Trip to France - part 2: Giverny

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of my favourite painters, therefore I dedicate a separate post to his residence, which is located in Giverny, France.
I have adored this place since my first visit there back to Spring 2002.
Monet found Giverny in 1890 and spent the rest of his life there. After the first some years he gave up to travel difference destinations for looking for topics to his paintings, as Giverny provided everything he needed. If you visit it, you will agree with him completely. The house is pale salmon pinkish with green doors and shutters with an amazing view to the garden. The garden is separated by a road (now you have to use a subway to walk from the upper garden to the lower one with the pond and the waterlilies). The upper garden is full with different flowers, roses, geraniums, sunflowers, dozens of species I have never seen before in my life. The air was heavy with their fragrance, birds twittered among the trees and though the garden was packed with visitors I felt myself extremely calm and contented. People sat on the benches, chatted with each other or simply were mesmerized by the fragrances and sounds of the garden. It is the Paradise itself.
The waterlilies on the pond are in full bloom, whites, pinks and pale yellows, the water reflects the wheeping willows, the sun plays tricks on the surface of the water. You are safe here. It is a different world: peaceful yet vivid. Harsh colours are everywhere: yellows and pinks and magentas, purples, oranges and reds with the thousand different shades of green. Monet wasn't only one of the greatest painter and father of impressionism, he was a great gardener too. If you have a chance don't skip it and visit Giverny. It is about 1 hour from Paris. You can take the train from Gare St. Lazare, the train station where Monet painted the steam some 140 years ago....