PROVENCE
NO.2
Arles
Driving north from Nîmes, it takes more than half an hour to reach the small town of Arles. Arles, like Nîmes, was an ancient Roman city and was known as the "Little Romans of the Gauls". Because of the great painter Van Gogh, Arles is famous and attracts a large number of tourists. Some people say Van Gogh is "crazy", but many people go crazy for him. In 1888 Van Gogh came to Arles and spent the last days of his life, which was the most vigorous period of his creation, and he completed more than 200 oil paintings and more than 100 oil paintings. On July 2, 1890, in the golden wheat field of Arles, Van Gogh ended his life with a bullet. Walk through the ancient alleys of Arles and if you are not careful, you will find Van Gogh's footprints. His paintings of "The Garden in the Arles Hospital", "The Arles Hotel", "The Café in Arles", and "The Arles Suspension Bridge" still maintain their original appearance, telling visitors the stories that have happened. Here, time seems to stand still in the era in which the artist lived. If you come to Arles in summer, don't miss the sunflowers blooming in the fields of the suburbs, and deeply appreciate the painter's praise for the passion of life.
Avignon
Avignon is the capital of the province of South Favocluz, located on the banks of the Rhône River. In ancient times, it was the main traffic route from France to Spain and Italy, and merchants were busy. In the 14th century, the Pope of Rome moved here. Thus Avignon was for a time the center of Catholicism. The palace (Le Palais de Papes), where the Pope lived, is still well preserved, known as the Little Rome of France. The 2.5-kilometer-long city wall around the city is tall and magnificent, and the ancient buildings in the city are strictly protected, and modern buildings are not seen. According to local policies, if the citizens' houses need to be repaired, the government will give subsidies, but the premise is to respect the old city style. There is a famous "broken bridge" on the Rhône River on the edge of the city, the Benezer Bridge, and legend has it that a 15-year-old shepherd boy was inspired by the gods to build a bridge on the Rhone River to facilitate pedestrians. He alone struggled to move the boulders to the river. The courage of the teenager touched everyone and they joined in building this bridge. After several floods, the bridge was broken, and only 4 arches still stand in the water, becoming a famous attraction in Avignon. Standing on the broken bridge, looking at the ancient city from afar, reading the leisurely passages of time, it is a good place to go. There is a well-known folk song in France, "On the Pont de Avignon": on the Pont de Avignon, people dance; on the Pont de Avignon, people dance in circles. This bridge has become even more famous.
, duration 01:19
Avignon has France's largest theatre festival every July-August, founded in 1947 by the French director Jean-Lavel. The purpose is to make art into the folk. After a long period of development, it has become one of the most influential theatre festivals in the world, together with the Berlin Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival, which is called the world's three major theatre festivals. The Avignon Theatre Festival is divided into two parts, one part is not open to the public, only for well-known artists and performance groups from all over the world invited by the organizing committee, and the other part is open to various artists, art forms and the public, which is a festival for the public. During the Festival of Drama in July 2017, I had the privilege of catching up with the Festival in Avignon. The streets of Avignon are bustling with people. Theatre lovers from all over the world gather here to enjoy this artistic feast, and of course there are many domestic artists. Every corner of the city is plastered with performance posters, and all stadiums and public venues have performances. Drama, drama, bands, recitations, performance art, installation art, a dizzying variety of art forms that can and cannot be named. Unfortunately, I am a layman in art and can only enjoy the warm atmosphere around me! The most impressive was a local resident who moved his family's piano to the corner of the street and played it in turn with his wife, one piece after another. The crowd of onlookers, the applause of everyone did not affect their emotions at all, and the two immersed themselves in their own world. Maybe that's the beauty of art!
