Paris to Monet's Garden

This is the lobby of our hotel in Caen as we were checking out to go to Paris. Tuesday, July 2. 
I really liked their "table" in the middle.

A different view of the lobby of our Caen, France hotel.

Waiting for the train after our 1/2 mile walk to the train station in Caen. It was a nice day. Getting close to the arrival of our train, the crowd is getting larger.

Once inside the train car this sign is at the end. We are leaving Caen, France heading to Paris for stop and then the train continued on to St. Lazare.

The view of our train car. We are in a tunnel as it is not night time. Alex's braided hair at the bottom of the photo.

Alex and Bryan reading on our train ride. 
Alex's ever present water in her roll up water bottle.

Grams is reading and I am looking out the window. Looking for a picture to take, of course.

Looking out as we pass through a city. A train sitting on one of the many tracks in this city. Overhead wires galore.

Buildings near the train station.

This is the map of the Metro in Paris. And we figured it out!

The pen is pointing at the location of our hotel. We took the Metro from a different Paris train station (there are several) to the Gare De L'Est station and then walked to our hotel with suitcases in tow. We were very thankful we had wheels on them.

Arrival at our Paris hotel. Bryan relaxing in our room. We arrived at one train station, took the subway to a different station, then walked and walked. We accidentally passed the first and closest turn to our hotel and 45 minutes later, here we are. And it was very hot AND humid AND we had been towing our suitcases FOREVER and over cobblestones!

Alex puts her feet up in the room she and Grams shared in Paris. It was larger than ours. Filled with natural light.

This hotel had a very small elevator, which we used. This was their stairway (scary) and we were on the fifth floor. My feet as I was looking down the spiral stairway. Grams and Alex and I had our toes done right before we left on our trip.

The smallest shower of our trip. When I washed my hair I hit both elbows on the walls.

I am standing in the door taking the picture toward the mirror. This sink was cute, in this small bathroom.

Grams checks out the small shower the next day.

This is Grams from over the top of the shower.

It's just the right size!

Alex leads the way as we scout near our hotel for dinner.

A bank we passed on our search for dinner. Flowers overhead are outside what appear to be apartment windows.

We thought this looked like a really neat place to eat. It was about 5:30 and too early for dinner, which was served after 7:30. The men sitting outside were sipping beverages.

We ended up at a grocery store with this collection for our "bedspread picnic."

Orange marmalade from Scotland is being used on Bryan's baguette in France. An international picnic for sure!

Every good picnic deserves a good beverage.  These small bottles of wine were pretty delicious.

The picnic is almost finished. It was a wonderful dinner and we have leftovers. Tomorrow night we will be spending on an overnight train to Italy so the fruit will come in handy.

The view looking out our hotel room window at the park across the street. During the day we could hear children giggling and running around. Sounds of fun. 

Our view down to the right from our 5th floor window. There were always people walking, night and day.

Our view to the left. TimHotel. More walkers.

Looking over the park at the artwork on this building directly across from our windows.

Looking into the park across the street.

Breakfast on Wednesday, July 3rd in Paris. Meat and cheeses to the far left, hard boiled eggs, cereals and crepes.

Individual yogurts, cut up fruit, honey and jams, water and fruit juices.

Light and airy crepes with a selection of cereal in the back.

Nutella on crepes. A new experience for me.

Rolled up French style, they are yummy.

Chilled fruit.

A wide variety of honey in individual portions.

We are in a tour van on our way to pick up another family at their hotel. Even Paris gets tagged.

Looking out the van window in Paris on our way to Giverny, France. We were going to see the garden and pond of Claude Monet, the Impressionist painter.

Many bicycles even on a rainy day. Notice the indented curb.

And of course a  McDonald's.

Driving by a beautiful statue.

Interesting billboards.

A chocolate shop.

People use the outside seating even when it is damp.

This side of this cafe only has inside seating.

The side with the awning has outside seating.

Delivery trucks and a business man on his bicycle.

Check out the menu on the corner. One of the many motorcycles in this city.

Colorful doors next to another McDonald's.

Many layers of humanity.

Right outside Grams' van window is a motorcycle driving between the cars and trucks. They zoomed right along, very, very close.

More motorcycles close by.

Beautiful old buildings. Notice the fountain in front of the arched doorway. Also a tiny black car in front of the truck.

A tall structure in the park.

Tree lined street. A cool clock on the street sign post. Cobble stone street and sidewalk to the right. Many, many bicycle racks awaiting bikes. We had been picked up at our hotel at 7:55 for our day long adventure.

