Last night we booked a train to Giverny to explore Claude Monet’s old stomping grounds. We had waited to purchase, unsure if we might pick up some tickets for other Olympic events instead, but we didn’t stumble upon any for today that caught our fancy in a reasonable price range. Because we waited to book our reservation for the Monet House and Gardens, we were somewhat hamstrung on reservation times, with the available times either requiring us to get up very early to catch the train there or sleep in but have fewer train options on the way back to Paris. We chose the “sleep in” option, which meant that we ended up spending most of the day in Giverny so we wouldn’t have to rush through the gardens.

Despite leaving plenty early to catch the metro to then catch the train, we ended up cutting it closer on time than we anticipated. A quick errand in a station shop took longer than expected. The app where you purchase Metro tickets claimed we each still had a ticket to use, but the scanner to get to the platforms said otherwise, so we had to stop and buy tickets. The metro took longer than expected because we stalled at one stop for several minutes (announcement was in French, so we’re still not sure why). The train tickets wouldn’t scan to get onto the train platform. Nevertheless, we made it just in time and an uneventful train ride allowed us to recover from our train station speed walking.

The train arrived in nearby Vernon and we caught a shuttle the rest of the way into Giverny. Our 12:30 reservations meant that there wouldn’t be enough time for a real sit down lunch before, as French restaurants do not open their kitchens until noon on the dot. Luckily, there was a takeaway stand selling sandwiches and cider and we grabbed a quick bite before going into Monet’s gardens.

The gardens were absolutely stunning and divided in two parts. One, a Japanese style water garden with footbridges and the famed water lilies that inspired so many of his later paintings, and the other a walled garden with rows of beautiful blooms all mixed together cottage-garden-style. The walled garden was so fragrant, with butterflies and fat, fuzzy bees circling from bloom to bloom. There were even chickens, which made Becky feel a little homesick for her own chickens.

After the gardens, we toured Monet’s house and took in the series of airy, brightly covered rooms overlooking the gardens outside. There were quite a few impressionist paintings on display, but perhaps more interesting was his collection of Japanese prints, filling the walls of many of the rooms in his house. In fact, after we finished touring the house, we stopped at Musée Impressioniste and enjoyed an exhibition by a Japanese artist, Hiramatsu Reiji, who was inspired by Monet’s work and the gardens at Giverny and painted a series of works that blend traditional Japanese nihonga techniques with an impressionist twist. Given Monet’s love of Japanese prints, we can only imagine how flattered Monet might have been to learn how his work inspired this artist.

We made a quick journey to the church where Monet is buried and paid our respects before making our way back to the bus stop to head back to Vernon and catch our train to Paris.

We had planned to go to a fan zone near our hotel for the opening ceremony, but the weather had other plans. The cold front that made the day feel so comfortable for exploring gardens brought some rain with it. Neither of us quite felt up to standing in the rain for hours, so we grabbed dinner at a restaurant near the train station serving traditional Parisian cuisine with a 1950’s theme and headed back to the hotel to watch the opening ceremony on TV.

Today’s Highlights

• Catching our train to Giverny, despite a comedy of errors
• Another taste of Normandy cider
• Beautiful, fragrant gardens
• An informative audio guide to help us appreciate nihonga impressionist art (a first for us)
• Escargot, duck confit, and steak au poivre
• Not getting pick-pocketed

Tomorrow’s Proposed Adventures

• Touring Museé d’Orsay
• Wandering around the 7th arrondisement
• A glimpse of the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic rings, perhaps
• A trip to Musée L’Orangerie, perhaps
• Catching our evening train to Lille
• Hopefully not getting pick-pocketed