Day 85: Giverny

May 1, 2024

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I went out early this morning for some views of Giverny, before the hoards of (other) tourists would arrive. Giverny is very beautiful, with many plantings and the stone buildings that seem to blend so well with plants. It is also a little strange as a village, because it has essentially one street. All of the key things to see are on that street - Rue Claude Monet, while there are perhaps ten other minor or connecting streets to the place.

One hour later...

Oh, oh, the hoards are arriving!

These kids are just the head of a line of kids on the same group, extending far back to the right.

As we head in to Monet's house and gardens, or actually shortly after making our way though the crowds to begin sort of seeing something, I am thinking on what this is all about. My thoughts are provoked by seeing so many people who, like us, really want to be here. What is it that brings us, and what are we all hoping to gain?

I came up with three or four lines of thinking. First off, Claude Monet created a very nice garden here. People like to see nice gardens in general, like our own Butchart Gardens back home. But Monet's little garden, nice as it may be, could not attract millions of people. However, Monet, an unbelievable genius, looked at his little garden and saw something extra in it. He then captured what he saw on canvas, and in a glorious and to most, understandable style. Monet's mind and skill transformed the little garden into a monumentally huge thing. Ok, but why are people (and why are we) here? The first reason is just to see the thing that Monet saw, that created the huge "thing". That would be like going to see the gas station that featured in the Canadian hit TV comedy "Corner Gas". The second reason is to see if, confronted by the same garden, we can manage to see it as Monet saw it. To do this, I found, you can try squinting. That can blur things into an "impressionistic" image. But the final thing is to try to use the camera, where Monet used paints, to capture the impressions. And this is huge. No one will come here without a camera. In our case, we pulled put our spare camera, to allow the more refined "impressionist" eye of Dodie to, like me, shoot about 50 shots per hour.

One other comment before we go in. We ramped up our mental powers to permit extracting the greatest feelings of joy and calm in this special place. The mental discipline was needed because it was even difficult walking, amid the hoards of people. I think we succeeded, or at least, the place did. You can not help but love being here. Still, some of shots deliberately document the other people. They are a phenomenon here that can not really be ignored.

(I just peeked at Dodie's shots, and I think they are great! So I am going to begin with hers, and then just pop in a few from my camera at the end.)

Take it away, Dodie (starting just outside).

To get in to see Monet's house, we would have had to get past all these guys.

Ok, wait, if you are not flowered out, let's dive back in and grab some of the more "impressionistic" shots from Steve's camera:

I was able to sneak in, just for a shot of Monet's kitchen.

And now the gift shop. This is a place where the force of Monet's genius and popularity can be seen. There are so many books, on all aspects of Monet and Giverny!

A kid's book (Monet's Cat) encapsulates Monet's feeling about this place.

We then headed down the road, in search of the church and of Monet's tomb. We ran into some incredible scenes of beauty, just on this stroll:

Remember the story from that spring along the Loire?

The actual inside was about this dark. My camera felt we would appreciate the above inaccurate photo more. Probably right.

When we were visiting with Didier, the conversation turned one time to what we would do with a lot of money, if we had it. Didier's choice was in preserving art!

Nearby there is a memorial for British aviators that crashed near here in 1944.

Dodie, as all touring cyclists, likes bus shelters.

We strolled out in the afternoon, looking back at our amazing house, with the view of the main street.

We stopped for an ice cream. There was a limited selection of flavours, but one was Violette. Dodie immediately chose that because, you know, grandkid of that name!

We walked over to the museum of impressionism, noting this backpacker on the way:

The museum somehow failed to convince us that it would be worth the 12 euro admission price (same as Monet Garden and House), so we strolled again down by the river and to the Bust of Monet.

The sculptor wrote that he was trying to capture an older man in full possession of his faculties. Dodie read that Monet wore the big hat because he had cataracts and to protect his eyes from the sun. Of course, you can buy Monet style hats in the village.

One of the things we wanted to be sure of today was the investigation of the horrendous scraping sound that had been coming from Dodie's rear brakes. Yikes, again we found metal shards in the brake pads. Those grey ones are now gone, replaced by red/orange!

Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 4,095 km (2,543 miles)

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Andrea BrownWell, that was a lovely treat. Thank you.
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Andrea BrownIt literally was our pleasure.
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6 months ago

Karen PoretThat was some day! Thanks for doing the legwork for all of us!
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretIt was truly our pleasure.
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6 months ago