GIVERNY

Today I rode the train out to Giverny, to see the house and gardens of Claude Monet, my favorite Impressionist artist. The house and gardens have been restored to look like they did when Monet lived there from 1886 - 1923. It was an incredible experience to see the original water lily pond and Japanese bridge, the house and the flowers and the garden paths that show up in so many of his great paintings. The other three travelers opted to stay home and work/watch videos all day, so I enjoyed a lovely day alone.

You can see Monet's house behind part of the huge garden here.

There were so many varieties of plants and flowers! It took me a very long time to get through the garden, as I snapped pictures of every beautiful thing until my camera battery died. We had a brief afternoon shower, so the raindrops still hung on the plants. Plus this bug.

This is my accidental Impressionist photo, a la Monet.

The water lily pond was just as you might imagine it, although most of his water lily paintings (huge wall murals) are more blue and turquoise, rather than the greens that appear in real life.