– the ephemeral beauty of a traveling –
This weekend was all about escaping the smoke (though not necessarily the the crowds) of Paris and exploring (slightly) beyond the borders of the 20 arrondissements. Saturday started off a bit rocky but we eventually found ourselves in a tiny town northwest of Paris, home to Monet–Giverny.
Giverny is a small village that would be pretty serene and quiet if it weren’t for the hundreds of visitors that come through each day on Impressionist pilgrimages to the home of Claude Monet, father of Impressionism. Arguably the most mainstream favorite art period. Arguable the most famous artist.
Even though I have already mentioned my relative indifference to this particular period, I have to admit that Giverny was an unexpected highlight of my trip. For our fourth weekend in Europe, we started off with grand plans to go beyond the borders of not just Paris, but France and cross over to explore London or take a short train ride to see Brussels. We considered a trip through Champagne or to Normandy and Saint-Michel. However, plans are always more romantic before the dollar signs are added into the equation. So we enjoyed day trips/staycations instead. It may have been our second or third choice, but the adventure was well worth it.
Our adventure started off in Gare Saint-Lazare, where we hustled to buy tickets…and narrowly missed one train which resulted in us having to wait another hour for the next train. In order to get to Giverny, you have to buy tickets to Vernon, and then from there take a bus, taxi, or bike to Giverny. Gare Saint-Lazare is pretty busy as soon as you transition between the métro station and the train station. There is a pretty impressive mall to entertain travelers while they wait for trains, including most chain stores for clothing and other lifestyle items, such as a MUJI to go and a HEMA and a Monoprix (or was it a Franprix…j’oublie!). There are also numerous options for food, from Starbucks to Paul to BurgerKing (which for some reason was by far the most popular place in the whole mall, judging from the line).
Once we got through the mall to the level of the platforms, we walked past the ticket vending machines toward the platforms and then walked to the far right where they had ticket windows. The line wasn’t too bad and we had our tickets within twenty minutes. A roundtrip ticket puts you back around 28 euro, which isn’t too bad as long as you don’t think about it as a day trip or convert it to US dollars.
For lunch, we opted for the lunch “menus” at PAUL, where for different set prices you can choose sandwhich, dessert, boisson combinations.
One cool thing they have is this recycling machine. Basically, you put the bottle in the machine and there’s a slot machine thing that spins and you can win coupons and such for chain stores such as Starbucks.
Finally, we boarded the crowded train. I found it pretty fitting that we would be going to Giverny from one of Monet’s favorite subjects. The train ended up being way too full and we were crammed standing by the window for the first half of the trip. However, after a couple stops, spots opened up for us. In less than an hour, we found ourselves in the quiet still air of Vernon.
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From Vernon, there are a few choices for getting to Giverny, which is about 3.5 miles away. The fastest way is probably to take a taxi. However, we found that on a Saturday, there were no taxis in the taxi lane. Maybe we were supposed to call a taxi but we ended up just going with option two, taking the shuttle. If you walk out of the front door of the station and continue to walk straight on the right side of the street, there will probably be a line for the bus. Bus tickets cost 4 euro each way. The last way, which we almost considered, is renting bikes at one of the cafés nearby. However, I do remember it being a little expensive than I expected and since we arrived in the early afternoon, we wanted to give ourselves enough time in Giverny.
The bus drops off at a lot near a path that takes you right to the heart of Giverny. We followed the signs along the dirt path (and the line of tourists) to Monet’s maison and jardins.
Student tickets into Monet’s house and gardens were 5€. This was one of the only things I paid for in my entire France experience. Paris is extremely student friendly, with our Histoire d’Art student IDs, we had free access to everything from the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe. Many other tourist attractions are free for the world, such as Notre Dame and L’Orangerie. Even outside of the city, such as in Giverny, they make it a point to accommodate student budgets, a sort of particularly notable welcome that stems from their national cultural pride and value of art.
Walking into the garden was like walking into a different world. The tourists, though plenty, were relatively quiet. The air was thick in the post-rain air, and the sky was full of clouds, but the sun shone through and lay its golden rays upon every leaf and petal. Everything smelled fresh and it was as if you could feel the abundance of life as you walked through the rows of plants and heard the buzz of busy bees making their rounds. If it weren’t for all of the fancy DSLRs and iPhones clicking away, it would be like stepping back in time.
It’s crazy to think that a century ago, the legendary artist himself was walking upon this same land. It isn’t hard to imagine why he loved this garden. To have this all in his backyard as a constant source of inspiration is magical in itself. And even experiencing this for a few hours is like sharing a little bit of pure natural art with the world.
The garden is also a lot bigger than I imagined. With an entire second level home to the famous water lily ponds and the dreamy willow tree adorned scenery.
Afterwards, it was back up to visit Monet’s former house and current museum.
A tour around the house proves the artist’s love for color. Many of the rooms were distinctively brightly colored–a blue sitting room, a yellow dining room. All of the furniture is laid out in a way that reflects the decades Monet lived in this house with his family. While a lot of the furniture is modest, the house is big and full of windows overlooking the garden and filled with art (replications, as the originals are now housed in museums in Paris and around the world). My favorite room was probably the kitchen, where blue and white tiles complemented the copper pans lining the walls.
As we left Monet’s house and gardens, it started to drizzle, cutting our day trip short. If the weather had been better, we would have also gone to the Impressionist museum and explored the village a bit more. However, we made it a point to return to this shop we saw on our way there which sold cheap posters. The man was putting away the outside displays when we got there. We followed him in and entered a quaint gallery with classical music playing softly in the background. The man, who we later found out is named Hans, painted all of the works himself. Upon learning that we understood some French, he took us around the room, telling us about each painting and the process of producing the works, most of which were painted right around the corner in Monet’s garden. It was an amazing experience getting to interact with a local who spoke slowly and patiently in French and seemed genuinely interested in sharing his ideas with us, quite a different experience than Paris!
We ended up purchasing several posters and Hans carefully autographed and packaged each one. This seemingly insignificant interaction made our experience in Giverny even more magical. Even considering the fact that none of us thought to bring an umbrella and we used a tote bag-raincoat contraption to shelter our posters as we were soaked running back to the bus.
Looking back, the entire trip was rather miraculous considering how little we prepared. On our way back, it was a 50/50 guess on which platform would go back towards Paris (we asked some Spanish tourists…). Halfway back on the train, we were rather surprised to find ourselves at a terminal station…that was not Paris. However, after a quick switch we made it safely back to Saint Lazare and onto the métro.
For dinner, we stumbled into a random Lebanese restaurant near Grands Boulevards for a quick meal before heading home for some well deserved early rest…rest that would pay off for Sunday in Versailles…