"Daddy, my water smells great now," Sennen said offering me to smell his drinking water we had picked up from a convenience store a half hour earlier.
"What do you mean, your water smells great now?"
"It does! I'm going to have a sip and see what it tastes like."
"Sennen, did you put a test strip in your bottled water?"
"Uh…yes…" he said breaking out in laughter.
When you're in the boutique of a perfumery, it's not hard to guess how a ten year-old boy might have suddenly find his water smelling good. It was more concerning he was willing to drink it – to which I put a stop.
Over the course of the next 20-30 minutes, the scent in Sennen's bottle changed and magnified.
We had just taken a tour of the Fragonard perfumery – one of the longstanding six fragrance houses in Grasse, where the majority of the world's essences and fragrances are made. None of the techniques we were shown involved using a strip of paper sprayed by a tester bottle of eau de toilette or perfume. Sennen went out on his own with that one, although admittedly he was standing on the shoulders of the tried and true work of the Fragonard masters.
The dented plastic bottle now sits on our living room coffee table and has turned white while its scent has intensified.
"I plan to wear this everyday until it's gone!" Sennen said as we were leaving Grasse this afternoon.
"But what about the two fragrances you chose that we just bought?"
"Right. Ok, I'll wear those first and then wear the ones I made everyday until it's gone."
"You might want to see how the smell develops," I warned. Because last whiff I took it smelled like a peach, a plum, a pear, some musk, cloves and a bottle of vanilla exploded.
Whatever anyone makes of Sennen's slyly prepared concoction, it's clear the idea of perfuming was not altogether lost on him and in our tour group he consistently had the most correct guesses as to which essences comprised each fragrance.
As anyone who knows my kids might imagine, Sennen took a deep interest in the perfume manufacturing process, followed the guide's explanations carefully and asked numerous questions. Ailyn also followed, but showed far more interest in the boutique sampling and selecting various fragranced products both for gifts and for herself.
Grasse is a medieval town that began growing the materials for essential oils in the early 17th century and which came into its own as the global center of perfume production in the 18th century. Because of its temperate Provence climate and hillside location ideal for flower cultivation, the town was once quite literally surrounded by lavender, roses, violets and other essential flowers. With much of it built long before modern vehicles, "streets" are often more steep, windy footpaths, many staircases. Parks, squares, streets and of course neighborhoods are stacked and layered. Grasse's ancient origins are baked into its design and nature, making it quite different from the stretched out, laid back vibe of nearby Cannes and Nice glittering in the Mediterranean sun. It's not hard to see Grasse has always been a working town – both literal work to traverse and a center of agriculture and industry. The kids were tired just looking at our options for lunch.
That said, Grasse was an easy choice for a side trip. The train takes 28 minutes and departs hourly from a station that's a ten minute walk from our apartment. I bought the tickets online yesterday so we walked through the station to our platform in a matter of two minutes. That was after taking our laundry to the shop at the corner which will have it ready tomorrow, heading three blocks to a little boulangerie where we enjoyed our pain au chocolate, water and coffee (which was actually Sennen's – decaf) and walked another three blocks to the train station.
Better yet, Grasse isn't just seeing another town – the way Nice would be – but it's an educational experience. A sensory one at that – with both olfactory and visual elements. Fragrance may not be something the kids really ever put much thought into before – unlike the way going to Disneyland is an opportunity to see favorite characters – but it's something easy to latch onto and even be ensnared by.
Perhaps that's why after our Fragonard tour and lunch at a small Italian restaurant down a narrow, windy street I'm not sure I could find again – the kids were still pretty interested to visit another perfumery. I had wanted to stop at Molinard to get a fragrance I used to love. Sadly, they were closed, but the Geodora boutique was three doors down and Gerard Gatti, the owner and artisan perfumer himself was in the shop. We got a personal tour of all the fragrances and learned a lot about the perfuming business.
First, I personally liked Geodora's scents a lot more than Fragonard's and bought one for myself. He also uses ecologically responsible materials and donates to environmental causes, which is nice. But what was fascinating is that at least 80% of Grasse's business, and more than 90% of Gerard's own isn't finished product – but the essences other manufacturers use for their shampoos, soaps and other personal care products, often custom-made for their various brands.
Because of his excellent English and well-traveled background, Gerard was excellent at relating to and explaining things to the kids. From pondering the right fragrances for each of us to how he designed his scents, he was very much able to add to their context and knowledge. While I hadn't intended on buying each kid another fragrance after Fragonard – it was impossible not to under the circumstances and we are now all set on amazing scents from France for quite some time.
On the train ride home, I presented the fact that tomorrow is our last full-day in Cannes. Did the kids want a side-trip to Nice? No. Did they want to go to Monaco? No.
"I don't want to go to Paris! I want to stay in Cannes… forever!" Sennen said.
Ailyn was with him just short of "forever".
I told them I was so happy they enjoy Cannes so much but reminded Ailyn that she has been so excited about Paris for so long – would she want to give that up?
"No…. I guess you're right. I want to see Paris."
Sennen was unmoved.
"Paris can't be better. Cannes is great! I like Cannes and just want to be in Cannes."
He's so my kid – I prefer Cannes to Paris too.
We agreed that we would spend our last day in Cannes fully in-Cannes doing Cannes things. Whatever that may be – because they've really seen just about everything. But again, the beauty of this trip seems to be that they kids aren't looking to be entertained. They're happy to explore, absorb and live a Cannes life. Who am I to criticize?
At least I can say that whatever we do tomorrow, we'll be smelling fantastic – which any true Cannois would appreciate.
