My plan for today was a tour of Giverny in the afternoon, so I thought I would take a walk down to the Seine River in the morning....if you can call 11am morning ;). I found myself at Pont Neuf and took a few photos from the bridge. I found a cafe and ordered a Parisienne Baguette (Ham, cheese, tomato and lettuce) and a cappucino. Cappucino's here are 80% froth and 20% coffee! It was still good! The weather here is cool but overcast. I then wandered back to Cityrama to pick up my tour. On the way back outside the Hotel Regina I could see some huge big lights so of course I took a photo to show Jess. The badges of the crew said 'Red 2'...whatever that meant! I went and picked up my Giverny tour ticket and had some time to spare so I thought I'd walk back up to the Hotel Regina and watch the action taking place as some kind of movie was obviously being filmed. I didn't recognise the actress so I just watched as she got into a cab, which drove off and then the two bald men who were standing outside the cab wandered off in the opposite direction. Then I noticed the paparazzi...so I took photos of them, because to me that was more interesting, but I figured they must have been there to photograph someone famous, so I took a couple of pics of the actress (thinking Jess may be able to identify her). When I zoomed in with my camera, I then realised that the bald guy she was standing with was Bruce Willis!!! Who would have thought!
It was then time for me to head out to Giverny to see Monet's Garden. This was the main reason I had stopped at Paris on this leg of my trip because the garden closes at the end of November and I would have missed it at the end of my Trafalgar tour. I was last in Giverny in August 2011 when it was summer, much hotter and very crowded. Today the bus was only half full and when we arrived at the gardens there was not nearly as many people as had been there in the summer. The village of Giverny is 80km out of Paris on the "right bank" of the River Seine where the river Epte meets the Seine. Monet bought the house in 1890 and set about building the magnificent gardens he wished to paint. He lived in this house until his death in 1926 and is buried in the cemetery in the village. It had rained before we got to Giverny so the ground was wet, it was overcast but at least the rain had stopped. I decided to go down to the Water Garden first while the rain held off, to see the waterlillies, the willows and the Japanese bridge. Some of the water lillies were blooming and the garden really looked like one of Monet's paintings. Up in the house garden the garden beds were full of colour and many flowers were in bloom. I loved taking photos of the flowers which still had raindrops glistening on the petals. There were even some sunflowers (my favorite) still in bloom. Even in the overcast, dreary weather this garden spoke of colour and sunshine! I had a wander through the house to view Monet's studio where he had painted the Waterlily series, see his bedroom and other rooms in the house which are mostly as they were while he was alive. The house is full of Japanese prints which Monet loved so much. I had a wander through the shop...only bought a fridge magnet...but last time I was here you could barely get in the shop, let alone wander through it and look at what they had for sale!
I arrived back in Paris about 6:30pm and then met up with Marty for dinner. After a few texts we manage to locate each other! We found a cafe on the left bank and were able to catch up on what we had both been up to since we left Madrid. It was great to see a familiar face! After dinner I found my way back to the hotel to get myself ready for my 3 day tour of Normandy.
Fanatastic photos xx I think i got my great love of Monet once i'd visited his gardens way back when !!! as up till then it was Ken Done ...hehehe ( well it was the 80's) the House looks likes its been painted since i was there xxx
ReplyDelete