Giverny & Le Train Bleu

Giverny -- best known for being the site of Monet's house/gardens -- is quite close to Paris by train.  Monet's gardens are so lovely.  

They are split into two parts.  There is a flower garden that is next to his house and walled in. Then there is the pond, which is across the street (there is an underground tunnel to walk over).  You can also go into his home and see some of his art and his studio.  

(That is the second or third version of that rainy day Caillebotte painting I saw.  I guess I need to go back to the Art Institute to see the big one...) My sister was charmed by how the furniture was painted to match the walls in multiple rooms.    

The pond obviously has lots of water lilies, but also bamboo (to nicely parallel all the Japanese art Monet had in his home). It was seething with tourists, but you could still find little pockets of privacy to appreciate the beauty. 

Fun fact: there is a little boat there that a servant used to take out to tend the pond.  Including drying off the lilies for optimal painting. 

I didn't leave us quite enough time for us to explore the town itself -- there is a museum and a lot of art galleries.  We ended up "just" having iced tea in a beautiful garden, with a rooster making sure we were on our best behavior.
  
I had a minor French language success, in that I got my mom a flower for her journal. There were heaps of flowers that we being thrown away -- the gardeners were working intensely at all times -- so I asked if she could have one.  Bien sûr!

On our way back, we stopped at Le Train Bleu, which my mom was interested in (it featured in a book she'd read). It was lovely.  

Although, perhaps the most memorable part was the tiny mouse that was scampering around the corner for much of the time. My mom and I could stop looking at it!  When we told the waiter about it, he said that he knew: "our cat died."  Okay, then.