Giverny

Today, we bid adieu to Paris. We had an amazing time and left with a greater love for the city. We also left with a list of places "to-see next time". After much hassle, we were able to rent a car and find/buy/install three carseats in it. I'd ask Monsieur Bacon to share his experience with this, but I'm not sure he's ready. It was...an ordeal.

We headed out to Giverny, also known as the home of Impressionism. It is possibly the cutest town I've ever seen in my life. It's bright, clean, full of flowers, and green fields. Giverny was made world famous by Claude Monet, who settled in the town in 1883 with his wife and 8 children. He built himself an oasis of calm with gardens of flowers, a water lily pond, and a Japanese garden. It was here that he painted many of his best known masterpieces. Our kids have a fondness for Monet, after reading and watching "Linnea's Garden" several times in the past couple of years. In the story, Linnea visits Paris and Giverny to learn about Monet. The movie is available on Netflix if you have any little ones interested in art (or easily entertained).

We were able to tour the Monet home (he had a fondness for Japanese art), the gardens, and see the water lily pond and famous bridge.

Here is a photo by Garçon Livre:

We had a wonderful time wandering around the gardens. Near closing time, we headed in to the museum gift shop, which was formerly Monet's studio. We stayed until closing time and then wandered in to town to find some dinner.

So our travelling style is to research the big things and then sort of explore. By wandering around town, we ended up at the Hotel Baudy, once a hangout of Monet himself (he paid for his meals in paintings). The hotel was formerly a grocery store, but when painters started ascending on the town, the owner decided to convert the upstairs into rooms for travelers. The owner even built studios out back for the painters to work and guess what? Our man, Cézanne, painted here. The meal was pretty good, the service good, and the grounds were beautiful. Out back of the hotel we found a studio and paths for walking.

A studio:

Back of the hotel:

A walking path:

After dinner, we walked to our car. It was a beautiful evening for a walk. Giverny is the perfect place to decompress after Paris and in stark contrast to Versailles. We had the most lovely time.