Wednesday - Monet's garden trip
Got up fairly early and were out by 8.45 to catch the Metro to St. Lazzar and then on to the meeting place for the Fat Tire bike trip to Giverny. We were early so went and booked for our train tickets from Paris to Joigny on Friday. Not particularly easy but after 3 different information counters, got the right one. 66.74 E for 4 seniors - about a 90 minute trip.
Anyway, after quite a wait our tour leader arrived to escort us on to the train - a lovely 2 story train, quite superior to the local Metro trains. Very comfortable with great visibility. Not that the scenery was that great for a lot of the way, you know what railway lines are like for rubbish, graffiti etc. There were quite a few of us - about 20 including some young children, Australians, Americans, Kiwis (us) and 4 Welsh ladies all from West Wales. Welsh was their first language and it was funny to hear them all jabbering away all day.
Got to Vernon and walked to the storage unit for the bikes, all got fitted out with really comfortable bikes and rode about 5 minutes away to a market where we had an hour to buy food. Jan and I went off to get the bread and pastries, while Paul and Kev were charged with getting the cheese, meats etc. J and I got 4 x double espressos take away coffees (@ 4E each quite expensive). Back on the bikes and off to our picnic spot by the Seine. We had fabulous French bread, avocado, tomato Salami, Jambon, two types of cheese, and then some yummy pastries, all washed down by a lovely red wine Chateau la Fonceliere' On then to the rail trail towards Giverny. A lovely ride, not too arduous with just one slight uphill slope. Mind you there were one or two who obviously found that difficult. We breezed up the hill along with the much younger ones.
Monet's garden - especially the water gardens, were beautiful. Just as I had imagined they would be. It has been a dull overcast day with a threat of rain, but stayed fine. Monet's house was spectacular, with special attention paid to the colours of the rooms and the absolutely beautiful kitchen. All blue tiled, huge stove and sink, very worthy of a photo, but unfortunately there was a Gestapo officer there watching. Kevin tried to take a photo from the outside but was being watched like a hawk.
Back to the bikes eventually by 3.50 as directed, but hello, 2 were missing. A bit of mucking about with Andrew going backwards and forwards looking for the two American women. They were at least 30 minutes late and of course we had a train to catch didn't we.
Back on the train for the 1 hr trip back to Paris and then on the Metro home by 6 pm.
Now sitting down with a red wine and thinking about what we are going to do for dinner.
We are all at a loss to understand the French restaurants and café. The menus are all the same - Comfit of duck, Poulet, Boeuf tartare, Ham and cheese salad and sometimes Calf's head!!! All with lots of potatoes in various forms and French bread. Not a lot of variety I have to say. We have sought local advice and tried many different areas but all much the same. The meals all seem to be almost pre-prepared to some extent as they are delivered very quickly. We haven't been going to the cheap restaurants either - they are all horrendously expensive - especially as the Euro is self destructing.
More tomorrow.