Giverny

Today was forecast to be a nice sunny day so we decided it would be the best day to make the trip to Giverny, Monet's home.  I was there in the fall of 1998 and, although enjoyable, it didn't live up to my expectations.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the spring flowers as opposed to the fall flowers I saw back then.  We took the Metro to Gare St Lazare and then the train to Vernon where there were three busses waiting for us to take us the rest of the way.  It seems like everyone on the train was going where we were headed and the three busses barely held everyone - we had several people standing in the aisle and sitting on the steps.  After getting off the bus, we had a 10-15 minute walk and, by the time we arrived, there was a long line so we decided to getllunch first and then return to the house.  We went across the road to Nympheas and sat out in their garden/patio which was full of flowers and very pretty.  I had poached eggs and wild mushrooms in a wine sauce and Leas had quiche with ham (the ham being several huge slices along side the quiche).  After lunch, we walked back to Giverny and were amazed by the masses of flowers, especially the iris, lilac and wisteria.  Unfortunately, the peonies were not quite blooming and the tulips were almost done.  The lily pond was beautiful with the wisteria hanging off the trellises.  The tour of the house was much better than I remembered and you can now take pictures inside the house.  After touring, we walked around the town, visited some interesting shops and then caught the train back to Paris.  We went to dinner at Bonnes Soeurs where we both had risotto with gambas and red fruit crumble for dessert.  A really beautiful day in a beautiful place.