Look Out the Window

On our visit to France in June, we decided to only schedule two tours and leave the rest of our days to explore at will.

A bicycle tour of Versailles was an unanimous choice and I was pleased when we all settled on Giverny as our second tour.

This was my second visit to Giverny, but my first taking a van tour.

Our guide began shared interesting facts and details from the minute our tour began - I did not know that Claude Monet's first name was actually Oscar.

My favorite tidbit was that Monet designed his garden so that if he looked out any of the windows he would see something to paint.

Because we were with a tour, we entered through a side gate and were then set free to explore on our own for several hours.

We arrived at 1 p.m under gray skies and slight rain, which turned to mist and by 2 p.m. the sky was blue.

The variety of flowers amazed me

and made me a bit envious.

I have many of the same blooms in my garden, but mine do not grow so tall

and look at the size of those leaves.

We spent most of our time in the garden

and finally made our way to the house.

I could easily live in the beautiful house,

 relaxing after a morning of gardening in this beautiful room and enjoying the views that inspired Monet.

I'd happily sit in the kitchen while Steve cooked,

but I would need help keeping the copper shining.

I mentioned envy earlier in my post,

but truly I only felt motivated to come home and cultivate my garden.

Giverny is definitely worth a visit.