Monet's House in Giverny, France

Photo credit: amandabhslater via Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA

When Justin and I visited France earlier this summer, one of my must-sees was Monet's Gardens in Giverny, France, located approximately two hours by train outside of the city. I waited until we were in Paris to buy my tickets, because my hope was to visit the gardens on a pretty day – when it was open. Not being a French native, I was worried that everything would be closed for the Bastille Day holiday, the day that we were planning to visit Giverny.

Shortly after check-in at the lovely Hotel du Louvre (a Hyatt), we asked the concierge to call on our behalf. Would Monet's Gardens be open on July 14th? Could she help us get tickets and figure out the train schedule?

Well,

1. The gardens were open.

2. She did have the train schedule.

but

3. She misled us about how far the train was from the hotel.

Justin knew this from the get-go, but I trusted her.

A 10 minute walk? Totally doable!

Only, when the French say 10, they really mean 30. About the time we realized this, we walked to a taxi stand to see if the cab driver could take us to the train station.

Nope.

He, too, said "It's only a 10 minute walk!"

Psh!

Within minutes of the station, we got another cab driver to take us the remaining mile, or whatever it was. Then we went racing for the ticket booth.

Only we couldn't find it?

By the time we got in the correct line for tickets, after walking the entire station two or three times, we had missed our train. We would need to wait another two hours. *groan*

Needless to say, Justin and I waited the two hours. Missed another train. And waited two more. This last time, with tickets in our hand. We ate lunch at the station. Missing the train a third time was NOT going to happen. No lines, hunger, miserable taxi drivers that refuse to drive me 10 30 minutes or anything else was going to get in my way!

By the time we arrived in Giverny, it was mid-afternoon. The sun was baking us to a crisp (even at top temps of 75ºF!) and we were regretting our slow start to the day. We got in the long line to buy tickets, after walking and getting lost in Giverny for a bit. Finally I was going to get to see the gardens of my dreams! :)

I'll save the garden images for another day when I've actually taken the time to look at my DSLR, but the following are a few from inside Monet's home taken with my iphone. I only share one window image, but you can be sure that the views from his home were stunning! I can only imagine what it must have been like to live there, waking up on a daily basis seeing and smelling all of the beautiful flowers, presumably, using some of the produce in the kitchen, and painting all that he saw. It sounds so romantic! *swoon* :)

Living Room clock

art studio

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

kitchen

The entire house and gardens only took us approximately 2-3 hours to explore, before, dying of hunger, we left in search of a café. Overall, we had a fantastic time exploring Giverny and wished we had had more time and chosen a day when more museums and local stores and restaurants were open, but I don't think we left Giverny with any major regrets that would require a return trip. We saw Monet's house and gardens, which I was desperate to see, and that ended up being good enough. :)

Are you familiar with any of Monet's paintings––like Waterlilies? Would you ever consider visiting Monet's home or Giverny, the lovely city in which he lived?