The Impressionist Tour
Our first trip in our new car was the long-awaited “Impressionist tour” – code name for Giverny and Rouen. Afterwards, we planned to tackle the beaches of Normandie – code names Omaha, Gold and Juno – because we arrived last time after dark.
Giverny was once Claude Monet’s home, and it is now a major tourist destination. There were busloads of tourists, but the gardens still retain their charm. The area outside the house is lined with formal gardens and includes a spectacular display of tulips, hyacinths, lilacs, and pansies. There were blossoming apple trees trained to form a topiary-like fencing. The informal gardens around the pond were our favorites. This is where Monet painted his famous series of water lilies. A series of arches with clematis, wisteria and roses lined the path to the house. Although the tour directed guests to a room with reproductions of Monet’s paintings, we were surprised to find many pieces of original Japanese art. In fact, the only non-Japanese works of art in Monet’s house were his own paintings. I thought it was pretty interesting. You can see the influence of Japanese design in Edgar Degas’ work, but I never suspected Monet was also such a big fan.
After Giverny, we headed to Rouen to see the cathedral that Monet painted. We discovered that, like the clock towers in Bern, there are many cathedrals and cathedral-like buildings (i.e. churches and abbeys) in Rouen. We wandered around the timbered buildings in the old medieval center of Rouen, snapping pictures of every cathedral-like building we saw, until we finally found the cathedral. It doesn’t look the way Monet painted it, but I guess that’s why he was derisively called an impressionist.
Giverny was once Claude Monet’s home, and it is now a major tourist destination. There were busloads of tourists, but the gardens still retain their charm. The area outside the house is lined with formal gardens and includes a spectacular display of tulips, hyacinths, lilacs, and pansies. There were blossoming apple trees trained to form a topiary-like fencing. The informal gardens around the pond were our favorites. This is where Monet painted his famous series of water lilies. A series of arches with clematis, wisteria and roses lined the path to the house. Although the tour directed guests to a room with reproductions of Monet’s paintings, we were surprised to find many pieces of original Japanese art. In fact, the only non-Japanese works of art in Monet’s house were his own paintings. I thought it was pretty interesting. You can see the influence of Japanese design in Edgar Degas’ work, but I never suspected Monet was also such a big fan.
After Giverny, we headed to Rouen to see the cathedral that Monet painted. We discovered that, like the clock towers in Bern, there are many cathedrals and cathedral-like buildings (i.e. churches and abbeys) in Rouen. We wandered around the timbered buildings in the old medieval center of Rouen, snapping pictures of every cathedral-like building we saw, until we finally found the cathedral. It doesn’t look the way Monet painted it, but I guess that’s why he was derisively called an impressionist.
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