Monet's Garden

WARNING:  IF YOU HAVE ANY ALLERGIES TO DIGITAL VEGETATION OR HAPPINESS, THIS POST IS NOT FOR YOU.  

Today was our second to last day in Paris, thus our days of European adventure are coming to a close.  (WAH!) It is beyond me how each day here has been better than the one before, but indeed that has surely been the case.

After all the sights and side trips we've packed into these past eight days, visiting Claude Monet's garden was the last thing to check off our list.  Monet's old home and famous garden are located in a small town called Giverny, which is about a 45 minute train ride from Paris.  We got an early start hoping to beat the crowds, but somehow our train ran out of seating and I had to sit in the luggage rack all the way to Vernon.  In Vernon we rented bikes from a café across from the train station and peddled the rest of the way where, once we arrived, we fell head over heels for the quaint little town of Giverny.

Monet's garden was quite a sight to behold.  I was most excited about seeing the Japonese bridge over the famous lily pond, and see it I did.  

Poppies are my favorite.  Just an FYI.

**gasp!**

I saw the exact bridge that the father of French Impressionism painted over and over and over again throughout his lifetime.  So cool.  

And as if I hadn't seen enough poppies to make me happy for a lifetime, we discovered a WHOLE FIELD of them down the street!

I have found my happy place.  

We got a tip from a local artist that another cool garden existed behind this old hotel where Whistler and Mary Casette apparently used to hang out with Claude.  As if I wasn't already sold!

The garden had this secretive entrance behind a seemingly locked fence and through this garage.  We were the only people in the whole place, and it was so incredibly quiet and peaceful.  

(This cat looking all cute and innocent before pretending it wanted to be pet and attacking my hand.)

Poppies, poppies to my heart's content.  

The same guy who told us about the secret garden recommended this place to eat lunch as well.  It was called La Guinguette.  It was off the beaten path of the tourist crowd.  We sat at a table overlooking the stream that ran along the side of the restaurant, and the waiter gave me bread to throw to a family of ducks that had gathered next to us.  And there was the sweetest Saint Bernard who dragged himself from his doghouse to our table to say hello.  

We were in the restaurant for a good couple of hours, and started to wonder why no one else had discovered this magnificent place.  Only when we left did we realize it had closed shortly after we arrived, (not to be re-opened until dinner time), yet they had let us sit at our table without saying a word to us!  What kind gents.  

We then returned to the poppy field for more glamour shots...

...and then said goodbye to Giverny, hopped on our rental bikes, and went on our way back to the train station.  

(Of course making frequent stops to capture the scenery.  What this woman wouldn't do for a good photo...)

(I liked this color.)

It was the most magnificant second-to-last day in France this girl could ever dream of.  It is days like this that I will treasure always.  

Bonne nuit, Paris!