GIVERNY: CLAUDE MONET'S GARDEN

I finally took myself to Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny on Sunday May 17th. It was a gorgeous day! I couldn't have asked for a better one. To get to Giverny though, one must take the train. A real train because the station, Vernon, is actually just outside of the province of Ile-de-France. So therefore, the commuter trains don't run to Vernon. It was still easy to get to because it's the same line I took when I went to Rouen over Easter Weekend. Same station, same line, same kind of train; I felt like and an old hand at this train travel bit. So I got up and took the metro to the station, bought my tickets at the "Grand Lignes" ticket booth, and waited for 30 minutes to board the train. When that time came around everyone practically ran to the train. Not sure why because we all had tickets; but it was rather amusing. Of course they all pile onto the first five cars in like the 14 car train. Got to love human nature.

The train ride took just about an hour because we stopped at another station along the way. It finally arrived at about 11:40AM. I rented a bike right at the train station because it's only 5km (that's 3.2 miles) to Giverny, which isn't that far at all. It takes maybe 12 minutes if you don't stop to take pictures. So it took me about 25 minutes. I ran into two American couples traveling together. They were celebrated one of the couple's honeymoon. Surprisingly enough they were from the Philadelphia area. We were all surprised to learn that we were from basically the same area back home. Who would have thought that the whole way over in Giverny, France (a town of 50 buildings) that we would have run into each other? It sure is a small world for sure. We rode to together into town, parked the bikes, and went our separate ways because I didn't want to intrude. We ended up running into each other numerous times in the gardens though.

Just after I got into line for Monet's house and gardens, one of the employees comes up and snags half the line and takes it around back to another entrance. I was fifth in line so I was in just about that many minutes. A nice bit of luck there. It was surprisingly cheap to get in but I got a half fair since I'm student. I've absolutely loved my student card. It's been the best. All of the museums and national landmarks in France are free or at the very least reduced rate for students.

Walking into the garden I was immediately overwhelmed by how beautiful it is! The sun was out and all the flowers were in their prime. It's amazing to think that Monet laid this entire out by himself and planted it just the way it is today. It's incredible! I began to take pictures although the first few are a little lacking. They're more like the warm up set. I really didn't know what to do at first because I've never taken serious garden pictures before. After the a little time my brain began thinking normally again the pictures and ideas began coming normally. I spent the next three hours or so making laps around the garden taking pictures at different angles, taking different pictures of the same thing, and really just trying to capture as much of the garden as I could.

The trick is with photography (now of course this is my opinion as an amateur photographer in France and not a professional; it's just what I've discovered) is that you have to find the "uncommon". The "uncommon" for me is finding the angles, the lighting, and the scenes that everyone else misses. Everyone I saw that, except for the professionals, took pictures of exactly the same thing and from exactly the same spot as the person before them. No imagination really. It's like standing in a bread line to get your bread. There's not much difference between the pictures. Personally, I can't stand that. Especially in a garden with so many flowers and plants; there are just too many other objects around to focus on than the same five pictures over and over again. However, at the same time I have a predetermined image in my head of what I want and so I go for that.

If there is one thing though I have to say for video games (from my high school years particularly) is that they have given me a "3D Mind". This means that I can visualize the angle of the shot in my head like it's a 3D computer model. I can take what I see and turn it into a computer model in my head and then turn the model around getting at least an idea of the different angles. Of course I have to try it to see if it works, which it does about ninety percent of the time. Of course at first it wasn't like that, my mind gradually went in that direction over time. In retrospect the entire trip had been sort of a training run for Giverny.

The layout of the estate (that's the term I'm going to use to describe the entire property even though it's only about a couple acres in size) is in two main parts. The first part includes the buildings and main garden while the second part includes the water garden. The two parts are separated by the main road so there is an underground path that runs between the two. Originally this was a path and a railway called the "path of the king" or in French, "Chemin du Roy." This pay and railway was built to link Gisors and Vernon. However for Monet there was no underground passage crossing both the tracks and pathway to get to his water lily pond. Of course today the railway is gone and a main road (like Rte. 74) has replaced the two retaining the same name. Today the passage exists for security so all the stupid tourist don't get hit by the cars. Bringing up an interesting phenomena; that as a tourist the human mind seems to drop about ten IQ points making some people on par with the very the objects they've come to see. However, that discussion will have to wait for later.

