I Spent a Day in Giverny!

I have been living in Paris for almost two months now, and I have seen many museums, cathedrals, and more that are all fantastically captivating as well as beautiful. However, in order to see the most amazing landmark, it is necessary to drive northwest outside of Paris for about an hour and a half until reaching the village of Giverny. 

I just went to Giverny on Sunday with my host family, and I was dumbfounded with the beauty and care of the village. While driving into the parking lot for the tourists of the village, I saw beautiful stone walls covered in ivy that displayed all of the colors of fall and mountains surrounding me with beautiful green, orange, and yellow trees.

Upon entry, the four of us – Christiane, Xavier, Kayla, and I – got coffee and tea at a little café in front of the town. Warm drinks, birds chirping, conversation with friends, and the beauty of all of the nature made that café an amazing spot to rest for a few minutes. This was so perfect because I could really feel the French way of life and live in the moment. I wasn’t rushing into the village to see everything right away. Instead I experienced the beauty of the village by being peaceful in the present moment.

After our drinks, we headed into the residential part of the village. The village was so beautiful, with stone houses and flowers everywhere, and I loved how it all backed up to a forested mountain.

The best part of the trip was visiting Monet’s house and garden. The garden is massive with the prettiest flowers I have ever seen, and the aroma when I first stepped in was like no other. We walked through the garden for an hour: stopping to take pictures, smelling the flowers, and discussing the significance behind them all. After seeing his garden, I was not surprised that Monet became a famous painter. An amazing scene of flowers and nature constantly surrounded him, which was a perfect muse for his art. At the end of the journey around the garden we went into his house. It was way bigger than I expected and he had a humungous collection of art from all different parts of the world. I found it interesting that he seemed to have a passion for Japanese art as well.

Monet’s house and the town of Giverny is easily the highlight of my trip so far, and I would recommend to anyone coming to Paris to take a day trip there. It is definitely worth the journey.