Oscar Claude Monet

I'm not a huge art connoisseur, but I know what I like, and for what ever reason, I love Claude Monet's impressionist paintings.

His father wanted him to go into the family grocery store business, can you believe? But Claude wanted to be a painter and for the sake of all the Monet lovers out there, thank goodness he followed his dream.

About 50 miles out of Paris is the quaint little village of Giverny, where Claude and his family (his two children from his first wife (who died), his second wife, along with her six children from a previous marriage) lived.  He needed a large house and garden for them all to fit.  

Claude lived in this same house for the last 40 years of his life and during that time he built a beautiful garden.  

After his death, the house and grounds were left in the care of his second son, Michel, who didn't live there, and the house and garden subsequently deteriorated into nothing.  When Michel died, he left the property to the French Academy of Fine Arts, who restored both the house and the gardens to their former glory.

The gardens are quite magical to wander around when there is nobody around. However, when you are there squeezed in with six thousand other tourists, it is less magical and more "I'm going to push you into the water lilly pond if you don't get out of my way". 

It was a long weekend in France due to the Rethinking of the Dead Procession on Thursday and people taking the Friday off as well as it being a gorgeous blue sky day, there were people everywhere.  The cobblestone, zig zaggy, lane way streets are only one car wide and there were people and dogs and bikes to navigate around.

The last time I came to Giverny was with my travelling companion, Madeline and WE DROVE from Paris.  

(Map reading in French is almost like George Dubya reading a children's book!)
⬇

Having just  travelled there as a non driving, non navigating passenger, I look back and I don't know how Madds and I did it.  

Today our guide took us through what seemed like a maze of little sharp turning lane ways and the whole time I thought I don't know how we did that.  

Granted, we almost killed each other, which could have possibly ruined our friendship.

Once our guide got there, I was very back-datedly proud of what Madds and I achieved back then.  We were too cross with each other to see it or feel it back then, but driving in France when your French isn't flash on the wrong side of the road into a country village with no signs is no mean feat!  We can look back and laugh about it now...... but at the time - sheesh!

I can't quite recall the time of year I was here last time, but there was nobody there.  We parked with ease, walked straight up to the gate and walked right in and leisurely wandered the gardens.  

This time was very different!

We arrived, there was no parking, we had to weave our way past the 100s of people in a line waiting to get in.  We went down a narrow little lane way to the group entrance that also had 100s of people waiting.... and not in an orderly line on one side of the 2 person wide lane way, they were spread across it!

So lots of excuse me's and pardon me's to get to our door. Once in, there is an even narrower path that winds around the garden.  Rather than following the "This Way ➡️" signs, people were trying to walk both ways, while stopping to take photos and gaze which meant that everyone behind them - 100s of people! had to stand waiting for them to finish with their gazing and more on.  Most of the people were completely unaware that there were other people around them.  It amazes me!

Nevertheless, it was lovely.