Monet's garden

30 degrees C today!!!
Leisurely morning sailing to Vernon where we docked at lunchtime. 1.30, coach to Monet's place at Giverny. We were warned that because it is so popular and it is a public holiday weekend, it might be as busy as Versailles was. It wasn't - it was busier! We did the French tourist shuffle - not a new dance but a way to get around attractions while getting up close and personal with everyone else there.
Giverny is a pretty little village that Monet noticed from the train one day. He and some other artists moved there and then others did the same. It became an artists' village.
Monet was as passionate about gardening as he was about painting. Our group's guide today elected to view the garden first and then the house. We were really pleased as it was the garden that we really wanted to see. We joined on to the snake made up of thousands of people and we did the shuffle - but we're so pleased we did. When we got to the house, there was a huge queue, so we elected to go for a wander on our own back into the village.
The shutters on Monet's house are painted green. This colour has become known as Monet green. It is said that anyone can go into any paintshop in France, ask for Monet green and get that exact colour.
Monet started off drawing caricatures. One day a painter told him he had talent, put a paintbrush in his hand, and Monet never drew another caricature. When his eyesight was failing he saw with a pink haze. A friend convinced him to try cataract surgery. It was new surgery then, he was sceptical but he tried one eye, it worked so he had the other eye done. However he still had the pink haze. That influenced much of his later painting.
We now want a garden like his.
Back to the ship and sailing again by 5.30.
Dinner, then up on the sun deck till 10.15 - lovely warm night.
We dock at 5.30am in Caudebec-en-Caux and after breakfast we're going to walk into town for a sticky.Baca selengkapnya