Monet's Gardens at Giverny

Today we took a train to Vernon where we rented bikes and rode to Monet's home and gardens at Giverny. The beautiful views as we rode our bikes through the little towns of Vernon and Giverny were enchanting.

As we rode through the small village of Giverny we could understand why Monet choose this as his home and artists' commune, beauty and inspiration were around every turn as we made our way
to his home.

                                    

Our first stop was the Musée des Impressionissmes.

Here, we viewed paintings by several American artists who had gone to live and paint at Monet's home in Giverny. By this time Monet was a very famous artist and he taught many younger artists how to paint in the Impressionist style, using short, quick brushstrokes that show the essence of their 

subject, rather that details; often these artists painted en plein air (outdoors) showing the effects of light and shadows. 

After visiting the museum we made our way over to Monet's gardens where it takes 8 gardeners to 

maintain the 5 acre garden. 

Next, we made our way to the waterlily pond where we walked across the Japanese style footbridges and lingered while taking in the sites, imagining Monet in his later years painting those very large waterlily paintings that we saw a few days earlier at L'Orangerie.

Next, we toured Monet's home where they have stet up his studio to look like it did when he would 

have  been working there. There were sixty replicas of his paintings hanging on the walls.

As the rain clouds rolled in, we hopped back on our bikes for the ride back to the train station. Riding our bikes across the Sienne taking in the beautiful views in the rain is something we will never forget.

French phrase of the day:

We'd like to rent two bikes. / Nous voudrions louer deux vélos. /noo voo-dree-ohn loo-ay duh vay-loh

Stay tuned...