A car charging station. I like that the streets are tree lined.

A plugged in little car.

These are large, old buildings. I think they are government buildings.

A showy gold statue in the middle of the street.  Archways and covered walkways, too.

Still on our drive leading out of Paris and we get our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. :)

More Paris sights.

A tiny car, a motorcycle squeezing between cars, tagging, and across the Seine River another glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

A roof top garden.

A large billboard right outside our van window.

Domino's Pizza with delivery motorcycles lined up in front.

A garden between streets, roof top garden in the background. Notice the size of the cars. I don't think we saw a pick up.

Streets of Paris. Flowers in the window boxes.

Modern buildings in Paris.

My view of this large toll booth we drove through. Thank goodness our guide/driver knew their system.

Looking back at the toll booth. So many lanes.

A round about coming up.

We pass a train heading to Paris. We traveled on the same tracks yesterday on our way to Paris.

A small town outside Paris on our way to Giverny and Monet's Garden. A melding of old and new.

A bridge over the Seine River with a construction area. A yacht type boat to the right on the Seine.

A soccer field next to the highway. Notice the walking path. There is a wooden marker, maybe to keep track of distance?

A pretty pasture with healthy looking cows. The city behind seems far away.

Street sign telling us we are on the way to Monet's Garden.

We are on his street.

The town of Giverny, France. I love the geraniums in the stone wall.

The Monet family church.

A rock walkway with poppies in the narrow planter bed right next to the church.

Our guide looks at the Monet family burial site. As it turned out it wasn't open this early in the morning. We would return later in the day. 

Many family members are in this outside area surrounded with plants.

His marker.

I noticed this Cecile Brunner headstone and thought of the rose with the same name. I wonder if there is a connection.

A sign at the base of a monument.

A stone walkway leading up to the monument.

Our guide/driver in the khaki pants leads our group toward Monet's garden. The stone walls are covered with greenery.

Skinny flowerbeds are loaded with plants.

Ivy covered stone walls.

The entrance to his "jardin." Claude Monet was an impressionist painter well known for his water lily pond paintings. His gardens were his inspiration.

We needed to walk between a building and a stone wall to get to his garden.

A map of his garden.

Many tourists are visiting the garden today.

There are many flower beds in his garden with gravel walkways between. We could walk on some of the paths, others were blocked off. Beautiful dark pink peonies.

An underground tunnel leading us under a street. Monet used this particular color green on many of his garden adornments. Bryan, Grams and Alex are leading the way. The lady with the umbrella must have been very used to carrying it today.

Monet was influenced by Asian gardens and really liked bamboo. He also diverted water from the nearby river to make his own stream going through his gardens. It was decorative and also allowed for irrigation. I found it soothing, too.

The stream with daylilies along the edges.

Grams, Bryan and Alex pause on our way through the bamboo forest. Even Monet's garbage cans were his favorite color.

Monet also built this bridge over his stream. Wisteria growing up and over the trellis on the bridge. Different colors of bamboo grow nearby.

Our first glimpse of Monet's water lily pond that inspired his paintings.

The man on the boat is "deadheading" the water lilies and removing sad looking leaves, not just flowers. There were many different sizes of leaves along the sides as well as colors.

Colorful water lilies.

The flowers along the stream banks add to the beauty.

Bryan, Alex and Grams peer over the greenery to the water lily pond.

The green bridge at the far end. Bright pink astilbe and blue balloon flowers in the foreground.

Another portion of the water lily pond flower bed. Lupine, phlox, and I think Sweet William for fragrance.

He also used many colors of foliage to add to the garden. Yellow iris like to have moist feet. They will thrive near a stream.

Another view, the purple ball-like flower at the bottom is in the allium family. So far all of these flowers would grow in our climate here in Salem, Oregon.

Tall delphinium to the left, tall white topped foxglove to the right. 

He planted his garden like a color wheel. This is heading toward the pink colors. Pink and white balloon flowers.

Many different trees and shrubs around the water lily pond. Here the man is still working with his extension apparatus to pick dead flowers and leaves off the water lilies on the pond. White astilbe in the foreground.

Climbing roses. Monet's favorite green on the benches and chains. Grams gets a photo of Bryan.

Water lily pads (which are their leaves) and flowers with many tourists on the path behind.

A large weeping willow tree near the green bridge. Grams in white on the bridge with Alex in her blue coat. A rose on the right.

White water lilies with a few pink ones to the right. White astible drapes over the water.

Pink water lilies.

