Spring is in full swing here and we are trying to make the most of
the two and a half months we have left in France. Although we're
eager for our Hawaiian adventure to begin, there is so much of France
left to see and experience. Having a baby made us put some trips and
activities on hold, but we're back in the game now. So yesterday we
took a trip with two of our good friends to the tiny village of
Giverny.
Giverny was the home of Claude Monet, the renowned late-nineteenth
and early-twentieth-century Impressionist painter. The village of
Giverny is in the southeast
of the Normandy region of France, and Monet moved to a house there in
1883 at the age of forty-three. By this time, he was already well
into developing his new Impressionist
style, a disparaging term coined by an art critic in 1874 after an
exhibition of his and other similar artists' work. Monet was
attempting to artistically document the French landscape using a
method of painting that conveyed his impressions and perceptions of
the scenery, rather than striving for realism. Much of his progress
in exploring this new style occurred at his home in Giverny.
Monet designed and created elaborate gardens on the land
surrounding his house. As he sold more paintings and his wealth
increased, he was also able to add a water lily pond, the one that
would figure so prominently in his later works. His house and the
gardens and pond are open to the public, so we spent the afternoon
exploring where he created his masterpieces and enjoying the idyllic
landscape. Unbeknownst to us when we planned our trip, mid-April is
an ideal time to visit as the gardens are dazzlingly in bloom. The
vibrant gardens showcased blossoming trees, leafy plants, vines
snaking across trellises, and row after row of fragrant flowers, with
particularly magnificent tulips of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The
water lily pond as well was encircled by bamboo trees, flowering
bushes, and a wide variety of other plants, though there were no
actual water lilies at this time of year. It exuded peace and
tranquility. It was not difficult to imagine Monet being constantly
inspired to paint his surroundings.
After visiting the house and gardens, we strolled down the main
street of Giverny, taking photos of the picturesque old homes, many
of which peek out through a dense layer of bright purple wisteria.
There are a couple of
cafés and galleries,
as well as the Museum of Impressionism, where we had lunch but didn't
have time to otherwise visit. At the
other end of the village is the twelfth-century church and the
cemetery where Monet and some of his family members are buried. And
that's about the extent of the town of Giverny. It's tiny and
beautiful and even with plenty of tourists it still feels like a
charming and refreshing getaway from the rush of Paris.
For any parents of young children among our readers who might
consider a trip to Giverny, it should be noted that it works fairly
well to bring a stroller/push chair/poussette, though it can't be
taken into Monet's house as there are many stairs, and there are also
stairs leading to the water lily pond, so it's good to have help
carrying it up and down. We alternated the stroller with our baby
carrier, and Maëlys seemed to appreciate the variety of views. Also,
there are nice baby changing facilities and toilets for children next
to the parking lot.
At the end of our meanderings around the village, we took a
fifteen-minute shuttle bus back to the neighboring town of Vernon,
where we caught the train back to Paris' Gare St. Lazare. The baby
enjoyed watching the countryside fly past on the 45-minute trip and
was nearly asleep by the time we got home that evening. For a small
village in the middle of nowhere, we found it surprisingly easy to
get to Giverny via public transportation. It's not a super cheap
trip, as a return train ticket from Paris is about
€25
per person and the shuttle costs
€5
each way. Plus entrance to Monet's gardens and house is
€9.50
per person. Still, a visit at the height of springtime is well worth
the money and effort; it provides a marvellous escape from city life
and allows you to feel the same tranquility and beauty that inspired
the paintings of Monet.
Spring is in full swing here and we are trying to make the most of
the two and a half months we have left in France. Although we're
eager for our Hawaiian adventure to begin, there is so much of France
left to see and experience. Having a baby made us put some trips and
activities on hold, but we're back in the game now. So yesterday we
took a trip with two of our good friends to the tiny village of
Giverny.
Giverny was the home of Claude Monet, the renowned late-nineteenth
and early-twentieth-century Impressionist painter. The village of
Giverny is in the southeast
of the Normandy region of France, and Monet moved to a house there in
1883 at the age of forty-three. By this time, he was already well
into developing his new Impressionist
style, a disparaging term coined by an art critic in 1874 after an
exhibition of his and other similar artists' work. Monet was
attempting to artistically document the French landscape using a
method of painting that conveyed his impressions and perceptions of
the scenery, rather than striving for realism. Much of his progress
in exploring this new style occurred at his home in Giverny.
Monet designed and created elaborate gardens on the land
surrounding his house. As he sold more paintings and his wealth
increased, he was also able to add a water lily pond, the one that
would figure so prominently in his later works. His house and the
gardens and pond are open to the public, so we spent the afternoon
exploring where he created his masterpieces and enjoying the idyllic
landscape. Unbeknownst to us when we planned our trip, mid-April is
an ideal time to visit as the gardens are dazzlingly in bloom. The
vibrant gardens showcased blossoming trees, leafy plants, vines
snaking across trellises, and row after row of fragrant flowers, with
particularly magnificent tulips of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The
water lily pond as well was encircled by bamboo trees, flowering
bushes, and a wide variety of other plants, though there were no
actual water lilies at this time of year. It exuded peace and
tranquility. It was not difficult to imagine Monet being constantly
inspired to paint his surroundings.
After visiting the house and gardens, we strolled down the main
street of Giverny, taking photos of the picturesque old homes, many
of which peek out through a dense layer of bright purple wisteria.
There are a couple of cafés and galleries,
as well as the Museum of Impressionism, where we had lunch but didn't
have time to otherwise visit. At the
other end of the village is the twelfth-century church and the
cemetery where Monet and some of his family members are buried. And
that's about the extent of the town of Giverny. It's tiny and
beautiful and even with plenty of tourists it still feels like a
charming and refreshing getaway from the rush of Paris.
For any parents of young children among our readers who might
consider a trip to Giverny, it should be noted that it works fairly
well to bring a stroller/push chair/poussette, though it can't be
taken into Monet's house as there are many stairs, and there are also
stairs leading to the water lily pond, so it's good to have help
carrying it up and down. We alternated the stroller with our baby
carrier, and Maëlys seemed to appreciate the variety of views. Also,
there are nice baby changing facilities and toilets for children next
to the parking lot.
At the end of our meanderings around the village, we took a
fifteen-minute shuttle bus back to the neighboring town of Vernon,
where we caught the train back to Paris' Gare St. Lazare. The baby
enjoyed watching the countryside fly past on the 45-minute trip and
was nearly asleep by the time we got home that evening. For a small
village in the middle of nowhere, we found it surprisingly easy to
get to Giverny via public transportation. It's not a super cheap
trip, as a return train ticket from Paris is about €25
per person and the shuttle costs €5
each way. Plus entrance to Monet's gardens and house is €9.50
per person. Still, a visit at the height of springtime is well worth
the money and effort; it provides a marvellous escape from city life
and allows you to feel the same tranquility and beauty that inspired
the paintings of Monet.
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