The main part of the estate has the Norman Garden, the House, the Studio and green houses, and the Water Lilly studio. I'll begin with the garden for that is what I saw first. The Walled Norman Garden was restored by Mr. Gérald Van der Kemp and Mr. Gilbert Vahé a recent graduate of the horticulture school at the time of the restoration. Together they used the notebooks of Monet's gardener's and many other eye-witnesses who worked in the gardens as well. With these two powerful resources the two men restored the garden taking create care to honor Monet's work by making sure that the garden is identical to the original. Mr. Vahé still ensures today that the greatest respect is paid to Monet's work. Monet himself even called the gardens his best work of art and I would have to agree.

The house is a very interesting house, of course I don't know anything about Norman architecture, because it is very long but is only one room wide (maybe 15ft). There are ten rooms open to the public; the entrance, the blue room, the grocery storeroom, the studio living room, Monet's bedroom, the "Monsieur's dressing room", the "Madame's dressing room", Alice's bedroom, the dining room, and the kitchen. I'll focus on just a couple of the rooms. The first room that stood out to me was the studio living room. Here is where Monet worked and where he relaxed. He would sit and study his work as they hung all over the walls so he could add the very last detail. Today the room is filled with full size reproductions because the originals are in museums across the world. The next room to sand out at me was his bedroom, not for what was in it, but because the windows were open and one could take pictures of the gardens from a height of about 15ft. It is an incredible view.

Downstairs I was very impressed with the Dining Room. The Dinning Room is painted entirely with a bright charming yellow accented with a white table cloth, a white ceiling, and a speckle white and blue fire place. It has a very country feel in the craftsmanship of the furniture. The china is blue and white in design. The Kitchen on the other hand is painted in blue or at least blue themed for the wall is blue tile above the chair rail molding. Below, is a wood paneling painted in white with a bright robin's egg blue. The stove is neat because it's a large black wood stove. There are also a very nice set of copper pots and pans hanging on the wall by the door to the Dining Room. Those rooms together are, in my opinion, the most charming rooms in the house. However, picture taking is forbidden inside the house so I have very few...oops.

The Water Lily Studio was where Monet painted his giant water lily paintings currently housed in Musée de l'Orangerie in the Tuilerie Gardens in Paris. The studio was built in 1916 specially design for these large works. Today the studio is the gift shop of the Foundation Claude Monet. On the walls hang identical reproductions of the water lily paintings. The other studio and green houses were off limits to the public. They looked to be a storage place for the gardeners. The farmyard mentioned early is where Monet kept his chickens. This is where the family would get and enjoy their good fresh eggs. The chickens are very well trained and come up to every unsuspecting tourist clucking for some sort of treat. Fortunately there is a fence between these two parties for the chickens impressed me as a bit more demanding than the Parisian pigeons.

Across the street is the Water Garden. I spent about an hour and a half there taking pictures. I much preferred the Norman Garden though because the Water Garden doesn't facilitate "browsing". There is a one way path around the garden that everyone must take. Since this is also where the famous water lily paintings and Japanese bridge painting took place, the homing beacon in all the tourist of course pointed straight there. I was more or less stressed out after while because I didn't want to accept that fact I wasn't going to get many pictures without people and I had to fight for space to take my pictures. I couldn't really enjoy it very much. Oh and of course everyone had to gaggle at the bridge and stand there four minutes on end getting their own personal photo shoot. Such is life.

After taking a good 1000 pictures in and around the estate and having spent five hours or so walking around. I got some things in the gift shop and a quick bite to eat across the street at the cafe. Then I walked and rode around town for while taking pictures for about an hour.

The town of Giverny is a very beautiful, quaint little town. However, one has to have quite a bit of money to live there. So don't get your hopes up too much. There is the Musée des Impressionnismes. I didn't go in for I have basically the same thing at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. There are some gardens too but not at the caliber of Monet's. There's a hotel, cafes, and other touristy related shops around. Perhaps the most interesting building in Giverny other than the Monet estate is the Church where the Monet Family and Gérald Van der Kemp are buried. Interestingly enough Gérald Van der Kemp also restored the Chateau de Versailles, Petit Trianon, Grand Trianon, and the Queen's Hamlet. In my wanderings I discovered a path up a hill off one of the streets. I'm not sure if it was private because it wasn't marked but the view it was offering was too tempting. When I got to the top I was greeted with an absolutely amazing view of the Seine River Valley and Vernon in the distance.

All of a sudden it was 6:00PM and I had a train to catch back in Vernon. I quickly made my way back to Vernon stopping only to take some essential pictures. The train ride back to Paris was packed but fortunately it was a little shorter than the first trip. I got back into Paris at about 8:00PM thus ending my journey to what could quite possibly be considered heaven on earth.

*All the information I used in this post came from the book Giverny: Guided Tour by Olivier Aubert.