Monet’s Garden at Giverny❤️

We were very early risers today! We had tickets for Monet’s garden in Giverny, a 45 minute train ride from Paris. It is important to get to the garden for the days opening in Order to minimize the number of people who will also be trying to do the same thing!!
A metro ride in rush hour traffic when you are half asleep and haven't yet had coffee is not that pleasant. However we reached St. Lazare train station and purchased 4 tickets (£44) to Giverny on the 8:45.
Next up was a take away breakfast of fruit, quiche and coffee. We found a compartment in 2nd class and settled in. On arrival in the town of Vernon we quickly made our way out of the station to the taxis., it seemed everyone on the train was headed where we were! Most of the others were directed to a tourist bus while we were in a faster vehicle! We arrived in Giverny very shortly and made our way to queue at the entrance, only to discover if you already had tickets you could use another entrance, which we did.  Joanie had been here before so knew we should make our way quickly to the waterlily pond with the Japanese bridge....the most photographed and iconic well known spot.  We were there before anyone and had it to ourselves for a short time. The weather was very slightly overcast which is ideal for photos. The rest of the garden is really quite magical, so artfully designed as to appear in a natural state, it resembles a full English garden with every flower, bush, bulb , tree you can imagine. The narrow pathways and several bridges are a delight around every corner. Needless to say this was a bucket list item for all of us. There were flowers we had never seen before, Japanese maples that were like bonsais, thick trunks which made you realize they were years old, but actually still small in size. There were many colours of dahlias, some the size of dinner plates! Other flowers so tiny the buds looked like bugs on a feathery branch. It was difficult to choose a favourite, there were trellises full with climbing roses. Off to one corner we saw beautiful speckled chickens pecking in their enclosure.  After we had our fill of the outside we entered Monet’s home, which was as it was when he lived there. Very french in style and colour, his studio still with the same furnishings as there had been. It was a bit surreal to be there where he had lived and worked. By this time it was getting increasingly busier and we had a last walk around the garden and the bridge over the lily pond. ❤️.
We were quite hungry now and but decided first to visit a museum just down the road which was featuring an exhibit of Ker-Xavier Roussell and Pierre Bonnard.  It was a disappointment as we didn’t care for the Roussell works and there was  only one of Bonnards! We did have lunch in the museum restaurant which was very delicious, French onion soup and of course the best French bread, Joanie and Sandy also shared a bowl of mussels.....declared scrumptious!  We had seen a little garden cafe where a woman was selling crepes at an outside kitchen....so we shared chocolate crepes as an end to lunch.
It was time to head back to Vernon for the train, so we walked through the streets of Giverny thinking we would come across the taxis.....but we did not, and ended up walking around 6km to the station. It was very warm by this time and we were ready for some cold water.....purchased our train tickets and were soon heading back to Paris.
Arriving back we took the metro to the Bastille and stopped for cold beer at an outdoor cafe to watch Parisiennes  stroll by.
After beer we visited a few shops for some fine French cheeses, some salads, some charcuterie , two desserts to share, wine and chocolate.  Our hotel had a little central garden courtyard and we planned to have a picnic there.
Another wonderful day in Paris had come to an end.  4 happy pilgrims xx