Giverny

We spent yesterday in a town about 40 km away from Paris called Giverny. Abby, Flavia, and Jamie went with us (actually, Flavia organized the trip, so we owe her a big thanks for the wonderful day!).



We took the train to the nearest town, Vernon, and there rented bicycles to get to Giverny, which is a pleasant 5 km ride away.



We first visited Monet’s house and the gardens. Monet lived in Giverny for over 40 years and his gardens there were a source of inspiration for his paintings.

See if you recognize this one:



Fancying myself a bit of a cross between Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keefe, I took a lot of pictures of the flowers in Monet’s gardens. Here are a few of them:











After touring Monet’s house, we decided to bike around the town and along the river.



Because it was raining around the time that we got hungry, we had our picnic underneath an ancient bridge on the banks of the Seine. One of the local specialties is cider, and Diego seemed to think it was quite tasty:



It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Paris and have a country get-away. As you can see, even the locals are friendlier once you leave the big city.