Today was our last full day in Paris. We were up relatively early as Jennie had booked a 1/2 day trip to Monet's Garden in Giverny. We decided to take an Uber to the pickup spot. The driver was my kind of driver. He whipped us around all the side streets, he honked at everyone, he muttered under his breath at other drivers. It was like I was driving the car. We arrived (in one piece) at the Eglise Notre-Dame de Compassion and took seats on the bus. It was a nice 1.5 hour drive through beautiful country. Our tour guide, Hendricks, had all kinds of information about Claude Monet.
Claude Monet (1840–1926) was a French painter and a founder of the Impressionist movement, a style characterized by capturing light and natural forms with loose brushwork and vivid colors. Born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, Monet grew up in Le Havre, Normandy, where he began drawing at an early age. His early talent was recognized through caricatures and local sketches.
Monet made a name for himself by exhibiting a painting of Camille Doncieux, his lover at the time, and later his first wife. This was a work painted in a realistic and detailed academic style. To get his painting into the Salon of 1866, he told the people in charge that he painted it in a couple of days, even though it took months. The painting was a critical success and helped to establish Monet's reputation.
In the 1860s, Monet studied art in Paris and formed friendships with other young artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Édouard Manet. He pioneered painting outdoors (en plein air) to better capture changing light and atmosphere. His painting Impression, Sunrise (1872) gave the Impressionist movement its name, though it was initially mocked by critics. In 1874, Louis Leroy published a satirical review in Le Charivari, after seeing Monet's painting "Impression, Sunrise". Leroy said the painting was unskilled, unfinished, and looked like an impression. He called it an impressionist painting and intended that term as a derogatory label. However, artists like Monet, Renoir, and others embraced the name, which ultimately stuck for their movement.
Impressionist paintings were characterized by short, visible brushstrokes, focus on light and atmosphere, depiction of modern life, leisure activities, and nature, and were painted bright, often with unmixed colors. Monet struggled financially during his early years. In 1868, Monet attempted suicide at the age of 28 by jumping into the Seine River. This act was driven by extreme poverty, rejection from the French art establishment, and his father's disapproval of his relationship with Camille. He survived the attempt and married Camille in 1870. She died 9 years later leaving him devastated. One of his darkest paintings came out of her death, a painting called "Camille on her deathbed."
Monet moved to Giverny in 1883, and this was the place where he created the famous water garden shown in many of his later works. His paintings Water Lilies, Japanese Bridge, and Rouen Cathedral explored how light and atmosphere transformed the same subject at different times of day and year. Monet planned the layout and flowers to be planted around the Giverny garden and he said that this was his best work of art. Monet died in 1926 of lung cancer. He was 86 years old.
After we arrived at the garden, we thought about going inside the house first, but pivoted and went to the water garden first. We were a little too early for the full water lily effect (they bloom fully in July), but it was still wonderful to see. After wandering around, we went back to flower garden, named Clos Normand, which sits in front of the house. Before getting back on the bus, we had lunch at La Capucine Giverny, grabbed some coffee and ice cream, and boarded the bus for the ride back to Paris.
My Genevieve, looking all pretty, on one of the bridges in the Japanese garden
How ever did we get the bride to ourself?
The pond in the Japanese garden
One of the few water lilies we found
Steps leading to the house
Beautiful scenery (the flowers weren't too bad either)
Life
Art
We decided to take the Metro back to the hotel. This turned out to be quite the adventure as my phone's GPS was giving conflicting signals. Once we straightened that out, we caught a train and arrived at the hotel around 4:00PM. Our tickets for the Eiffel Tower were for 5:45PM and we met the tour guide at 5:15PM. As we were waiting, I captured this photo of Jennie outside of an ice cream shop. It reminded me of one I took of her in 2018. Still pensive after 7 years.
We made our way to the Eiffel Tower, got in line and encountered a delay. The elevators from the ground level to platform 2 are funiculars. They are finicky and sometimes have problems in the later part of the day as the metal expands in the heat. They shut down the one we were waiting for and moved us over to another one. Fortunately that one worked fine and after a short delay, we were on our way to the top.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair which was held in Paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the dreadful French Revolution. The tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and met strong resistance from French artists and intellectuals who thought it was ugly and a disgrace to Paris (good thing they weren't around to see the horrible Olympic opening ceremony). Construction began in 1887 and was completed in 1889. The tower is 984 feet tall and was the tallest man-made structure in the world until the Chrysler Building surpassed it in 1930. It weighs 10,100 tons, consists of 18,000 individual iron parts that are held together with 2.5 million rivets.
We were loaded into the funicular for our ride to the second platform. After arriving, we were ushered over to the elevators for our ride to the 3rd platform.
