in and around Paris

The skies have cleared somewhat, at least for the morning, but it's definitely cold by Parisian standards. No matter, by so many counts, it's a beautiful day. I'm grateful. I've long planned for this to be our day for an outing and really, this outing fares poorly when there is rain, even though, in travel, you have to take what comes your way. If the skies want to throw down snow or rain on you, well, you don't get a vote. I am, therefore, so very happy that we were dealt a cool but dry hand today!

It's the day where I ask Snowdrop to put on her new dress. This is a total favor to me and you could argue that I should just let her choose to stay with her comfortable favorites, but we'd made a deal back in Madison and so here we are -- a day for flowers. 

Breakfast, downstairs. 

I'm trying to stack up on protein because really, I have no idea how lunch will work today. Finding dinner foods is easy for this child compared to finding good lunch foods. Especially when we're on the run. We do go out to the local bakery and I try to coax her into a take-out sandwich, but she's not excited by any of it (this was entirely predictable as most sandwiches have butters, sauces, veggies, and all those other beautiful things that a child might have grave doubts about). So I buy cheesecake and mentally add fruits to the bag (thank you, dearest staff at the hotel for resupplying us with fruits!) and hope that this fills her calorie needs for the day.

We also pick up some macarons for dinner dessert. We've been skipping restaurant desserts, but a tiny sweet treat at end the day is always a special thing. Snowdrop doesn't have a real sweet tooth unless there's chocolate and especially if it comes in the shape of a macaron.

And at around noon, we come down to pick up the taxi that is to take us to the train station Gare St Lazare.

This is where the journey starts to be interesting. Meaning, things don't go according to plan.

The taxi driver, who happens to be the same one who did not know where to drop us off yesterday for the boat ride, tells me that he will take us to Gare Montparnasse. That is a train station exactly in the opposite direction to the one we want. I explain -- no, St Lazare. He answers -- sorry, I cant get there. Because of the marathon.

I knew there would be a marathon. The desk yesterday checked the hours of it and we were sure that we could sneak over just at midpoint. Apparently not. Not by this cab driver anyway. Why Montparnasse?

From there, you can take the metro to St Lazare. 

Well, that may have worked had we an hour or more to spare. There's no hope in hell that we'll make our train in that way. Even if I were willing to risk getting a positive Covid test by using a crowded metro, Montparnasse is a zoo of train lines and I dont even have a loaded metro card. So no, that wont work. Minutes are ticking away. What to do?

If we lived in Paris, we'd skip the planned trip to Giverny today and try for another time. But we dont live in Paris and it's today, with tickets in hand, or not at all. So I stop thinking about the credit card bill that will greet me upon my return to the US and tell him -- okay, can you drive us to Giverny?

Where is that?

Up the road. (haha) But first, maybe you should tell me how much this will cost.

He looks things up and comes up with a sum which seems only slightly more than a cab ride to the Venice airport from our hotel there. (That's my justification for it.) 

Okay, go for it.

It takes him an hour to get out of the city. The traffic is awful. I am grateful that no one got car sick because it certainly was that kind of a ride.

The only pleasant moment? seeing the yellow rapeseed fields of France out the window once we get out of the city...

... oh, and the joy of finally getting to the village of Giverny!

As predicted, the tourists haven't yet descended on this place, which is awfully nice for us. The first cafe we enter has tables available. I mean, how unreal is that!

Lunch was okay. Usually there are too many sauces on every dish on every menu for Snowdrop's taste, but here they had a Normandie cheese plate and she is usually happy to go with bread and cheese when all else fails. Me, I order a kir Normande. That's cider with a splash of cassis. It reminds me of old times and more importantly, it's like a big exhale. I mean, we made it!

And at 3:30, we meet Ariane. She is from Giverny and often works in the gardens. Why I should think I would benefit from this is hard to explain. Initially, I thought we could not get into Giverny this year without an escort. No tickets were being sold. So I emailed her and we set a time for our walkthrough.  I  figured Snowdrop wont care whether or not there is a person with great knowledge to explain stuff, while me -- well, maybe I'll learn something. I have questions. She'll have answers.

Ariane was very nice and indeed very knowledgable and she played to Snowdrop, engaging her at every turn. Still, later in the evening Snowdrop and I agreed that we would have been better off on our own. We would have moved at our pace. She would have been given a chance to lose herself in the magic of the gardens. 

Nonetheless, Ariane was good and Monet's gardens (which are the reason of the trip) were, as always, magnificent. Here, spend the late afternoon at Giverny with us!

Over the years, I have been so inspired by these gardens! There were times when I would come to Giverny straight from the airport. I'd overnight in the village and visit the gardens twice -- in the morning and late afternoon. I've learned that late afternoon is best. Less crowded, better light.

But I've never seen the flower beds in very early spring. 

They'd been closed for Covid and closed for the winter, opening for the first time in a while just two days ago. 

Total heaven...

(inside Monet's house: the yellow room...)

(one last one...)

Ariane is helpful in one additional way -- she takes us to the train station in Vernon at the end of the day. She says that they are planning to introduce a self-driving shuttle between Vernon and Giverny very soon. For now, getting to the train station remains a challenge.

(the train ride: so good, especially when compared to the car ride over)

The return train pulls in to Paris toward evening. We are tired and hungry of course. There are no taxis at the cab stand, so we set out to walk back to the hotel. A good 45 minute walk. Except we get lucky and a cab pulls up and we get in and boom! Over the river...

And we are home.

I'd booked a table at a restaurant that is literally a block up from our hotel door for dinner. I'd never eaten there but it's always crowded and no one seems to be complaining. Au Petit Suisse. 

Just what we need. Some chicken, haricots verts, and fries for her, some veal for me and we're done. It was a long day. With flowers and crazy cabs and in the end, grand memories. 

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris. I let her set our schedule. You'll see what she came up with for the two of us!

Good night, with love...