Skip to main content

June 27

Walking in the footsteps of Impressionists

Although the day started drizzly, there was a promise of sun by 11, so we decided to forge ahead with our plans for our first day trip.  We managed the metro to Gare Lazare (easy), the second busiest train station in Europe per Wikipedia with 100,000,000 passengers a year and no, I did not type too many zeros. That is 400,000 people a day!! We had a bit of help buying the tickets as Steve ended up in line behind a very nice Australian guy who as it turned out, was staying TWO doors down from us at #4 rue du Roi de Sicile.

We quickly figured out as we were walking to our train that all 400,000 people using the train station each day are commuting in from the suburbs to the city at exactly the same time we are trying to head out. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like and felt to be swimming against this tide of humanity. I thought we would be swallowed up about a hundred times but we may now be ready to tackle India. 

Well I have not mentioned our destination-Giverny, where Claude Monet lived and painted -forty five quick minutes on the train and you arrive at Vernon. There are four ways you can get to Giverny.  You  can line up for the bus, 8 Euro round trip and the fastest way. You can hail a taxi, cost unknown and probably just as fast.  You can rent a bike from the cafe across from the station, 14 Euro and zip along the bike route.  Or finally, you can be true to your slow travel philosophy and walk, free and about five kilometers or 3.2 miles, but knowing you will opt for the bus back.  Our walk there brought a wrong turn and plea to a lovely young woman who spoke no English but led us back to the path, sunshine and some exercise (like we haven't been doing enough walking).  
We wound past incredible Normandy fences and gardens and homes. We arrived in this spit of a village so different than the hill towns of Provence.  The architecture was more Norman and Tudor with old beams and low stone walls.
We passed the village church and walked round back to Monet's grave where he is buried with his entire family and along with his tombstone is a riot of flowers.
We passed charming cafes, found Les Nymphes for a very lackluster lunch and a very vin ordinaire pitcher of red but set outdoors among a garden. And by the way, bad wine stills gives you a good afternoon buzz.

We choose to visit the gardens and house first (as opposed to the museum which as it turned out was nothing special and our rec would be to skip it)  while the sun was shining since we have well learned the fickleness of French weather.  Not since I walked the halls through Hampton Court, Henry the VIIIs English home, have I been someplace that so exuded history. You could feel and see Claude and his friends hanging out at HIS charming home, painting in the glorious studio where you could look out HIS window and see exactly what HE saw and painted and walking through the HIS gardens to HIS water lilies but YOU were now standing there, seeing and feeling the same things.

It was wonderful, too special for words.  It was beautiful, whether you are a fan of Impressionists or not.  So perhaps a pictorial will do for you for now or until you get there.






Oh and BTW, we walked all the way back to Vernon too. Chalk up about 12 kilometers today. Steve really is in training for doing the Way of St. James (Santiago del Compostela) next year, a solid month of walking. It would be much more fun with friends.......anyone ready to sign up?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

June 24

From Vivaldi  to  Vincent (Van Gogh) THE VIVALDI PART Rewind  a bit back to Saturday, June 22nd. We had dinner at home and then   at 8:00  took a walk down the Seine to Saint Chapelle. Last time we were there in 2000, it was Christmas week and we froze waiting in line for two hours to see the chapel. This time, we simply stood in line to buy tickets to be treated to a six piece string classical concert in this magnificent setting.  The concert was Vivaldi...not just Vivaldi but theFour Seasons.....not just the Four Seasons but played spectacularly....not just played well but in a stirring setting.  The last time the music and its venue engendered  such magic was in 1977 seeing the Vienna Boys Choir sing in the 12th century Cathedral in Durham, England. The lead violin played with the speed and finesse of the finest rendition of the Flight of the Bumblebee. The light was still subtle through the stained glass though the chapel was dark.  The e...

#8 - Two whirlwind days ( and the WTF Answer )

We've literally got about 30 hours to see as much of Sydney as we can before we meet up with our friends on Wednesday at 6PM. And we vow to make the most of it. I've got a list of about six musts that I let Steve vet and although he doesn't tick anything off, I know he's thinking that I am making a killer schedule.  We start off the day with a coffee and the first Opera House tour at 9AM. The structure is surely impressive, the tour not as much, but since there is no Opera or symphony while we are right at the Rocks, the tour is the best we can do to peek inside. The architect was Danish, and the design shows it - from the two-woods paneled concert hall that the Kimmel Center is surely a total knock-off of, to the incredibly comfortable sleek seating that has stood the test of time, like all Danish design.                                             ...

#105 - Aix, Paris’s 21sr Arrondisement

After a good night sleep we awoke to another sunny, blue sky day, which here also means almost no humidity and no frizzy hair (this might qualify for reason #4 to live here). So far we have stayed at hotels where breakfast is not included, which we actually prefer. It leaves more room for lunch and vin.  In Valbonne we had an electric kettle and some Nescafe, still wildly popular in Europe, which could hold me over for an hour or so until we had a proper cafe stop. But here in Aix, a kettle, mugs and nothing else. So we were up and out a bit quicker this morning for our cafes and a shared pan chocolate (a rectangular croissant-like pastry filled with chocolate, but you knew that).      We headed to the main tourist drag, Cours Mirabeau, to La Rotunda fountain, and to the TI to get the requisite walking maps and info. It was still too early for the upscale shops or musee so we did a bit of shopping to find the right adapter to charge our devices, an...