Giverny

Those of you that know me really well will of course, I hope, realise that today is my birthday. By chance (plus a long slog up river the day before) we could have a rest day today so it was time to get the bikes out again. This is because we were moored at Vernonette and only 4km from the village of Giverny. Anyone who is interested in the Impressionist painters should make the pilgrimage to the village where Claude Monet lived from 1883 until his death in 1926. Firstly, the journey there was unexpectedly easy. The Harbour Master had very kindly suggested a cycle route along a disused railway. This took us past the back of some lovely houses and we were able to admire their gardens as we cycled along the relatively flat paved track. The village itself has been devoted to life in the Impressionist period. We were able to look around the house where Monet lived, which was little changed from the day that he died 71 years ago. However, the highlight of the day was visiting the gardens that were made famous by his paintings of the water lilies and the Japanese bridge.

We also visited the Musee Americain – a large American gallery housing the paintings of several expatriate American Impressionist painters that lived and painted in the village during that period. After the effort of cycling there we enjoyed a glorious lunch, at a nearby restaurant, and then wobbled our way back to Jomima on our bikes.