Yes, I know I’m behind with the blog, but it’s been busy and I cannot combine the last 2 days (plus today) in one.  Giverney has to have its own posting.

Ooh, la, la, what a day!  Planning to go was a bit off the cuff, discussed over tea with Denis on Tuesday night.  “It’ll be fine, the SNCF is the train system that’ll take you straight there and back.  Easily a half day.”

Thankfully, it worked.  The only thing I worried about was the timing, every 2 hours a direct train departs and honestly, I haven’t been getting up all that early.  Hey, I’m on vacation.

I missed the 10:20 train by about 15 minutes.  Bummer, but with just me, myself and I, I thought, No biggie.  The next direct train was at 12:20 and I was in the famous Gare Saint Lazare with plenty of seating, an enclosed mall with a variety of shops, and plenty of food vendors.  So I bought lunch to eat on the train – a chicken wrap, cookie, bottle of water – and a compact French word search book to keep me busy while I watched the people around me and waited.  The French really have their act together with transportation, oh, my gosh.  It’s so awesome, simple, fast, clean, and modern. Lovely travelers coming and going to places en France in sublime order and gentility.

The noon train rolled me out of Paris towards Normandy and the villages of Vernon and Giverny.  Once I arrived at Vernon and disembarked, I bought a ticket for a little trolley which took us on a leisurely cruise through historic Vernon which was once a walled fortress from the 14th century.  So sweet, the main village has eateries, lodging, modern boutiques, patisseries and boulangeries, and the first postal office in France which continues operations in its original location.  I nearly expect a hobbit to walk by, that’s how out-of-time this village is.

On to Giverny, barely going 30 m.p.h.  The Seine flows through the area and I saw beautiful verdant hills and pastures, French cows, and a small farm with ostriches, emus, and alpacas.  When the passengers offloaded in the public lot outside the village walls of Giverny, I started my walk into the center of the 1-lane village.  Lush with blooms and trees and cobbled streets, I arrived at the back of Claude Monet’s home, bought my ticket and entered the garden.  It was totally awesome, even in October.  I strolled the outer path of the main garden which the house overlooks and headed towards the  “nympheas” or the water lily pond that sits farther from the garden. Once there, I snapped as many photos as I could.  The green Japanese bridges, 1 or 2 water lily blooms, lots of flowers along the paths, and a few (or more) pilgrims like myself enjoying being in Monet’s beloved gardens.

Going back to the main garden, I visited the different planted sections bursting with dahlias, roses, bleeding hearts, poppies and miniature fuschias.  I enjoyed nature’s show before entering Monet’s farmhouse, the spiritual home of impressionism.  Since the 1980’s I’ve loved impressionism and here at Giverny, Monet created some of his best and most famous works featuring his lovely gardens.  I was so lucky finally to say that I saw it for myself.

The chill was growing and I was a little worried about missing the trolley to get back to a decently timed train that would return me to Gare Saint Lazare.  It all worked out.  I bought a delicious caffe latte at the station (that’s what the vendor called it!) and cozied up for the 10 minute wait.  The train came in and within 40 minutes, I was in Paris and on to the Metro 1 to Saint-Mande.  A most special day spent, a highlight of my trip.