We wanted to get back to Normandy for quite a while now. We first visited the area in August 2011, at the beginning of our month-long eurotrip with a 2,5-month old Maks. We arrived in northern France after visiting our friends in Wiesbaden where we attended a wine festival and enjoyed flammkuchens, and after we had the best mussels in the world in Bruges. The weather got messed up and after heat in Germany and Belgium we had to face gray sky, constant drizzle and cold air. Despite that, we loved Normandy and Brittany. Tiny alleys, houses dating back to 18h and 19th century, tonnes of little restaurants, morning shopping at local boulangerie (bakeries) and mussels served a thousand ways for lunch and dinner. It was clear we have to come back. We’re coming back after almost 4 years with a highly energetic 4-year-old instead of an infant.
But we’re not coming to Normandy through Belgium this time. We’re taking a rented car from Paris. There’s 135 km to Roeun, our first destination. Not much. You could easily make it without stopping, but there’s one fantastic town you simply cannot miss. GIVERNY. A tiny village known all over the world and visited by millions. There’s one reason. Giverny is a place where Claude MMonet’s house and garden are as well as the landscapes which everybody once seen on his works – a little bridge, water lilies, the garden. That’s where our Normandy adventure starts.
Giverny is our first stop on the way North. About 70 km from the airport in Paris. We’re quite tired after having to wake up at 4 am after just 2-3 hours of sleep. And suddenly we enter and paradise full of greenness and flowers… We park our car by the main street which leads to Claude Monet’s Foundation. There’s plenty of tourists, but it’s still calm and idyllic. Beautiful houses, green around, lots of colourful flowers. Quiet. French countryside, far from big city life. There’s approx. 500 people living in Giverny, but it’s crowded in Monet’s garden. Which is hardly surprising – the place is not only well-known and beautiful too! 600 thousand people visit it every year!
Monet (1840-1926) moved to Giverny in 1883 and lived there for the rest of his life. In 1966 his son gave away the house to French Fine Arts Academy – the house was restored, the pond as well and flowers were planted like in Monet’s times. The place has been open to visitors since 1980. Despite crowds of tourists the house and the garden have an incredible vibe. You look at the pond and at the famous bridge known from his paintings and you kind of move back in time. Monet’s house and garden really make you experience the way it used to be here back in the day. The studio which we visit on a guided tour looks just like on the picture on which Monet poses next to it. Things like that always keep your imagination going.
It wasn’t the best time in Monet’s life when he moved to Giverny. In 1879 his wife died despite fortune he’s spent on her treatment. This lead him to depression once again. He moved to Giverny to cut ties with other people. A beautiful place for a solitary place for an artist. Then it was only better. Professional success came, along with new wife in 1891 and the chance to make an amazing garden in Giverny. With a pond where Monet could cultivate (and paint!) his beloved nenuphars. Many of Monet’s famous works were painted here even though he often left to visit neighbouring towns (such as Rouen or Deauville) as well as London or Venice.
Despite passing years Giverny managed to rebuilt the remarkable atmosphere and even if you’re not into painting, you should make a stop on your way North from Paris. It’s beautiful! A perfect place for a walk at Monet’s, a visit to Musée des impressionnismes devoted to the history of impressionism and lunch in charming Hotel Baudy.
We visited the museum super fast because Maks liked ‘this painter’s house’ but he wasn’t interested in paintings and the enjoying the silence all that much 😉 Obviously I loved a dedicated children’s room in the museum and plenty of children at various ages who visited the place for art classes… inside, in the garden, anywhere.
And in the end we all loved creme brulee. Perfect. Amazing. Delicious.
Giverny was a beautiful start of our trip to Normandy. More to follow! 🙂
* We visited Monet’s and ate creme brulee thanks to Atout France – French Agency for Tourism Development.
0 Comments