Puy... (patron saint of the Taro plant). Built in the 10c-11c it was remodeled in the 17c. |
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One of the door panels from the church. |
| Grasse is famous as the "home" of the French perfume industry. There are still active factories and the air is filled with the smell of their products. Usine Fragonard, Fragonard-La Fabrique, Usine Galimard, Galimard Studio des Fragrances and Molinard are a few of the manufacturers operating here. |   |
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I wonder what Jasmin eat? |
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So I am walking along, and every kilometer there is a marker... some old, some new... these signs struck me as being very familiar... do you know why? If you are between 30 and 40 you should know... you have seen them before...
*answer at the bottom of the page. |
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Climbing out of the Grasse plain approaching Valbonne. |
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A very nicely done garden along the way... |
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This is the town of...uh...starts with a P... hold on...Plascassier |
| Valbonne - was asleep as well with the exception of a antiques market. |       |
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I thought this was a cute idea. |
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So... here is the trail head with three pages of French basically explaining that the trail was closed... but I can't read French, so I went on anyway. I probably met 40 or so people on the trail. |
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The first section of the trail ran parallel to a water or sewer? line. It detracted slightly from the surroundings. |
| The trail was well marked, paved in some places, and the scenery was very "enchanted forest" in some spots. |       |
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Dig that crazy two tone moss... |
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| A neat feature of the lower part of the trail was how the stream would undercut a low layer of rock, in some places almost sticking out like the prow of a ship. |   |
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See "Rock City" |
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The end of the trail popped up out of the stream bed and up onto the hill upon which Biot is located. |
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...and of course Biot is having a festival. |
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Part of the festival is this...uh..."road?" race. Nothing was level, so the runners went up and down, cris-crossing the summit of the town. |
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Yes, that sign does say this gateway was built in 1566. |
| Biot.
One of Biots products is blown glass that has bubbles suspended in it. I was ticked that all I could find "open" in this style was made of plastic. I will have to come back. |
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The is Pentaque, locally known as "Boules". Very similar to what I would call Bocci, but the French are very, very serious about this game. There are leagues, and clubs, and championships etc.
Click here for all you ever wanted to know http://www.petanque.org/ |
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Ok, so I missed the last bus out of town. No taxis, and everyone is really into the whole festival thing, so... gotta hoof it down to the coast. Bye, bye, Biot. I will have to come back when your glass shops are open. |
| Cannes - Last night of the fireworks festival. This display was by a French company. |   |
| This was not just about volume, but also control. This for example was a very cool curtain of gold sparks. |  |
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| Pictures don't really do it justice, so here are some silent movies from parts of the finale. Quicktime required. | Movie 1, Movie 2, Movie 3 |
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Ok, so this is after my trip, but I needed to stick them in somewhere...
Managed to grab some lightning on a timed exposure one evening. Despite all the noise, no rain out of this... |
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Can you believe this??? Not a drop of rain out of any of this. |
| Wrap this up with a picture of a very nice fire, taken from my balcony. This fits as this fire is in the general area of my previous hiking. A couple sizable pieces of cinder came blowing through my window. You could tell it was from a tree. |   |
*the answer is "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" When Snoopy gets shot down over "France" he passes by these markers on his way back to friendly territory... ok, so I can't choose what my mind remembers...