Monet's Gardens
- Location: Giverny, France
- Aug 9, 2016
- 2 min read
After ogling the beautiful Nymphéas paintings by Claude Monet at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, it was rather exciting to make our way from the big city to the quaint town of Giverny. My mother and I checked into our room above a local inn just down the street from the estate of Claude Monet. After living Paris and taking in his inspiration from the vibrant city, Monet sought the calm and beauty of the French countryside outside of Paris. This desire brought him to the sweet and extremely quite area of Giverny - which today primarily attracts visitors because of Monet's home.
While Giverny's home itself was rather charming, the gardens were absolutely explosive with greenery and a variety of flowers. So although altogether the gardens are smaller than expected, they were rather stunning.
As a gardener, this place was the stuff of my mother's dreams - except for the hordes of school children running around. Note to anyone planning a visit: go late in the afternoon or on a weekend...during the off-season. Because although this place is stunning, the crowds can be horrible...and a little crazy. As I stopped by the poppies so my mother could snap a photo, a foreign man who seemed to appreciate the matching red of my skirt to the red of the poppies as much as we did step directly in front of my mom and her raised camera to start snapping photos of me. Once he finished, he smiled and said thank you, and kept walking like nothing had happened.
Yup. A little strange.
BUT the famous pond with its plethora of flora - including the famous water lilies and the aqua bridges, was well worth it.
When it was possible to get away from the crowds, it was easy to see how Monet found this place so peaceful and inspiring. I think one day I would like to return when the crowds have dissipated, relax on one of the water-side benches, sip some tea and imagine what this place would have been like in the early 1900's.
All in all it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. To be honest the gardens were a little chilly for this off-the-shoulder lace top and the flowy red skirt...even if they were really fun to wear in the gardens. (That's why you always bring a jacket when traveling in such places...even if its just a denim one).
Once we left the garden we visited the local Impressionism Museum, where an exhibit on Gustave Caillebotte (another incredible Impressionist) simply took my breath away. (See one example of his paintings below - these daisies were just astonishing in person.)
The next morning we finished our visit with a lovely breakfast in our local inn, before leaving the beautiful gardens of Monet behind and heading out to the charming town of Bayeux in Normandy, France.
♥M.
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