E-Mails from Europe

July 8, Giverny

Monet's Water Lily Garden

Hi, Everyone,

I didn't really write an e-mail from Giverny but it was such a beautiful place it deserves it's own page. It was at Giverny that Claude Monet spent his last 30 years until his death in 1926. He designed his house and gardens. A big commission was for large painting of water lilies which now are at the L'Orangerie in Paris. A foundation has been restoring the gardens since the early 1980s.

Without a car, one takes a train to Vernon, about an hour, and a bus or taxi to Giverny, about 4 miles. I had planned to rent a bike but it was raining and I was tired. As I took a taxi over to the Gardens, it looked like biking would have been difficult anyway, with the traffic.

I got in the garden around 10 am and went straight to the water lilly garden with the Japanese Bridge. I sat there for about an hour, looking around, drawing a drawing and taking pictures.

Around 11:30 am, it started to rain, so I looked at the other gardens and toured the house. Each room in the house was painted a bight color. The dining room was yellow and the kitchen was blue. Every room was hung with Japanese prints, which Monet loved. After that I went shopping at the gift shop.

Monet's House

Monet's garden as taken from an upstairs window. The Water Lily garden is beyond the trees, by the river.

It was still raining but a recommended stop nearby it the Musee American which is a private collection of American Impressionists. I had lunch there, a salad with medallions of warm goat cheese! The collection was excellent and I enjoyed looking at the exhibits.

I had left my hotel at 7:15 am and returned at 7:30 pm, tired but inspired by the beauty of the gardens.

Until next time,

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Roz Dudden and Jim Mills
From our hotmail.com e-mail address while traveling abroad!
Accessed irregularly from mountain tops and cafes
in England, France and Switzerland.
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