In 2006, I traveled with a group of American students all over France. This was my second trip to Europe in one year, and was a major part of developing my ambitions to travel the world as much as possible. One of the places the group went was Giverny, a small village famous because Claude Monet resided there and found inspiration for a vast majority of his paintings.
After re-visiting Amsterdam in May of 2013, my parents and I took the fast train to Paris’ Gare du Nord, and after some navigating difficulties, made our way to a different train station and to Vernon, where we stayed in a quiet hotel and enjoyed a fabulous sunset. The next day, we strolled to Giverny, and discovered the tulips were in full bloom.
This was a great opportunity to test the “Macro” setting on my iPhone’s Camera+ app. Not perfect, but not bad either.
I was excited to show my mother this place, especially because she has a certain affinity for flowers and gardens. I have since adopted and started hosting house plants in my little Kazakhstani apartment as well, hoping that my mom’s skilled green-thumb might be genetic.
One of my fondest memories of being there in 2006 was being on the iconic bridge with my good friend Rachel. We waited and waited for a gap in the crowds of tourists to get a shot of us, and just like that, the crowds parted and we got a photo. This time, I was much more lonely, and it took no time at all since there was maybe a quarter of the amount of tourists which would undoubtedly arrive in a month’s time.
A quick stop in the gift shop, and we started to walk back to Vernon for another night in a quiet French village. Along the way, we stopped by the little church in Giverny to see Monet’s final resting place.
After, we caught another beautiful sunset on the River Seine, and called it a night in hopes of catching an early train back to Paris for a fun day in another city that vies for the top spot on my list of favorite cities.
