Art, beauty and everything in between

Our first Monday in Paris was going to be special. At the top of my must see list was Giverny, where Monet lived and painted for some of his life. It is where he painted his beautiful water lillies and we would get to see this very inspiration.

So Giverny is out of Paris and took some getting to. An early start catching our regular train, then changing lines for the Metro before arriving at a central station to take a country train to the town of Vernon which is just outside of Giverny!

All of this worked like clockwork, and we caught a shuttle bus to Giverny from the Vernon train station. Vernon was a lovely little town, and we rode through the countryside to Giverny, you could see why he lived there. It was so tranquil, sweet and stunningly beautiful.

We arrived in a large carpark area and then walked about 10min through a lovely wetland area until we arrived at the little village at Giverny. Monet and art is it's business, this was for sure. The main street is named after Monet and other lanes and streets after some of his family. We would explore this more later.

We arrived at the house and gardens via the gift shop, which was set up in his studio. Straight into the gardens, wow!! First off, we are well into Autumn, so it was getting chilly and there was a fog that didn't lift until we had left, but this added a magical atmosphere. So the flowers in the garden were scarce, but it still took your breathe away. They are not expansive, but large enough and looked after immaculately.

From there we followed a path under the streets behind the house and garden and this took us to the pond and surrounds. It is exactly as you imagine, I was beside myself with joy and emotion. On a spring day, I would have stayed there forever, it was a bit cool and we didn't have forever, but we soaked it all up in amazement and wonder. Yep, this was truly an inspirational place...I will be back one day.

The house was a modest 2 storey, and also in excellent condition. We entered it through a couple of sitting rooms and down into the main room. This was the room Monet placed his paintings when they were almost finished, so he could contemplate them and see if they needed any additional touches or if they were finished. The walls were full of his art, there was antique furniture, writing desk, so much to look at. Again I was in awe and incredibly overwhelmed, so much beauty. From there we went upstairs to the bedrooms, which had stunning views overlooking the gardens.

You were not allowed to take photos, but they all resonate in my mind, each room was painted a specific colour, a slightly darker shade of his glorious pastel palate, lovely pinks, yellows, blues and greens. Back down some stairs we went into a huge kitchen, you could tell some great food had been cooked here, it was a kitchen for entertaining, with a very provincial feel to it.

They were cute touches throughout; photos, lots of Japanese art which he admired, little trinkets and so forth. Next stop shopping, I was a bit disappointed with the merchandise, I reckon I could think up better things to buy!

We had also purchased tickets to the local Impressionist Art Gallery, so we wandered up the 'main' street taking in the beauty, having a look at the little shops and art galleries/shops of local artists. The fog was starting to lift a little and even the sun was peaking through. The Gallery had a lovely garden, and whilst small had a great collection of Impressionism, Monet's of course, some Cezanne, Renoir, Pissaro amongst others. We finished up with another walk around before heading back to shuttle bus area, and our various trains back to Paris.

We got back to Paris for a very late lunch at The Opera Cafe in the Opera district, and then spent some time organising a few tours. I tried to get some tickets for a play at The Comedie Francais, they specialise in Moliere, but all sold out. Disappointing, but you can't have it all.

In the square inside Comedie Francais, huge theatre.

Exhausted we headed home for an early night as we had another early start Tuesday.

After dragging Amanda out to Giverny, it was only fair today was her choice, so we were up early to catch a bus trip out to Euro Disney or Disney Paris!! I admit I do not do rides, but was happy to wander around, check out the park, people watch and hold her bag whilst she indulged in the rides.

The heavy fog was back, and walking into the park with the Autumn trees showing their colours was rather beautiful and I admit a bit exciting!! There was a short wait until the park opened and it was done up with a Halloween theme. The fog so low you couldn't make out the castle! We made our way through each section of the park, Amanda having a ball on the rides and me kicking back with Hemingway, which gave me a perverse kind of pleasure. The people watching was magnificent, some crazy displays of ultra extravagance. We saw a lot of kids dressed up in characters I figured you hired these, oh no, you bought them!!! Princess dresses started at 50 euro, then you need shoes, gloves, wands etc...oh my!!!

We lined up to meet Mickey Mouse...as you do, in a theatre playing old cartoons, which was excellent. I also made Amanda go on the It's a small world 'ride'. There was an excellent animatronic dragon under the castle too that I quite liked. The Parade in the afternoon was probably the highlight, it was all presented and very high tech. I don't subscribe to the whole Disney fantasy/bastardisation, but it wasn't a horrible way to spend the day, I had had a good day. I had been to Disney World in the US, and coined the phrase, by the end of the day it was not the most happiest place on earth, here it was much the same. A long, tiring day, sookie kids and cranky parents, everyone ready to head home!

To round out these three days we indulged in more art on the Wednesday. After two early starts, we had a big sleep in, brunch and headed to the gardens of The Louvre. This was the first of some really cold weather, and it took us by surprise. We walked through the gardens, looking at the sculptures, statues and art on display. The gardens and trees were shedding with the cold weather. At the far end from The Louvre was The L'Orangerie Gallery, a small impressionist gallery. I went in while Amanda spent time taking photos in the park.

So foggy you could barely see The Tower

Even the pigeons love crepes!

Looking through the little Arc to the pyramid

The L'Orangerie had sections designed by Monet for the exhibition of his large water Lily paintings. There are two large oval rooms on the first floor. Each room has four of the paintings, a special gift to Paris from the artist himself. Although, once painted he could not part with them, the museum had to wait for his death a few years later. Perfect for viewing and contemplation, I was very moved. Words cannot describe how it was to sit in these rooms and soak in their magnificence. It was most certainly a highlight, especially after being to those very gardens two days earlier.

The ground floor had a decent sized Impressionism collection, excellent pieces by Cezanne, Matiise, Modigliani, Renoir, Picasso amongst others. There was also a special temporary exhibition of work by an artist called Chaim Soutine, who I had not heard of, but really liked. More post Impressionism I think, a bit darker in content, style and colour...will need to do some research on him.

After a shop, much better than Giverny...I got some drop water lily earrings, pricy but gorgeous...I went back out to the park to find Amanda. We made our way up towards The Louvre and lined up at The Pyramid to get in. In all of ten minutes we were in and decided to head straight to The Mona Lisa, having heard horror stories of waiting to see it. I knew it would be small and a bit underwhelming, but still. We got in immediately and whilst a full room it only took a few minutes to get right up to it, take some photos and move on. She is lovely and mysterious, was worth it.

Now The Louvre is huge and to be honest filled with a lot of art that is not to my taste. We decided to stick to fine art and antiquities, specifically Egyptian collections, another favourite!! We decided to move at a brisk pace, to see as much as as could but without rushing. Stopping, obviously, for pieces that caught our eyes, this worked well. We saw such beauty, it was very overwhelming. The Winged Victory and Venus de Milo are the other two big name pieces, so we were sure to see them. There was so many amazing pieces in the Egyptian section though, one room rows and rows of sarcophaguses, it blew my mind.

Winged Victory

Venus de Milo

The star of The Louvre though, is The Louvre itself, what a glorious building, magnificent ceilings, corridors, staircases and so forth. Simply wow!!! Also great views of the city out of windows. We arrived home full of wonder but very tired, we had been there for hours, covered a lot of ground and went up and down way too many steps! An evening at the local Creperie ended the day perfectly.

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