Monet’s Garden

We got up in plenty of time to travel to Gare St Lazare for our 10.11 train to Vernon / Giverny. I hadn’t planned to visit Monet’s garden during our trip to Paris because it always seems a bit out of the way. However when Jenn F heard that we would be in Paris for just about a whole week, she assured me that it’s easy to get to, and well worth a visit. She was right! Once we got on the train it was only 50 minutes to Vernon, and then a shuttle bus awaited the passengers for Giverny, which is a further 7 km. along the Seine. The gardens were as busy as I expected but we couldn’t really complain since we are tourists too! They are certainly very beautiful and well-maintained, and the late spring colours of blue, lilac, white, pink and purple were gorgeous to behold. The house is very attractive; red brick and green shutters. Inside it is spacious and airy, no wonder that Monet bought it after initially renting it. The lily pond was of course spectacular; the lilies were flowering and there were Japanese style bridges at each end, one bigger than the other. Apparently Monet loved Japanese art and had lots of it in his house; not realising this at first, we were surprised to see a print of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave” in the museum shop and James said, “It must have been windy at the lily pond that day!” which made me laugh. There were very many different types of plants but my absolute favourite was white wisteria hanging down from the framework of the larger bridge; it was so delicate and beautiful, with a heavenly perfume. After a restoring lunch at a nearby café, we got the train back to Paris later in the afternoon. We had time for a walk round the little town of Vernon first and into its ancient church which unfortunately had been badly damaged in the 2nd World War; it’s stained glass windows had been blown out and had to be replaced with modern designs. 
Back in Paris we went out for our dinner and then watched a jazz quartet playing on the street. They were excellent, but it wasn’t long before we headed to bed, tired after a day out in the sunshine and full of delicious French food.