MONET'S GARDEN SPLENDOUR...

A visit to Monet's Garden in Giverny was a highlight of my recent trip to France. Although I was disappointed at first, because we wouldn't be seeing the famous water lilies due to it being autumn when we arrived, the brilliant autumnal colours and endless varieties of blooms and flowering shrubs more than made up for that.

You see what I mean about the autumn colours here.  Beautifully vivid as we walked through the pond area.

In the distance you can see the Japanese bridge which featured so often in Claude Monet's paintings;  the water lilies in the foreground would look fabulous when they flower. But then again, I dare say every photo would be jam packed with those dreaded tourists then.  Even though we were there in off season, we were all tripping over each other and often ruining someone's careful composition.  I have to confess to "painting" over the top of a couple of tourists in this shot.  

Another photo of the same bridge taken from a slightly different vantage point.  I wish we'd had the time to spend hours there.  It was a trifle cold that day so perhaps it might not have been as wonderful as I think it would have been.

After the pond area we went into the vast gardens around the house.  Fantastic.  Above, through the arches down to the gate, you can see the nasturtiums (one of my favourites since childhood) which soften the path.  Not that one can walk on that walkway.  Even the chains which herded us to the allowable paths are green.  I took the liberty of putting this photo through a watercolour programme on Photoshop, mainly to amuse myself. 

This collage shows the front of the house (sans tourists - harder than you might think)  with a selection of flowers and a bird that took my fancy. The dahlias were quite spectacular despite coming to the end of their season.

Here, at the top, is a view from one of the windows, once we fought our way inside, and more of the flowers we appreciated.

Inside the house was full of interesting 'stuff' like those I present above.  I was fascinated by what I presume are shelves with faces which were situated high up either side of a door.  Could have given Mr Monet a terrible fright as he staggered up to bed I'm sure.

The kitchen, though, was quite amazing.  All those blue and white tiles and the room was huge, probably to accommodate that enormous stove.

*****

I hope you enjoyed touring the gardens with me. I have loved seeing all the photos again.  Next stop Paris, or maybe Amsterdam.  Who knows?

(above photo of the garden layout was courtesy of my travelling companion, Veronica)