26 May 2018
Today we visited the village of Giverny and the house and gardens of Claude Monet. Beings somewhat of a philistine when it comes to art, the biggest private collection in the world didn't exactly float my boat but the gardens were certainly worth the trip out there. We booked the tour online from Melbourne and arranged pickup from our Air BnB. We shared a mini bus with a couple of South Africans and 4 Americans. Our tour guide for the day was Andre and he was a well seasoned professional. He knew exactly what he needed to do to ensure a good return of tips at the end of the day. He was genuinely a good communicator and friendly operator.
Monet's gardens were something to behold. We are about a month too early for the water lilies but there were some that had opened early. The lakes must be impressive when they're in full bloom. The rest of the gardens are superb. Although they're French gardens, there are lots of what I'd just call English garden plants. Plenty of giant Poppies, Rhododendrons, Roses and hundreds of other species. The house was in good repair and impressive. It was a bit of a Fawlty Towers design though with lots of ups and downs (not unlike Shakespear's joint)
The trip home was about 2 hours as traffic was pretty hectic. It was only about 80 Km from central Paris.
I would definitely recommend this tour.