The service to visit the Garden and house in Giverny was excellent from Vernon Station, but we were unlucky to have a train from Paris St Lazare delayed by 45 minutes. (Trains run every 2 hours so don't miss your train!)
The gardens were a profusion of colour. From what I could see, no vegetables were to be evident, except in a neighbouring garden. Flowers of different colours and shapes tumbled over each other in an effort to be more prominent than their neighbours. Some took advantage of metal frames to show-off their beauty and, despite the formal arrangement of beds laid out in a rectilinear grid, the flowers showed a blatant disregard for such trivial constraints. Blooms and Foliage vied with each other for the attention of my eyes only for me to be assailed by geometric forms they possessed. When my eyes could take no more, I took an underground passage to another more famous part of the garden.
The ponds and lilies presented a more tranquil setting, yet colour, foliage and geometry presented themselves in a more subdued fashion. It was lovely to recognise parts of the lily pond I had seen on canvas at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris (near the Place de la Concord). The daughter of a young couple had been keen to draw a lily for her parents, having seen a reproduction of his picture and I urged them to take her to the Musee de l'Orangerie. The two venues go hand in had as an experience, but are, to the best o f my knowledge, independently managed and financed.
The House was a revelation of simplicity, yet comfortable and roomy. I would suppose that it was formed from 3 cottages combined into one dwelling, but there was a sense of relaxation about it and the views from the bedroom windows over the festoon of plants in the garden was glorious.