Funicular from the bottom to platform 2
Elevator going straight up to platform 3
We were treated to incredible views of Paris from the outside viewing platform. My only complaint was just how crowded it was. I learned something about my wife of 7 years...she's not a fan of heights. After spending some time at the top, we boarded the elevator for our ride back to Platform 2. We were told by the guide that it was better to walk from Platform 2 to the bottom, as the elevators take some time. We walked from Platform 2 to Platform 1, stopped for a few minutes of rest and finished the walk. My 55 year old knees were feeling that descent.
Looking East towards Notre Dame
The Seine looks clean from 900 feet
Looking Northeast
Les Amour
Emily!
One last look at the tower
Tomorrow's Foie gras
Straight up the tower
North towards Sacre Couer
Something casting a big shadow
Looking West towards the Trocadero
We left the grounds and headed back towards our hotel to find something to eat. We ate so much pizza and pasta, that I really wanted something else. We went to a burger restaurant, but they did not have any booze. Walking down some side street we came upon a Japanese restaurant and to my surprise, Jennie was open to it. I ordered spicy ramen noodles and she ordered fried chicken and dumplings. We also grabbed two of the largest beers they had on the menu. The food was great, and we made our way back to the hotel to pack for our return to Phoenix tomorrow.
The beer was tall and cold
Jennie used the chopsticks. Me, give me the fork. Evidently the Parisians were laughing at me.
Today was our last train travel day. We left Nevers at 8:40AM, with an arrival time in Paris around 12:00PM. It is worth taking a minute to talk about rail travel in France. Over the past week we travelled from Paris to Mont St-Michel, Mont-St-Michel to Lisieux, Lisiuex to Paris to Nevers, and Nevers to Paris. We used the high-speed TGV train, the inter cities trains, and the transport express regional (TER) trains. The experience was wonderful. I think of some of the trips I have taken while living in Arizona: Phoenix to Bryce Canyon/Zion, Phoenix to Los Angeles, Phoenix to San Diego, Tucson to Galveston to name a few. It took 8 hours to get to Bryce/Zion, 6 hours to San Diego, 7 hours to Los Angeles, and 16 hours to Galveston. All of these were done by car, but would be perfect for the high speed/TER trains. Unfortunately, Americans are infatuated with car travel and would choose that over the trains anytime. If we had high speed trains in the USA, I don't know if I would choose to fly very often. I know I wouldn't choose to drive if I had a better option.
We arrived in Paris and took an Uber to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Eiffel Rive Gauche, a spot tucked away on a back street not more than a 5 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. We dropped our bags at the hotel and set out to find some food. We found a cafe, Cafe Le Dome, with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower. We should have checked the prices and reviews before we decided to eat there. One cheeseburger, fries and Coke set us back nearly $50. They stuffed us into a spot where it would have been tight for one person, let alone both of us. We split the burger and walked over to the Eiffel Tower.
Ou est la Tour Eiffel?
Voila
2025
2018
Found this beauty in the park. I wonder if she needs a green card?
Crooked?
Straight?
On our first trip to Paris, two days after we were married, we found a couple of spots to hang out and grab some nice pictures. I have two photos from 2018, one of Jennie napping in the green grass and another of her, with the Eiffel Tower behind her, with her wedding curls still hanging around. We wanted to try and recreate those pictures. Unfortunately, they had the grass area fenced off and the spot with the tower behind her was overrun by vendors. We managed to get a couple of similar photos, but they weren't the same. The area we were in was the Jardins du Trocadero. It was sad to see how much grafitti and trash were present in 2025 versus 2018. It was like a different place altogether. The weather had turned hotter, and we headed back to our hotel for a little rest period. Thankfully this Paris hotel had an air conditioner.
Tree-lined street
Our home in Paris
Merveilleux cafe avec terrasse avec une fille américaine
Emily?
Restraining Pegasus on top of Pont Alexandre III
Fontaine du Palmier at Place du Châtelet
Nice ride
Emily?
Golden hour at the Eiffel Tower
We headed back out for dinner and stopped at a restaurant called Angeli Focacceria, an Italian restaurant not more than 200 meters from the lunch disaster. What a difference that distance made. For about the same price as lunch we had Lasagnes Bolognese, Penne Bolognese and wine. The food was fantastic, and the night was beautiful. After dinner we walked over to the Promenade du qual Branly and decided to take a one hour cruise on the Seine. The time around the cruise terminal and on the boat was a great people watching time. So many people with their French Beret's, trying their best to look like Emily in Paris.
When the cruise was over, we walked back to our hotel and were out by 9:00PM. Tomorrow was a trip to Monet's Garden and to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
