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.
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