Journey Across France

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Saturday, 24 April 1999 - Left Paris for a day trip to Giverny to visit Claude Monet's House and Gardens including the famous lily pond and bridge that inspired many of his masterpieces, then returned to Paris where a museum strike shifted plans to Musée Rodin to see

France 1999
The day started out with a trip to Giverny where Claude Monet lived for 43 years until his death in 1926. The Maison et Jardein de Claude Monet (Claude Monet House and Gardens), his studio, and lilly pond have been restored. The tour of the lilly pond was a great inspiration, and you can understand what motivated Monet to capture the pond in several paintings. This is a picture looking over the pond to a bridge where Virginia Ann is perched.
France 1999
Another shot of Virginia Ann on the bridge - you have to look pretty close.
France 1999
The famous lilly pond.
France 1999
Another shot of the lilly pond.
France 1999
Another short of the lilly pond.
France 1999
And a finial picture of the lilly pond. It is straightforward to see why it was such an inspiration.
France 1999
Outside Monet's house is a very extensive garden that provided various settings for his paintings.
France 1999
The garden with the house visible in the background.
France 1999
Another picture of the garden.
France 1999
The museum workers were on strike so the big draws were all closed - the Louvre, Musee d' Orsay... So we had to plan for other attractions in the afternoon. We decided to visit the Musee Rodin housing the famous Thinker and The Kiss. Auguste Rodin lived from 1840-1917 and the Hotel Biron is filled with his sculpture and pieces used as models for larger works. The garden is filled with his works as well this is Cal standing at the Gates of Hell
France 1999
Here is the famous Thinker. Nearly 500 works by Rodin are in the museum, demonstrating his ideas dropping the traditional pyramid and pedestal construction. His figures are airy or merged with the base. When Rodin died in 1917 France inherited the villa.
France 1999
We took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe for a quick look. It is colossal - planned by Napoleon to celebrate his military successes - it took 20 years past his death to complete. France's Unknown Soldier is buried beneath the archway with a flame rekindled each evening.

From the Arc de Triomphe we took the subway to Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, which is the largest of the Parisian cemeteries. Magnificent tombs between cobbled paths and lush vegetation. We bought a map and began to hunt for the famous graves - including Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison (the crowd was the clue), Ney, a favorite Napoleon general, Chopin, and others. We hunted for a Virginia Ann favorite - Edith Piaf but could not find the grave.

Dinner was aboard a boat traveling from the Eiffel Tower past Notre-Dame on the Seine. It was beautiful and a delightful way to see the city.

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