Monet's garden, Giverny

Saturday

Finally made it back to Giverny, where Claude Monet lived from 1883 until his death in 1926. We had visited it a couple of times when we had last lived over here, taking my parents with us once - my Dad was a very keen gardener and Mum thoroughly enjoyed the results of his labor, so they both loved it, as did we. This time we had our daughter Jen and husband Jason with us. The thing that puts us off going there more often is that it's the far sIde of Paris, but with the exception of one stretch with a tailback of traffic, the journey wasn't too bad, but it certainly was a treat when you finally left the busy congested roads behind, and found yourself driving through the beautiful quiet countryside. The gardens are amazing - a riot of color- and the weather was beautiful, so everything looked so vibrant. Of course it was crowded, but actually not as bad as I'd feared. We had got our tickets online, so we just walked straight in without waiting. We toured the garden near the house, then the house itself, then ended up with the gorgeous water garden and the iconic water lilies. We then got a bit of lunch in the village, before going to the Musée des impressionismes which had a special exhibition on Degas, and also has lovely gardens. We strolled through the village some more, had an ice cream, visited Monet's grave in the churchyard, then headed back home. A great day out - quite a lot of driving - thanks Roger - but well worth it! I wish I could add extra photos, but I can't get the extra photos to work on my iPad - has anyone else had problems, or got any suggestions?!