A quiet start to Saturday with a train trip to a garden at Giverny, north west of Paris in Normandy. Apparently, some gardener developed it and he could paint a bit! His name was Claude Monet. So yes, we went all the way to Europe and went to a garden!! D-ohhh!
Given the number of tourists visiting the garden, it is clear Giverny depends heavily on Monet's Garden. Good luck to them!
The line-up was considerable when we arrived and it remained constant all day. Buying tickets beforehand was clearly essential.
There are explosions of colour in all directions...
... and some smiling visitors.
We lined up to visit Monet's house which is part of the garden. (and I took 3 photos of Mary and Kate, each one dominated by the woman doing her hair. Urghhh!)
The shutters, doors and verandah were painted green by Monet because everyone else painted them grey.
The house fell into disarray after he died but his children started to rehabilitate it some years later. His studio has been closely reconstructed to fit the original.
His dining room was bright shades of yellow ...
... and the kitchen was blue.
There were many 'photo-opportunities'.
The path to the Lily Pond was marked
... but the views of the house across the garden were ... well, iconic!
One of the other bridges.
The water garden was very complex and extensive. I was so in admiration of Monet to build this and still have time to paint.... until I read that he employed up to 7 gardeners. He was the architect of the garden. Not sure he did any of the physical work.
The views across the lily ponds were varied and quite good. (and that's me saying it: Mary and Kate might be more eloquent and complimentary.)
It was very difficult to get a photo to copy the iconic image of Monet's lily pond and Japanese bridge because the space was taken up by multiple tourists and a wedding party who felt they took priority. Anyway we took dozens of photos of the pond and the water lilies.
The Japanese bridge a few years ago.
A few tourists in front of the water lily pond.
Wonderful images presented themselves in all directions, this one a boat by the pond.
Ahhh! The bridge!
... and more water lilies!
There's those tourists again!
... and just to wrap up, a few copies of some of the art-work reproductions on the walls of the house.
Many images of Monet were about the entrance and souvenir shop....
The train trip (about 45 minutes) was from Paris to Vernon, a nearby town, which we walked around briefly.
The return train journey saw us strolling around Paris and the banks of the Seine. Again, everywhere you look is a photo-op with old buildings and impressive backgrounds.
The very long twilight meant we were still strolling and taking photos at 9.30 - 10.00pm.
Moonlight over the Seine
In front of the Hotel de Ville the space is being either set up for, or dismantled from some big public event. Perhaps Tour de France presentations after the Arc de Triomphe gig.
We wanted to visit the Paris Catacombs on Sunday, but the line-up was so extensive it went around the block, from the entrance to the left, around the block to the end of the line on the right. So off we went, thinking the line would be shorter later in the day. How wrong was that!
We walked the streets headed for the Luxembourg Gardens and Palace, and enjoyed the 'quintessentially French Streets' - an expression which I have overused a bit but it's hard to avoid.
A large skyscraper in Montparnasse reminded us of a celebration dinner on the top floor restaurant a few years ago for our 40th wedding anniversary.
The approaches to the Luxembourg Gardens and Palace are very extensive.
The Palace was built by King Louis XIII for his mother. So generous - to use the peoples' money to build a small house for his mother; no wonder there was a revolution, but enough said. Anyway, since the Revolution, the Palace has housed the French Senate after some re-modelling and extensions The Senate President lives in a smaller house nearby.
You have to love the way Paris has gardens and memorials dotted around the city. How often it is that you come across a quiet square or a garden or a small green space in the midst of city chaos.
Marchon! Marchon! We headed for the French Military Museum, which houses Napoleon's Tomb.
A grand building! The photo above does not do justice to the gold dome and features on top. Inside is spectacular. The dome is over Napoleon's casket, which is below the 'mezzanine' where Mary is standing in the photo below.
Does the message get through that the French, with the benefit of hindsight, regard Napoleon as rather important to the Republic? A big tomb or casket!
The dome above is OK too.
Interesting that of the few other military leaders honoured here, Marchal Ferdinand Foch gets a very prominent spot. He was a great military leader and was chief of all Allied forces at the surrender of Germany in WW1. He makes quite a story, but it is suggested by some that if he had been made Supremo a bit earlier instead of the British general, Douglas Haig, the casualty count may have been much less and the outcome of the war may have been achieved earlier (I realise this is a bit contentious - and those better steeped in history should correct my primitive understanding). Anyway, Foch is suitably honoured here.
Back to the Catacombs! Still a long line; not much shorter than earlier in the morning. We debated giving the idea away or 'waiting it out' but we stood in the sun, shuffling forward for close to 100 minutes. For those unfamiliar with the Catacombs in Paris, they were a series of disused underground tunnels which had fallen into chaos and disrepair. About mid 1700s, when cemeteries were overcrowded and occupying land needed for other purposes and with odour and health concerns about existing burial sites, it was decided to open up the tunnels, reinforce them and then relocate the remains from many of the inner city graveyards into the tunnels.
The result can be a bit confronting with many relocated bones labelled with the original burial site only. The tunnels require a walk underground of about 1.5 km and some additional 'displays' were cordoned off this time. The displays I saw in 2013 when we walked through here with students on a History trip were far more extensive.
The first exhumation and 'reburial' was from the cemetery of Les Innocentes. This was detailed as part of a recent book Pure, which Mary recommends.
I did say it was confronting!
To Gare du Nord Railway Station for the Eurostar back to London! The weekend is over. Kate goes back to work early tomorrow, while we head for Edinburgh.
Before moving on, a few observations about the Metro system in Paris. Below.... packed on Friday at peak hour - to be expected.
Packed on Sunday morning also??
A bit quieter on a less used line Sunday, soon after lunch. The Paris Metro is a great transport system which shifts many people.
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