Musée du Parfum

Brought to Europe as early as the 14^th century, France is pretty well known for its perfumes. It was only natural, then, for us to come across the Musée du Parfum at some point during my stay. Our tour guide taught us about how perfume is made, the differences in scents, where plants/scents comes from as well as the history of use and bottling. The perfume industry is pretty impressive, if you ask me. Did you know that perfumes can contain more than 200 ingredients?! We even found out that the chemists who make perfumes also have to attend “nose school” for four years! At the end of the tour we tested our noses with a variety of Fragonard’s perfumes, which are only sold in France.

Seeing that I’m spending my remaining days in Paris on French experiences, it’s only fair that I update everyone on my French language progress. I gave in and saw Avatar today. And though we saw the V.O (version original i.e. in English) the language the Nav’vi people spoke to one another was subtitled in French. John and I encountered this problem over the summer with Inglorious Bastards. At least it was a problem last summer… I had to sit with my ear next to John so he could translate to me. This time around I understood what I read! Okay, I’ll admit I had John to make sure I understood correctly but I didn’t need him as I so desperately did a few months ago. Now if only I could understand an entire movie I’d be golden with my New Year’s Resolution on day 12…