PARIS: 2007, 2015
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The Gardens of Giverny in October
The gardens and Monet's home in Giverny are open from April 1 through October 31st. Since we had missed Giverny on our November trip in 2007, I wanted to be sure and see it this time around. Lived up to all my expectations.
Fall color!
Monet actually diverted part of the local river Epte to create the water garden (the Jardin d'eau). We entered, not through the main gate in front but through a side entrance via a path which led us around the perimeter of the water garden.
Monet loved the reflections of the weeping willows, birds of paradise, liquidambers and Japanese maples in the water - so did I!
Monet drew his inspiration for the water garden from Japanese gardens and from the over 200 Japanese prints of Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai that he collected. The footbridge was installed to mimic the bridges seen in the artwork of the Japanese masters. Monet had it painted green to distinguish it from the typical red bridges in the Japanese style.
I knew I was visiting too late in the season for the water lilies, which usually are blooming from early June to early August, but I was really thrilled to see the beautiful fall colors of the trees.
Ah - the irony! I'm sure these fellows just wanted to assure that visitors could see the gardens unobstructed, but this painter had set up his easel and didn't want to move. When we started gathering around and saying things like - "Oh, that's too bad. He just wants to paint." They let him stay. But look at the attitude in the next picture - ha! Love the French!
Of course, the water garden must be cleaned & this is the guy who does that! From here on, I seemed to have the timing down, as I also arrived just in time for the cleaning crew at Stonehenge & at the Guggenheim Bilbao.
The Japanese style bridge separates the two main parts of the gardens at Giverny - the water garden and the Clos Normand.
The hollyhocks and poppies were not in season in October, but the dahlias were plentiful. Even in fall, the plantings provided a sense of the garden's beauty - year round.
A row of arches defines the central alley of the Clos Normand, with flowers grouped by color, rather than rarity or species. In the fall, nasturtiums are allowed to carpet the garden floor. (I "allow" them to carpet my landscape in Cambria too!)
I can't imagine a more perfect time to see Monet's gardens than when I was there - spring might be more "awesome" and the water lilies of course - but the oranges, pinks, yellows and burgundies against the drizzly gray fall sky were perfect for my sensibilities.
The most repeated phrase on my websites is, "If wish I'd had more time here...". We toured Giverny in the morning and were given until lunch at noon to explore the gardens and town on our own.
Ignorant person that I am, I didn't even know there was a house at Giverny - but there is! But our time was limited, so I didn't spend much time in the house. If the Japanese prints were on view there, I didn't see them.
I did see Monet's studio and the kitchen!
There was so very little time to savor the surroundings but I'm glad I got to see this fall display on the house.
Winding village streets, charming buildings, signs and gates, apple orchards - I wish I'd had more time here!
Another sight I'd like to see is the church and adjoining cemetery where Monet is buried. What I'd like to do is go back and spend two full days there - experiencing the gardens in the early morning light and again near twilight - sounds good!
We left Giverny, on our way to Rouen and, ultimately, our three-night stay in Bayeux. I had seen Monet's studies of Rouen cathedral and was anxious to see it in person. I did not realize that Rouen is where Joan of Arc was tried and executed.
We passed more half-timbered houses en route to Rouen Cathedral - one was dated 1664! Pretty solid construction!!
The Road Scholar guide, Thomas, led us here. It looked like just a pretty little courtyard in the city, until he told us to look closer.
After a short bus ride from Giverny to Rouen, we headed up the Rue Sainte-Romain, past half-timbered houses toward what we thought (we were wrong) was Rouen Cathedral.
This is Eglise Saint-Maclou. Begun in 1436 and completed in 1521, it's an example of "flamboyant" Gothic architecture.
We figured out that this place had something to do with death - macabre headless figures of well-dressed men and women; gargoyle-type figures, skull and crossbones carvings. Turns out this courtyard had once been a cemetery for plague victims in the 14th century. Aître Sainte-Maclou is one of the top ten sights in Rouen.
ROUEN
ROUEN CATHEDRAL
Statue of Joan of Arc in flames.
This brass relief of Mont St. Michel and the pilgrim's scallop shell designate Rouen Cathedral as being a pilgrimage site.
Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc - finished in 1979, and built on the site of the old market, where Jeanne d'Arc was executed at the stake.
In every journey, there is the element of pilgrimage. I have found most often the sacred experience occurs unexpectedly - as it did in Rouen, outside the church of Joan of Arc.
Thomas, our Road Scholar guide, always gave us options - we could tour the inside of the church, go back to the cathedral, wander the streets near the Big Clock Tower, or listen to an account of the sentencing and execution of Joan of Arc in the very square where it happened. So, sitting on cold park benches, watching tourists take snaps of the bougainvillea-covered statue, we listened. It was heartbreaking - a tale told by in first person by an "eyewitness". When he'd finished, Thomas, our British-born guide asked us Americans if we had knew who had written the account? No one did. Imagine our surprise when he told us the writer was none other than Mark Twain. Twain called the work, "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" and he thought it was his best, the work that he was most proud of. He claimed to have found a manuscript detailing the life of the Maid of Orleans as an adolescent and thus the seed for this work was planted.
Rouen, yet another city that I would love to spend more time in.
I saw this pretty little pink sweater in a shop window in Rouen and thought how perfectly French - the perfect sweater for Leslie Caron.