Sunday, October 12, 2014

World History II

The art of life

Saturday
We got up pretty early to catch the train to Giverny. This was one of the main reasons I'd wanted to get back to Paris, so I was really excited. Sitting on the train, I watched Paris fade away as we headed northwest to the country. At the station, we quickly made our way to the station for a short bus ride to Monet's Gardens. Just before we reached the gardens, though, we passed by a field with pigs...and emus. Because, why not...I guess?

We walked through this little town, some of it touristy, some just normal town stuff. Finally we came to the actual gardens. You have to walk in through the gift shop, and then it opens up to all the flowers. 
Apparently Monet was a collector of exotic flowers, and he did the whole thing himself. It was gorgeous and amazing. 


The pictures don't do it justice; the colors were so vibrant. Then we got to the area with the waterlilies. W-O-W. The secluded area of ponds with lilies, the bridges, bamboo, and a whole bunch of weeping willows, even a little rowboat. And Monet built it all. (Disclaimer: I guess parts of it were destroyed during WWII, so it had to be redone. But I think he probably still deserves most of the credit.) 
He created this other world out of a fairy tale. I can't even imagine how beautiful it would be to spend time there without all the tourists. I wished I could make everyone else disappear and sit under the willows with a book. 


Although, one thing I did like about all the other people was a big group of art students. They were broken up into smaller groups and sketching the waterlily area. It was kind of neat. 

After we got our fill of the flowers we stopped for lunch. My sister let me try her steak tartare...I was disgusted. The texture seriously grossed me out. But at least I tried. 

Our last quick stop was the church. The Monet family was buried there, and it had a small cemetery. The church seemed kind of rundown and unremarkable, so I was a bit surprised when I found an open door. It was very pretty--it seemed to have been done in the style of Monet's time. And then I saw something that took my breath away. To the right of the altar there was a statue, I don't even remember what it was, but there was also a stained glass window. It let in this ethereal bluish light, and only covered a small area. It was unbelievable. It's still stuck in my head as one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. 

The train back to the city was packed, and we weren't able to get seats. It was excruciating having to stand the whole time after all the walking, and Bro-In-Law had twisted his ankle so he was having as much fun as I was. On a positive note, there was kind of a mall at the train station, so we did some shopping. Another successful day.

Sunday
The plan for the day was to go to Marais to do some more shopping, and then Montmartre so I could visit the artist's square. 

The shopping started out slow at some boutiques with expensive and...unique clothing. Then we walked into Jo Malone, and had a lovely time. The girl who helped us really enjoyed her job and we walked out laden with packages and smelling great. 

We took a little break and sat down in a park--Place des Vosges. The park is surrounded by buildings that all look exactly the same, and Victor Hugo lived in one of them. It's said he wrote parts of Les Miserables in the park. 
Bro-In-Law decided to bow out at this point and rest his sore ankle, so Sister and I headed up to Montmartre. 

We needed lunch at this point, and there were restaurants that had set up kind of tents in the middle of all the artists. I accidentally ordered a tequila flavored beer that, interestingly, was brewed in France. It actually wasn't bad. Then we got crepes...mmmmm. I definitely did my best to get my fill of French foods...although I don't think there's such thing as getting a fill of them. 
I went a little nuts with getting artwork, and got some really good pieces for Tee. I was so glad that I did more shopping this time. 

We traveled back and relaxed for the rest of the day. I noticed that, even without doing a whole lot, I got very tired. I was perfectly happy spending the evenings in and trying to recoup. I tried as hard as I could to not let my legs impede my trip at all, and I did pretty well for the most part. But it was a lot of walking and I definitely needed the time to rest. 
Being a world traveler is hard work, you know. 



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