bonne route! saturday, march 10   (see photos)

---

If there's one thing that we learned in France, it's that I need to take more French lessons. If there's two things, it's that they're not that interested in saving us from ourselves or trying to get us to buy more than we want. Same principle, kind of, in my head.

There's not much upselling anywhere, not even at the car rental place where they always paint a dire picture of death and destruction if the CDW option isn't taken. The friendly man, who enjoyed correcting my pronunciation of French towns, didn't even ask if we wanted all that extra insurance. He just said that if we got into an accident, we'd have to settle it with our own insurance back home. And then he sent us on our way.

In the park at the ridiculously high village of Gourdon, there were no ropes or barriers keeping visitors from an over 1600 foot drop. It's your own fault if you act stupid, a concept that doesn't seem to be too popular in the US.

We saw charming town after charming town on this day and then stopped for a tour at the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world. We took a tour in French because they thought we could handle it. Clearly, we were exuding more confidence than we ever have in our lives. We won't make that mistake again.

The tour guide was very nice, though, and every time I didn't understand her question, she'd say it in English and then go right back to French. She'd make a good language teacher with her patience because it was obvious my brain had completely stopped functioning, which is what usually happens every Saturday afternoon.

 

some disgustingly charming photos

---