This time last year

6am Monday. Steady, heavy rain (ideal). First cuppa of the day. 1st June already. I started wondering where we were this time last year.

We were on holiday. A cruise up the Rhone River from Arles to Lyon and then a cruise from Paris to Normandy return on the River Seine. Lovely cruises with some memorable times with terrific travel companions.

I'll check the blog for that holiday and check what we did this day last year.

1st June 2019. Docked at Vernon at lunchtime. 1.30pm, coach to Giverny, the village where Monet lived. Giverny is a pretty little village that Monet first noticed from the train. He and 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.

Monet's house and garden is a very popular tourist destination so there were thousands of people there - French people as well as tourists.

It is difficult to do the garden justice in words. We had, of course, seen Monet's paintings of his garden, but being there just brought them to life. Even with the number of people making it only possible to shuffle along the garden paths, we would do it again tomorrow.

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.

Monet's house has shutters on the windows. They are painted green. It is said the you can go into any paint shop in France, ask for Monet green paint, and that is the colour you’ll get.Read more