Day Two
My friends had planned a day out of Paris today to see the house and gardens of Monet. It would take around 90 minutes to get there by metro and overground train. Once off the train there is a shuttle bus that takes you directly to the house and gardens. As there was a queue to enter we decided on lunch first. There were many places to choose and all looked so quaint. We settled on one by the entrance and I had the largest omelette, cannot imagine how many eggs were used.
‘My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. I can only draw what I see. Everything I have earned has gone into these gardens. It took me time to understand my waterlilies.“
Monet’s House
Claude Monet lived in his house in Giverny for forty-three years, from 1883 to 1926. You can see and feel his passion for gardening as you walk through the beautifully planned gardens and especially the water gardens.
The windows of the house all look out onto the garden and I could imagine sitting there with a summer breeze gazing out onto this spectacular array of colour.
Looking Out
Looking In
Exquisitely decorated rooms, my favourite was the kitchen with the blue tiled fireplace.
After we had wandered through the house we ventured out into the gardens and down to the water gardens.
“I am following Nature without being able to grasp her… I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.“
I must have flowers. Always and always. Water Lilies’ is an extension of my life. Without the water the lilies cannot live, as I am without art.
“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration”
Finishing up in the gardens we had a wander through the village just outside the grounds. We saw some beautiful ivy clad houses, including the mayor’s. There were many art galleries as you would expect displaying all of Monet’s works.
The famous Hotel Baudy, once a humble grocers and cafe owned by Angelina and Gaston Baudy. In 1886 Willard Metcalfe, a young American painter living in Paris, came looking for accommodation but was turned away by Mrs. Baudy as she only had the one bed. Many months later he returned with a group of artists and Mr. and Mrs. Baudy gave up their house and stayed with a neighbour. Realising they had a new potential business on their hands they turned their house into a hotel. Over the years this hotel housed many famous painters such as Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
We had an incredible day here and I’m so glad my friend made the suggestion. It wasn’t something that was on my agenda and was a wonderful surprise.
