A day with Andrew

So I had an amazing, though tiring Wednesday. One of the English teachers at my school is this awesome Nigerian named Andrew.

He married a French girl long ago, and now has two grown children and teaches English to the kids of Nice. Just a great guy all around, he offered to take me ‘for a drive’ in the countryside. What I didn’t expect was what we went to see (t’was amazin’).

Above is the first view I had of Gourdon, the last village on our trip and the most noteworthy. When we came around the corner and first caught a glimpse of it I literally gasped. It stands hundreds of feet above the valley which works its way south towards Nice, and the Mediterranean. I was shocked and really excited at the same time, because it looked like it was on an impossible ledge. The pictures do not do it justice, it needs a better perspective.

The roads in the mountains were all old donkey trails too, of course, so they’re crazily narrow. I don’t think busses have ever been scary to me, but they were the other day.

The village was once inhabited by farmers and the like, not a military installation of any sort from what I gathered. It’s simply high in the hills and beautiful. We walked around (which doesn’t take long) and checked out everything from the castle to the church.

This isn't the church, just in case you were thinking 'wtf n00b!?' Odds are you weren't thinking that at all.

Unfortunately to go into the castle costs money, so all I got was a sweet picture of its door.

The Eagles Nest is a nice little restaurant, but talk about a killer view! If I were an Eagle I would most certainly choose to live there.

Gourdon and the surrounding area is also famous for flowers, and not only flowers but the immense quantities of perfume made from them. We visited a few shops while we were there, and talked to the lady who makes the perfume (though in Gourdon she only makes candles).

Needless to say, the place smelled great. And it was fun to goof around and see what was up with the local mannequins.

What’s cool is that if you want you can go to where they actually manufacture the perfumes near Nice and order your own customized perfume. There are hundreds of variations you can make, and it takes like a day to make. Best part, it costs in the range of 30 Euros for your own personal scent. That’s the benefit of going to the people who make it themselves.

We also met this artist who was on display there in Gourdon. His art was kind of like a bunch of collages, and had a lot of popular figures (mostly American) in them. What was new to his art, he said, was the graffiti style stuff in it. I liked it a lot and wished I had the money to buy one. I guess photos will have to suffice.

We travelled up out of Gourdon a bit and got a better view of the village, enjoying the paragliders as they swooped around overhead. I hope to do it before I leave.

Talk about beautiful country though. It reminds me of my grandparents’ in some ways, but unfortunately Okanogan wasn’t built hundreds of years ago with ancient stones. That would make Okanogan way cooler though, I can tell you this much.

I need to go again, it’s beautiful. We then went down to a world-famous glass workshop and museum. It was pretty incredible. We watched them make a few glasses, then walked through and looked at all of the art.

I wish I could have taken pictures of the art, but all you get is what was for sale. Sorry.



And of course, the courtyard. Look, I'd have snuck photos if I could, but I would have felt dishonest. And we all know what happens to people that take pictures of glass art when they're not supposed to anyways, don't we? That's right. So I don't want to have that happen to me.
And so it was a good day, even though I was exhausted. I'm grateful to have people like Andrew that are so kind and generous with their time here. It makes life more interesting and certainly more beautiful. Because as awesome as our apartment may be, the view of the burned up car doesn't compare to the view from Gourdon.