France 2008

Giverny, 14 May

Arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 8 am, we had most of the day to fill before we could go to our B&B in Giverny, so we visited some nice towns on the way.

Gisors is a small and attractive town, just north of Paris.
		The main street. †
		†
		Looking over rooftops towards the cathedral. †
		The castle up on its mound. †
		Another view of the cathedral. *
		Wooden statue of Madonna and Child in the cathedral. *
		We got some food from a supermarket and had a picnic in the gardens by the citadel. *
Lyons-la-Forêt is another attractive small town.
		*
		The market building in the main square. *
		*
		A lovely, private garden. *
We also stopped at the Abbaye de Fontaine-Guérard, in a secluded valley where a stream bubbled up out of the ground.
		*
		*
		*
		*
Giverny is a small village that would be quite unremarkable, except that the painter Claude Monet decided to live there.
		This is Monet's house. *
		And the famous water-lily pond, with Japanese bridge draped in wisteria. *
		*
		*
		†
		There are other flowers in the garden. *
		*
		*
		*
		*
		*
		Our B&B was very comfortable, but some of the outbuildings could have used some attention! †

From Giverny, we headed west to Dinan in Brittany.