Travel Stories: France Tour 2019

June 22, 2019 Susan

I’ve just returned from the France tour I led and what an awesome trip it was! Twenty-four wonderful folks joined me and we saw so many beautiful gardens and chateaus.

Today is the first in a series of posts about the France tour and we’re starting with the first garden we visited, Claude Monet’s beautiful garden in Giverny. This was my third visit to this iconic garden and it’s still just as lovely as it was on the previous visits.

Unfortunately, there were a LOT of other tourists there (what’s up with that anyway, LOL) because a) it’s high season and b) we were there on a holiday weekend (Pentecost). But it still was a memorable visit.

First, let me give you a bit of background on Monet’s garden, then I’ll share some photos of what we saw:

There are two different areas of the garden: the Clos Normand (the garden in front of his house which is about 2 1/2 acres in size) and the water garden.

Monet and his family moved to Giverny in 1883. There is a central alley that divides the garden which used to be lined with pine trees. Claude had all but 2 of them cut down as a compromise with his wife, Alice, who loved those trees. The central alley is spanned by iron arches that are covered with climbing roses. In late summer, the alley fills in with nasturtiums.

Monet planted combinations of colors and let them grow however they wanted. He especially loved adding rare plants to his garden. Ten years after they moved there, a neighbor’s property came up for sale so Claude bought it.

He had the pond dug and eventually expanded it to its present size. His goal was to model it after the Japanese gardens he’d seen in art prints. There is a Japanese bridge that spans the pond, wisteria vines, cherry trees, willows and bamboo. And of course, there are all sorts of water lilies growing in the pond, which were featured in so many of Monet’s wonderful paintings where he worked to capture the light, colors and reflections on the water.

Claude Monet died in 1926. Both his house and garden were restored over the course of 10 years due to damage sustained during WWII as well as from neglect. The garden was opened to the public in 1980. Half a million people (!) come to see the this wonderful garden each year. We saw roses, clematis, Oriental poppies, peonies, forget-me-nots and so many more beautiful flowers!

And now for a few more photos: (remember that you can always view a much larger image by clicking on any of the photos)