Olfactory Observation of the Day # 2 - The Scent of Horse Chestnut Trees in Paris {Scented Thoughts}
By Marie-Hélène Wagner
One of the most under-reported scents of Paris and which yet is so typical of its ambient air is the perfume of Horse Chestnut trees...
You smell it better in the spring and the fall when the humidity in the air is just so. Horse chestnut flowers blossom in April. The woodiness of the tree aroma remains. It is a delicious fragrance, very much tied in with childhood memories of going to the jardin du Luxembourg to pick up horse chestnuts and turn them into huge, unwieldy necklaces. But it is also linked with memories of the Republic's school yards planted with them.
