Monet and Latin Quarter

 April 14

We caught an early cab to take us to a small church in the 17th, where we met our group. Including two women from Australia who had a similar story as Meg and me. One was named Susan, the other Tracy, whose daughter is a dancer at the Moulin Rouge. It was Susan’s first time to Paris. 

The bus ride was 1.5 hours to Giverny and our guide gave a fascinating history of Paris and the settling of Normandy by Vikings. Then she told us about Monet and his early story. We arrived in Giverny and had about 3 hours to see the house and gardens. Luckily, we were in a tour group and had a special entrance. Upon our way out, the line of people there to buy tickets was endless. An early group experience is the only way!! 

The gardens were abloom in tulips and many more flowers. We walked among the garden’s water features and Japanese inspired bridges.












We then lined up in a long queue to enter the house. The tour took us through his art studio with paintings of his wife and children. The rooms we walked through included bedrooms, sitting rooms, dining room, kitchen, many with beautiful views of the garden. 









After the house and gift shop (Meg bought a fan and an umbrella), we stopped for a nice lunch and had quiche Lorraine and hot goat cheese salad and Chardonnay. On the stroll back towards the bus, we stopped at a garden shop and I bought some children’s gardening gloves and more seeds. 



We took the metro (we’re getting good at it) from where our bus dropped us off to the Latin Quarter. We meandered around and found an outdoor cafe and pizza place. I put the bag down with our treasures from today. We then decided to go somewhere else and I left the bag!! We found another cafe and had a drink then made our way all the way to the other side of the Seine and went back to Valmorin. Meg noticed I didn’t have the bag! So we backtracked and the place had it safely behind the register! Phew!! 

Now back at the room, we’re having a cocktail and preparing ourselves for the journey home on the morning! 

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