After leaving the Palace of Versailles, we headed to Giverny, a village about 50 miles from Paris, located in the region of Normandy. Giverny is best know as the location of Claude Monet's gardens and home, where Monet lived and painted for 43 years. Monet purchased the house in 1890, living there with his second wife and their 8 children. A few years after purchasing the house, Monet acquired additional land and began developing his gardens, including the traditional English garden and the Japanese garden and water lily pond.
None of the paintings on display are original (all replicas) but apparently, most of the tourists were not listening when that information was provided, as they all frantically snapped photos of each and every one of them.
The house itself was a bit of a disappointment. We waited in line for a very long time to get inside and then we were decidedly underwhelmed.
The Japanese gardens were insanely crowded and we were very surprised by how many people simply stopped everyone around them so that they could do mini photo shoots (including an engagement session on the famous bridge) and take selfies.
There are several different species of water lilies in the pond.
Eglise Sainte-Radegonde de Giverny is a church located a short walk from Monet's home. It is known as the parish where Monet attended services, as the final resting place for Monet and his family.
Monet's grave
The cemetery includes the graves and memorial to seven British airmen who died during WW2 when their plane crashed in Giverny.
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