Bonjour and happy Wednesday!

The planning for my most recent trip to France didn’t feel complete until I booked a half-day trip to Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. I booked through Paris City Vision, a company I have used before so have trust in them. It felt like a lot of information was missing from the tour’s description (how much time will we have to explore? Is there food? Is it a walkable distance to the village?) so I booked a half-day self-guided tour, which was basically a coach ride to and from Giverny.

For myself and the friend I was traveling with, a half day was not enough time. We could have easily spent a full day there. The gardens are expansive and to fully enjoy them (and if you take photos you’ll need even more time) a half day is not enough. We ended up meandering through the farthest garden, skipping the gardens by the house except for the path we walked down to get to the house, semi-rushing through the house (which was disappointing because there isn’t really any information inside the house to talk about the rooms or the house), and semi-rushing through the gift shop in order to make it back to our bus on time. And in October it was very busy still. The house is within the village of Giverny and there are shops and food there. There is also the church and graveyard where Monet and his family are buried and I would have loved to see that. I think in the future if I make it back I will attempt taking public transportation and plan to spend a full day there.