Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Jeudi, 9 Mai 2013: PART II: The Glass-Blowers of Biot

Instead of zipping back to Aix after Marineland, I talked the guys into going to Biot which was just next door to Antigues. I had previously passed through Biot last fall on my way back from Nice but the visit was nondescript. Things were more leisurely this time around so the guys took me to a glass-blowing workshop. Biot is known for its artisanal, handmade glass works. 


I've always been a fan of glass-blowing. Virginia is filled with glass-blowing facilities with most of them located on the beach where quartz is plentiful in the sand. There are a lot of new classes on the art that have opened up in my region as well. I hope to enroll in one this fall. The guys at the shop made it look so easy but I'm sure glass-blowing takes a lot of skill. 


The galleries were filled with some of the most exquisite pieces made solely from glass. The first gallery we visited was called La Galerie Internationale du Verre. It was here that I fell in love with the work of Vladimir Zbynovsky. His cheapest piece was something in the area of $30K. I joked with Andréa that he would have to buy it in exchange for my hand in marriage ;-) 


Even though the works were plentiful, there was no such thing as a cheap hand-made piece there. Even a single glass cost more than 20 euro. That's absolutely ridiculous to me. The shops were filled with a lot of cute stuff but honestly, the prices weren't worth it.

Our last stop in Biot was a knick-knack shop. The articles here were within my price-range but since they weren't handmade, I didn't bother buying anything. Momo decided to get us all necklaces though. Each necklace had a specific crystal meant for a certain zodiac sign. The crystals supposedly harness powers to balance out each astrological imbalance. For example, since I'm a head-strong Virgo, my Citrine crystal is supposed to chill me out and make me chipper. It was super sweet of Momo. I love little things like that :-) I learned about the healing powers of crystals when I studied Wicca but I never used them. They were always just pretty to me. Honestly though, I do feel much different with the necklace on...More chipper...Too chipper really...I've had to take it off...

There's Momo with his quartz crystal, Andréa with his hematite, and me with the citrine pendant.

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