Paris Day 2 - Giverny

Many years ago in 1989 as part of her Year 12 art projects Merrilyn made a 6 panel montage of Monet's Garden all in pressed flowers. It was a real family affair with anyone with a flower press being roped in to help. At that time Merrilyn and I had a dream that one day we would stand on the Japanese Bridge featured in Monet's paintings and this weekend that dream finally came true. Not that I expected to be there with a son-in-law and two year-old grandson either!! Merrilyn and I are thrilled that we had the opportunity to see this wonderful house and garden together.

For her birthday that year I gave Merrilyn a book "Linnea in Monet's Garden" This beautifully illustrated story about a little Swedish girl has been another catalyst for our visit. Linnea has been to Paris! and so now have we, and she has visited Monet's Garden and now, so have we. She stood on the same little Japanese Bridge that Monet painted in his Impressionistic style and now, so have we, along with thousands of other tourists!!! Thank you Martin for your patience in standing in the queue for an hour to get tickets. No mean feat in that heat!

We took the Metro (underground) to Gare Saint-Lazare where the train left for Vernon, the closest station to the village of Giverny. A cool air-conditioned 45 minute trip following the river Seine for most of the way ended with some lunch at the Creperie du Vexin where we had as the name suggests, crepes for lunch. James had banana and chocolate and watched the chef cook on his hot circular plates. On reflection a good choice as the eateries in Giverny were quaint but packed.

June is a great month to visit this very picturesque garden, although the blossoms and wisteria which festoons the Japanese bridge had finished many other summer flowering annuals and perennials sprawled in a profusion of pinks, lilacs, blues and greens, reflecting in the distinctive two-storey pink house with it's green shutters.

We enjoyed a couple of hours just meandering around and every vista was breathtaking. The famous waterlilies are to be found by taking the sub-subterranean passage under the road from the house to the banks of the River Epte. It was lovely to be down in the cool and we went crazy with the cameras! Merrilyn and I gt our "dream shot"on the bridge. It was hard to avoid all the other tourists but the mood was one of awe and admiration. At every turn of the winding path we were blessed with yet another treat for the eyes! James liked the little green boat and Merrilyn told him that Monet painted his 3 daughters in that very boat! Back through the tunnel and I was looking forward to perusing the gift shop. There was a lot of Linnea merchandise and we have some lovely mementos of that very special day now in our possession. Not a real Monet of course, but precious just the same!

Arrived back in the city at 5pm after a long, hot trip home and dropped by the store again. We bought Camembert, white wine, biscuits, baguettes and ripe nectarines and after quick showers we walked to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens for a picnic dinner. We found a spot on the grass overlooking the Palace and enjoyed our casual meal. James, as usual, ate all his and then sped off to be a train in the park. The Gendarmes came along eventually and asked us to kindly remove our chairs from the grass (apparently a big no-no in Paris!) and advised that the park would be closing in 10 minutes. As we were obeying these orders we heard them using whistles to herd the remaining straggles out of the gates!

Buoyed by good food and another beautiful evening Mum offered to babysit James and so Martin and I once more took the train to the Eiffel Tower. See what I mean about A LOT of trains? Martin wanted me to experience Paris by night and I wanted him to see the sparkling tower. Once there, the queues were minimal, well, it was 9.30pm. So we said let's go up and only queued for maybe 20 minutes. We took the lift right to the top and my old fear of heights was very close to the surface, I can tell you! It was a fantastic sight and we picked out all the landmarks and places we would visit tomorrow. We also located the area around our hotel. And were comforted by the thought that our tired little boy was finally asleep! A very busy day!

This time home at midnight and looking froward to one more day in this amazing city.