7:45am rolled around and our tour guide was no where to be seen! Sensing another trend here? Yeah, so panic began to set in. I looked up online if there was another location listed under Champ de Mars (bakery, cafe, bistro) and right up the street – there was another called, Les Champ de Mars Restaurant and Café. The tour guide is there and the assorted tourists. He mentioned that the meet up point had been changed… But of course there was no indication of this anywhere. Not in email. Not on the app. Not in a call or text. Outrageous. In any case, we all clamor onto the bus to take a 45 minute bus ride to Normandy where we would stop at the small commune of Giverny. On the way there, our tour guide, different from the coordinator guide, Alexandra gave history of Monet’s life leading up to his creation of his house and the gardens within the acreage. It started pouring on the bus ride which was frustrating after a full day of rain yesterday. We finally arrived at the gardens and started the tour in. The. Rain. After about 10 minutes of shuffling along in the rain with the slow group, I actually broke away from them because I wasn’t enjoying myself and wanted to experience the gardens by free roaming and taking my time for cinematic photos for sharing and that I want to draw and paint from. My mom still walked with the group and I met up with her later. Despite the rain, the gardens were intensely incredible, bursting with colour and inviting down each lane and corner. Here are the memories I photographed to share and be inspired by.
I met up with mom at the famous lily pond.
Beyond the gardens was Monet’s house! I took far less photos in there as I wanted to imagine myself as he would have lived. Plus with the groups in there, it would be hard to take meaningful images. But I learned about how Monet was highly influenced by Japanese art which I did not know. His house was FILLED with Japanese painting as well as some Japanese style porcelain.
See here, the Vagabond For Honey 