FRANCE 2013 - PARIS - IT'S TULIP TIME IN MONET'S GARDEN

An early rise and we headed for Saint Lazare station to catch the early train to Vernon to visit Monet's Garden in Giveny. This involved two Metro lines from where we were staying, then you surface out of the underground and walk to the SNCF Station  just outside the entrance at St Lazare to catch the train to Vernon on the Rouen line. ( "Allez, retour a Vernon s'il vous plait ") 

Not as difficult as it sounds and we soon had our tickets purchased only to find we had an hour and a half to fill in before the next train left. Should have checked a timetable on the Internet before we set out !

Eventually the station number for the Rouen train lit the board and we were soon on our way. Forty minutes later we were in Vernon boarding the shuttle bus which connected with the train and was waiting just outside the station. We were on our way to Giveny.

Now this was an experience on how to make something easy difficult. The bus driver stood at the entrance collecting fares and had all the money spread out on the drivers seat, coins and notes. The tickets came out of an automated machine that seemed to take forever making funny churning noises. When the ticket came out all it had on it was the date ! Before too long the bus was full so all the notes were gathered and neatly put in the drivers pocket. The coins were then scooped into a wooden box and at last we were on our way.

 
The crowds here can be very big but after a short walk we were pleased to see the queue was very short. After paying we stepped out into a beautiful garden with blossom trees and garden beds full of different coloured tulips all in full flower.

 

Overlooked by Monet's house the gardens were divided by paths so you could walk through the beds of tulips.



Absolutely spectacular !!

 However as good as this was we were particularly keen to see the lake where Monet painted his famous Water Lilies. A short walk under the road and we were there.  It was all there - the Green bridge wrapped with wisteria, the punt, water lilies and willows. The wisteria was unfortunately not quite flowering but that did not take away from this breathtaking place.

Of course we did the tourist thing and took eachother's photo standing on the bridge.

We sat down for half an hour and imagined Monet painting this scene.



Before leaving we toured the house which was lovely, but the garden was the highlight for us.
We were glad we made the effort as some say it is a little expensive but we thought it was  well worth the 100 euros it cost to get here and enter.