Alex, Grams and Bryan under the weeping willow. Many different colors of green in Monet's garden. Spiky grasses, droopy ones too.

The sky is getting brighter and the wind more calm. The reflections are more clear, too. The green bridge is at the far end of the pond.

A little bit further along the path.

I love these reflections (can you tell?).

And another.

Pink astible reflected near pink water lilies.

Even more.

I think the dark maroon plants are smoke trees.

Pink water lilies up close. You might be able to see the stems of the leaves under water.

Reflections even show the people up on the path.

So pretty.

It is getting darker again. I feel a rain cloud coming our way.

A twisting maple tree. So very interesting.

Last look back at the water lily pond.

Beds with different colors. Monet's house in the background.

One of the paths we could walk down.  Notice the arching bamboo as edging for the path. Many tree roses with very thick trunks. They must be very old.

A beautiful salmon colored flower. I'm not sure what it is. I think I will find out!

Raindrops falling on this purple poppy has knocked its petals down.

A white poppy with purple at the bottom of the flower. The buds of poppies hang down and then stand up as the flower opens up. After the petals fall off, the seed pod is light green and round. As it dries and turns light brown, the top part under the little "crown" opens up and the seeds may shake out, fall to the ground and have a good chance of growing for next year.

Purple poppy.

The colors are shifting toward blues. A gardener's wheel barrow is full and awaits emptying.

A bright orange flower with yellows in the background. Another color shift.

Purple poppies near the camera and orange ones down low.

Lots of poppy pods. More of the garden in the background.

A major walkway with climbing roses. This one is cordoned off.

One of the many workers is reaching up and deadheading the climbing roses. They don't let the old flowers fall to the ground, they put them in their buckets to keep the grounds more neat. Peonies in the foreground.

Nasturtiums along the edge here aren't quite blooming, peonies behind them, allium, tree roses and climbing roses. Monet's house in background.

Another path we aren't allowed to walk down. Lime green Lady's Mantle billows over the path. Orange daylilies on the left, sunflowers on the right. Tall pink and white roses, too,

These tree roses appear to be very old. Bryan, Alex and Grams at the far end of the path. Stakes to help hold them in place.

A white columbine sprinkled with raindrops.

Getting closer to his house. It is painted pink with green trim. This bed is edged with gray spires of Lamb's Ear with little purple flowers.

A blue-purple bed.

An apple tree that is trained to remain short and to act like a fence. This is called an espalier.

Grams, with just her sleeve in the picture, must have cracked another joke with Bryan.

Monet kept chickens. When his garden was renovated they brought back the kinds of chickens he had. Alex is checking them out.

The white chickens have crazy "hair"!

Alex looking up close at the nicotiana flowers. They smell really good, too.

Alex taking a photo of the tall purple allium in the rain.

Such a beautiful rose.

The flower beds right by Monet's house.

Healthy climbing roses along the veranda.

His favorite colors.

Shutters of green along the green path. We went into and toured his house. No photos allowed inside. On the walls hung some of his original works. Wow. Made my jaw drop. I was not expecting to see original works. WOW!

We were allowed to take photos looking OUT one of the open windows. This was the view from inside Monet's house. I think I could sit here and drink coffee all day.

Bryan on the way out of Monet's house. A pretty green bench next to the pretty green stairway.

We went into the gift shop. This was up on the wall. A large photo of Claude Monet. I wonder if this bench was green.

The street side of his house. Flowers in the window box, too.

A little cafe from which we ordered lunch.

The view of the cafe from across the street. The line moved pretty fast. This is the carry out line.

Nothing like lunch in a parking lot in France. Grams is sitting on the concrete post in front of the cars. The wooden benches were all wet from the rain.

Crazy red thorns on this rose at the edge of the parking lot.

People walking their bikes. Also notice the size of the cars. All are small.

After lunch we were waiting for the rest of our group. The bench had been wet from the previous rain showers. The sun had come out so we used the colorful bandanna Bryan has drying on his knee to dry the bench. I had been sitting on my purple coat.

Now they are ready for the photo. A happy looking tourist group sitting in the bright sun in the town were Claude Monet, the impressionist painter, lived and tended his garden and chickens. Unbelievable that we are actually here. Some times I just want to pinch myself to make sure.

A sun drenched rose in the parking lot flower bed.

After the our group all appeared at the van, we went back to visit Monet's church. 

Inside Monet's church. Beautiful stained glass windows.
After we looked at this pretty church she drove us to Versailles for the afternoon. (Doesn't that sound Parisian?)