Giverny and back

It took Peter some time to work out the train timetable.   When you put in your departure and destination points on the SNCF website and it gives you the through trains.  You have to hunt high and low for information about any other routes that involve a change.  In the end we thought we had cracked it and we went off early to the Gare St. Lazare and found the train we had hoped to find.   So a good start. 

When we arrived at Vernon, the nearest station to Giverny, we were hoping to find the regular shuttle bus that takes visitors to Monet's house.   It had stopped running the previous day!  A taxi driver who was already booked took pity on us when none of the taxi firms were answering their phones, and called a colleague who was there in half a minute and took us and two other stranded tourists to Giverny.   The other two were an American woman who had got separated from her friends and a young and very nervous South American girl who didn't have quite enough change for the taxi, so we helped her out.

Museum entrance at Giverny

Monet's house and garden were closed, but as that wasn't the point of the journey, we were not disappointed.  After a quick cup of coffee we went to see the exhibition of Belgian impressionists.  It was the first Sunday in the month and therefore free entry, but a man was barring the way in.  "May we go in?" "Not yet".  Silence on his part and mystification on ours.  Then a curt nod of the head towards the lady seated behind the ticket desk.  We took the hint and presented ourselves.  "Nationality?" We owned up to being British.  Two tickets were given to us.  We took two steps to the right and the man tore the tickets in half.  Bureaucracy satisfied, and rudeness exercised, we were allowed in. It was a great exhibition. Artists we didn't know and pictures we had never seen before.  Some beauties too!  We went round twice.

The Old Gardener - walking out of the canvas

Breakfast

Probably my favourite. By Emile Claus

Then, shunning the burger menu at the café at the museum, we walked down the road to a little hotel and had lunch there, omelettes paysanne and salad...and a half carafe of wine.  Rather than call a taxi we decided to take advantage of the time we had and the wonderful weather and  walk back to Vernon.  We understood it to be 4km away.  It turned out to be 5km, but the route for the most part followed an old railway line and the road through Giverny which ran along side has been landscaped with shrubs and grasses which were looking lovely.  It was an excellent walk.

Road through Giverny

An unexpected emu

The old railway line

The old railway line

View across the fields

Seen from the bridge at Vernon

Hairdresser's window display, Vernon

Fishmonger's sign

The train back came from Rouen and was packed.  I found a seat, but Peter only obtained one by insisting, aided by a lady sitting opposite,  that a young woman remove her bag from the seat it was occupying.   Despite this example of selfishness, it is interesting to see that in the Metro, people are very considerate of the 'old' and we nearly always get offered seats.  When the trains get crowded, those on the tip up seats near the doors, automatically stand up to create more room. 

We Skyped with Rupert and he sent us photographs of some rotten beam in the cellar.  Oh dear!