Vicki and I took the Eurostar and TGV down to the South of France for a week's holiday. We rented a small but perfectly formed apartment in the city of Grasse. The main industry of the town is perfume making and, as dutiful tourists, we went on a tour of the Fragonard perfume factory where I learned some important perfume smelling tips.
We were given a tour by a very stylish and rather stern woman in a tight grey suit. "I don't want to catch any of you doing this," she said, sniffing one of the perfume dispensers. I felt sure that she intended this comment specifically for me as that is exactly what I had been doing just before the start of the tour.
They have been making perfume in Grasse since the 14th century. Back then apparently only "dirty" people needed to wash. Since the more noble you were, the less "dirty" you could possibly be, the less you washed. If you were a King this meant you never had a bath. And thus, the perfume industry was born.
Their oldest scent was developed for a Hungarian woman in the 13th or 14th century. "This woman had a problem," explained our tour guide. "She was very ugly. But she wanted to get married." A kindly monk took pity upon her and created this scent which is now called Eau d'Hongrie. This scent was so beguiling that almost instantly the Hungarian woman snagged herself a husband - the King of Poland, no less.
I was so impressed by this tale that I bought some of this scent for myself. It's now marketed as a scent for men, which goes some way to support the thesis that Miss Hungary 1329 was not the most feminine of women.
I didn't buy it just based on its pedigree, though. As instructed, I tried it out first, and this is when I got yelled at for the second time by our sexy tour guide. I sprayed some on my wrist as demonstrated, but then foolishly rubbed my wrists together. "Don't rub it!" admonished Frau Scentmeister. "Never rub!"
I think she did this just so I would blush, making my skin heat up and accentuating the effect of the eau d'Hongrie. Whatever her intention, it seemed to make my wife frisky, so I bought a flagon of the stuff.
Hello
I also stayed in Grasse for two months in 1999 to study perfumery.
Now I'm preparing a book for perfumery.
In this book, there is a part for grasse, the mecca of perfumery.
So i need some photos of grasse.
I think one of your photo is the very one that i really want. So could you please use your photo for my book.
I'm Korean and the book will be written by korean.
Thank you.