Glass
Grasse, surrounded by mountains, is in the center of the mountain pass, and a river runs through the city center, dividing the city in half. In the 17th century, leather workshops were found on both sides of the river. Tanning workers work day and night to make leather clothes and leather goods, and the whole city is shrouded in the stench of fur. In order to get rid of the unpleasant smell of leather, people sought to change it with floral fragrances, which led to the birth of the perfume industry in Grasse. Throughout southern France, especially Grasse, the soil and climate are suitable for growing aromatic plants, such as the May rose (Rosa centifolia), jasminum sambac L, etc. At the height of ancient Grasse, the amount of flowers consumed each year reached 5,000 tons. In the 1940s, the advent of synthetic spices brought about the perfume industrial revolution. Grasse has thus become the world-famous perfume capital. It's home to some of the world's best-known perfume companies. With the development of artificial spices, the cultivation of aromatic plants around Grasse has gradually decreased, and the former plantations have given way to the ever-expanding perfume, flavor and fragrance companies. According to statistics, the amount of flowers currently used in Grass is only about 20 tons per year. On the outskirts of Grasse, only a few high-end perfume companies retain the May Rose and Jasmine plantations.
Grasse has many perfume museums, the oldest and famous is the Musee International de Parfumerie (MIP), located in the heart of the city, very easy to find. At the entrance of the museum there is a bronze statue of a perfumer (habit de parfumeur), which vividly depicts the image of a 17th-century perfumer. With a melon-skin hat on his head and a crocodile-skin chest hanging from his chest, he looks like a wizard filled with a variety of perfumes and perfume ingredients. Enter the museum, which displays perfumes, perfume bottles, perfume raw materials and perfume development history produced in Grasse in various eras. Friends who are interested in perfume must not miss it.
Leaving MIP, we went to the aromatic botanical garden that belonged to it. There are a variety of aromatic plants that are most representative of Grasse. Because the appointment was made in advance, the botanical expert explained to us, which sounded relatively relaxed. I was most impressed by glass roses, big flower jasmine and irises. Grass rose, also known as May rose or thousand leaf rose, the plant form, flower shape and smell are different from the well-known Damascus rose, mainly grown in Grasse. Now Morocco, Turkey, China have introduced species. The unique fragrance of May roses is commonly used in the preparation of high-end perfumes. The ancient process of extracting the net oil of May Rose was complex and costly. Generally using the liposuction method, fresh rose petals are laid on layer by layer of animal fat, so that the animal fat can fully absorb the floral fragrance, and then the aroma components are separated from the animal fat with a solvent. At the Gallimard perfume factory, everyone witnessed the whole process with their own eyes, which was time-consuming and laborious. Thousand leaf roses generally bloom and are harvested in May. Workers have to pick before the sun is fully out, which is when the floral fragrance is at its strongest. Late, plenty of sun, floral scent will be reduced. Therefore, every May Grasse has a rose festival to celebrate the harvest. Because of the small planting area, there is currently very little rose net oil produced in Grasse, dozens of kilograms per year, exclusively for high-end perfume factories. Fortunately, I have many local spice friends who can help Jiafangyuan get a few kilograms every year!
There are many perfume schools in Grasse. I made an appointment to take everyone to learn perfume. In the classroom, there is a perfume station per person. The perfume table is wooden and oval in shape, resembling a traditional pipe organ. The table is divided into five layers, and then separated by one grid, and a bottle of perfume ingredients is placed in each grid. There are hundreds of essential oils, alcohol, various chemical monomers. We are just "playing tickets", and we don't need so much at all. The teacher is a middle-aged woman, dressed very fashionably, and smells a fresh perfume from afar. There are also 5 assistants, mainly to help you identify the advantages and disadvantages of the work. The teacher first teaches the classification of raw materials, and divides the top, middle and tail notes according to the form of gold tower. I have the impression that floral fragrances are mostly top notes, and woody classes are mostly tail notes. A perfume must have all three tones in order to have a sense of layering. And the excesses between each note should be natural, which requires a deep foundation! Each person makes a personalized perfume according to different preferences with the help of the teacher. After doing a good job, the assistants tasted and passed and became everyone's work. Pick a favorite perfume bottle and pour it in, label it all. To be honest, it was only then that I felt my clumsiness, holding a straw in this bottle to get a drop, and two drops from that bottle, demanding very precise. More or less is not coordinated, it needs to be just right... I mixed the forest atmosphere, but I clumsily fiddled with it for half a day to achieve the desired effect, so I could only ask the teacher to help me adjust a bottle.