Monet's Giverny

We took the train out of Paris towards Giverny, and it ended up being such a gorgeous day!

I love the spent poppy heads - they look like aliens.  Or zoombinis.

You'll notice that few pictures have people in them, which may be giving you the impression that we were practically alone wandering through Giverny...not so.  The place was mobbed with tour groups.  But I find I liked the pictures best when they're the way I want to remember them--a slice of life that I think of Monet seeing himself and painting.  That was one of the big surprises about this trip.  I'm not naive in thinking that these famous sights would be empty and alone for me to enjoy.  I knew that tourists would be there.  But it still was hard to feel rushed and crowded in a place that, when visited in my imagination, was always peaceful.  Really, this picture taken from his bedroom window was full of tourists, but I cropped them out. 

If you want to visit, my biggest regret with Monet's Garden is that we weren't able to spend more time there.  Ideally, you would take the early train from Paris and spend the morning wandering around the garden, have an extended picnic in the quiet part of the garden, head back to Vernon around 3, go to Rouen and see the cathedral there in the late afternoon, have dinner at a lovely little cafe, and head back to Paris in the evening.  But, Sara had a prior commitment at 5pm, and of course, we both thought that would give us plenty of time.  But, when we found out that our train choices were 12:45 pm or 3:30 pm, the latter would get us back to Paris too late, meaning we had to take the early train, meaning we had to take the early bus back to Vernon at 11:50...which left us a scant 2 hours and 15 minutes in the garden.  The other option would be to stay overnight in Vernon or right around Giverny, there are some very cute bed and breakfasts in that area.