Day 8 | Journey to Vernon & Monet's Home and Gardens at Giverny

I'm know I've said it before, but there are just some things you're not able to express adequately through words... or even photographs.  No matter how I tried, it was difficult for me to translate my experience visiting Monet's gardens into images that I felt communicated my experience accurately.  I took more photos during our visit to Giverny than I had taken at any other location on our trip, but after looking through all of them, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing.  There is a legend surrounding the place--- I have learned for so many years about Monet and his gardens and the water lilies and the magical light depicted in his paintings that, once I was actually there, I didn't know what to do with myself.  But then I realized that was ok, and that I was allowed to just enjoy the experience.  Which is one of the hardest things I've come to understand over the past few years--- I don't have to take photographs of everything I see. If I'm always looking at everything  through my camera, I might actually miss something very important.

Giverny is actually about 50 miles from Paris, so if you're planning to visit, I would suggest setting aside the better part of a day.  Trains don't run all the time, so it's very important to keep this in mind when you're traveling to and from Giverny. We took the train from Paris to Vernon, and then a bus from Vernon to Giverny and the gardens.*  The bus dropped us off a little bit away from Giverny, but it was a beautiful walk in the country and it had just rained, so everything was very green and there was just a bit of chill in the air.

 After having spent the entire week in a very busy city and in museums filled with people, it was strange to be in a place that was so quiet.  The areas surrounding the gardens were very still and peaceful and I was surprised to find this a bit unsettling at first.  I suppose that's what happens when you're always surrounded my movement and noise--- sometimes you need a break.

Before we entered the actual gardens, we found ourselves in a forested area with a canal, which is also where you can find this spectacular bust of Monet!  It was hidden along a path, so it was a lovely find.  

On the other side, there was an expansive field, with the foggy rolling hills in the background.

Once we entered the museum, we were greeted by every brightly colored autumn flower you could ever imagine. Photographing while we were there was really interesting, since the weather was changing so frequently. It was either very sunny out, or drizzling and gray.  Looking at these photos, you'd think we had been there on two completely different days!  

Among the flowers were narrow paths that you could follow in between garden rows.  I overheard a few members of a tour group talking about how they were a little disappointed by the garden because they thought that it looked messy, since flowers were leaning over rows and the gardens weren't as manicured as they had expected.

I thought they were perfect.

The gardens were filled with sizable spiders and their sprawling webs.  I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were everywhere and they seemed to really enjoy the rainy weather.

 

Walking through Monet's house was incredible! His studio was amazing and there were reproductions of his paintings everywhere.  Unfortunately, there is a very strict no-photos policy inside the house, but here is the outside--- it's gorgeous! The bright red geraniums were perfect against the pink and green house.

After we had walked around the gardens, we headed down some stairs and through a tunnel that took us underneath the adjacent road and to the water lilies!  I'm not sure that there was always a road in between the gardens, so it might have been interesting to see what the gardens would
have looked like years ago.

*While we were planning our trip and checking train schedules the night before, we found out that the train station is in Vernon, which is actually a few miles from Giverny and the gardens.  Visitors can take a charter bus shuttle straight to Giverny from the train station, so we decided to do this, since it was convenient and pretty fast.  The bus ride cost a few Euros each, so as we were getting out money for the fare, we both realized that we hadn't gotten out any cash for this portion of the trip. The area around the train station was pretty empty and I was worried that if we didn't hurry and get on this particular bus, we would have to wait too long for the next one and by the time we arrived, the gardens would already be too crowded.  Luckily, the 1 and 2 Euro coins that I stashed everywhere when I received change are helpful in times like this, so with a bunch of coins we found in random pockets, we pooled together enough for both of us and hopped on the bus, deciding that we would go to an ATM once we reached the small town.  So, we visited and had the greatest time in the world and couldn't believe that we were really there.  After we had toured the gardens and Monet's house and Jason had drawn everything and I had taken a million pictures, we thought we would walk to the area with a few galleries and cafés, grab a little lunch, and then ask someone at the information center where we could find an ATM so we could take the bus back to the train station.  Much to our surprise, the woman there let us know that there was no ATM in the information center, and there definitely wasn't one between Giverny and Vernon. We panicked (and when I say we, I mean I panicked)- we had already purchased our return trip ticket, and we didn't have all the time in the world to figure out how to get back to the train station on time. While we ate lunch we tried to figure out what we could do, and eventually figured out that we could technically walk a few miles from Giverny to the train station in Vernon.  We didn't have all that much time though, and I was not necessarily looking forward to walking on the side of a highway for two hours, but it turned out that there was actually a paved bike path that people used all the time to get to Giverny, so it wasn't all that bad after all. We just had to get really good at power walking!  

While we were walking, we found a big French version of Milo, so we stopped to stay hi.

Even though we spent a lot of time worrying about how we would get back to the train station on time, this impromptu walk afforded us an opportunity to see the beautiful French countryside--- we saw things that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. It was a beautiful way to end our trip to Paris, and the perfect culmination to our adventures abroad.

We eventually made it back to the train station with about 10 minutes to spare, and after boarding the train, I proceeded to get in trouble for putting my feet up on the seat in front of me and then got lost for about 20 minutes while walking between train cars to find the bathroom.  Thank goodness for the person who recognized that I had somehow managed to get lost on a train, and showed me where to find the bathroom. In my defense, all of the train cars look the same on the inside, and there isn't a bathroom on every one. We had been seated upstairs and the bathrooms are all on the lower level of the train cars, so as I looped my way up and down the stairs and back and forth trying to find the bathroom, I became disoriented and couldn't find my way back to Jason.  I find it hard to believe that I'm the only person who has done that! 

It was lovely to take the train from Gare St. Lazare, the train station made famous in many of Monet's paintings, especially after spending so much time with his work.

Once we made it back to the city, we decided to walk around one last time and explore the areas we hadn't yet seen.  Our friends had traveled to Paris fairly recently, and they had told Jason that there was a bridge where you could buy a padlock, write something on it, and then lock it to the side of the bridge, throwing the key into the Seine. (My friend Sarah later described this as being "litter lovebugs," which I thought was quite appropriate.) We happened upon this bridge after not having seen it our entire trip, so it became my goal to acquire a lock and attach it to the bridge on our last day there. But right as we were about to do this, it started pouring, so we waited on the lower level of the Passerelle de Solferino, a remarkable 2-tier bridge.

The rain finally turned to a drizzle, so we made our way up to the top and placed our lock on the bridge with a perfect view of the Musée d'Orsay.