Into the French countryside….
Into the French countryside…..
I was invited to join n expedition into the wilds of the French countryside, well Giverny is hardly a long way from Paris, and it is the most gentle of countryside, but nevertheless an adventure to be leaving Paris for a day - on the train with Australian friends Mary, Colin and Jane. New experience as I had previously done coach tours – the easy way, but of course with little flexibility.
So, we set out from Saint Lazare station – Jane managing to get the tickets from a machine (very clever) – in true French fashion, the queue to buy tickets was approximately 20-30 minutes long.
I haven’t yet decided how to measure French queues. Is it by the number of people ahead of you, or the length of the queue, eg. Versailles was approximately 400 metres, or by the length of time it takes for you to get to the head of the queue eg. At the train ticket offices where you might just want to buy a ticket to a local suburban station, but the man in front of you wants to do a trip around the world by train – and with the very attentive officials, this could actually take days (the buyi8ng of the ticket, not the trip)!!!
Anyway, off to Giverney – rattling, or rather very smoothly travelling through the lovely French countryside – travelling west of Paris.
You leave the train at a small town called Vernon – where the bus for Giverny meets each train from Paris – and there you queue up again to get on the bus. Still, lots of time – and of course when we get to Giverny, there’s another queue to get into the house and garden.The upside of queues is that youhave time to look around you, people watch, and learn patience!!
I have of course written at length previously about Monet’s beautiful house and gardens – but it’s a place I could visit time and again – the gardens always have something different in bloom – this time the Rhododendroms – yellows, pinks, reds – and the lovely little pansies smiling up at one. And the lovely complex Iris – how clever Nature is - deep purple, pale mauve with shrubs of pale yellow Peonies in beteen. The day was a brilliantly sunny with a clear blue sky – and the air was filled with thousands of little balls of fluff – a bit like sheep’s wool, they completely covered the water lily pond and all the surrounding gardens – and after a bit of investigative journalism, I discovered it was from all the Poplar trees (Peuplier in French). And Google continues to amaze me – I just type in a word, click translate, and hey presto – incredible.
And even though there are always many visitors, the peace and tranquillity surround you as you wander down the paths alongside the little creek running merrily along between the tall poplar trees, the beautiful Beech tress with their dark red/brown leaves, and with an amazing cacophony of birdsong accompanying you – until some very noisy people sit on the seat beside you and talk very loudly – luckily I can’t understand what they are saying!!!
And before leaving Girverny, I must mention Monet’s house – my favourite room is the dining room – painted in a buttercup yellow with blue and white tiles – I even have his cookbook with some wonderful photos of the house and garden, and even more wonderful recipes – like stuffed onions -
And the best part of coming ‘under one’s own steam’ to Girverny – is the relaxed time limit. So after a leisurely lunch – mainly because the waiter was so slow, we strolled through the village to the churchyard where Monet and his family are buried – together with more graveyards from the 2nd world war – they are scattered throughout northern France.
All in all a great day –
And now something totally different – today was the opening of the French Tennis Open and I had managed to get tickets on the internet. Ian and I set off with our picnic – water and baguettes etc.
Took the metro to Roland Garros – and of course what did we find – but ‘the queue’ – in fact 3 different queues depending on the type of ticket you had. - Still, we are used to it now, and in fact it is very entertaining to watch how people will ‘push in’ by standing nearby and then eventually sidling in to the queue as if they have been there all along – it’s quite an art!!
We had tickets for the Centre Court, Philippe Chatrier but Leyton Hewitt was playing on Court 1 so had assumed we would be able to watch it – but no, you had to have specific tickets for that Court (and what a match that was).
Still, we had a wonderful Women’s match with Ana Ivanovic (looking stunning in a deep turquoise dress – and very long legs) and the Italian Sara Errani which Ana eventually won, and then a coupole of the men’s singles – so an excellent day’s tennis in all.
It was the first hot day of summer – 27 degrees and no wind – and what surprised us was that neither the ball boys or the chair umpire wore hats – and when the players had their break, the ball boys would bring out umbrellas and hold them over their heads – interesting!
Ian left early to fly to Frankfurt for a meeting and then will fly to Warsaw where I will meet him Monday night – 3 days to explore this city which was apparently rebuilt in its original style after it was devastated during the war.
Another hot day in Paris – 30 degrees – and I’m the only one who wears a hat here!!
More later
A bientot
Barbara
