Travel Tales: Paris 2003, Part Four

Wednesday in Paris began with an early breakfast at the hotel, and then we met our tour companions for a trip to Giverney, where Monet lived and worked. We spent all morning in the gardens, where I noticed that all older French women seem to use the same perfume! I don't remember smelling any flowers, just perfume. Anyway, Monet's gardens were beautiful, with all sorts of flowers and plants to look at and take pictures of. Some samples:




Across from the flower garden was Monet's water garden, which inspired many of the famous paintings you see today.


The gardens were also really pretty, but by then Lindsay and I decided to check out what Giverny looked like. To be honest - not much! The town was very small, with only a small road leading away from it and into it. It did have a little cafe and shop but we decided to wait until we got back to Paris to eat.

That evening we were planning on going on a Bateaux-Mouches cruise on the Seine, but we had a few hours to kill. We decided to take care of our souvenirs, and so we headed to the little alleyway below the hotel to shop the little shops. I found a book full of art nouveau prints, and we managed to get a lot of cool prints and posters for everyone else, including the awesome Maizena poster that looked like Jack (which we of course bought for Willa)!


Done with shopping, we relaxed for a while - our tour of Paris was definitely exhausting! Once it was time to head for the cruise, we met the tour group again and went to dinner, which took place at a restaurant that liked to use silverware in it's decor. Forks and spoons were on the walls and on the lamps, creating art. It was really cool. Everyone else had salmon, but I had to be difficult of course and have chicken! The dessert was chocolate mousse though, which I doubt I went a day without while in Paris (and you'd think I'd gain weight, but I didn't!).

Once on the boat, we saw all the famous sights of Paris from the river, some that we were already quite familiar with and some that we were not. We saw Notre Dame for the first time up close, and planned to go there on Friday, our final day in Paris! We were also able to get some pictures of a lot of buildings we would not otherwise have been able to photograph in their entirely. We also took pictures of houses we simply liked! One of the best parts was the tango lessons being given along the river.

That night we headed back to the hotel, and I believe this was the night I slammed my finger into a gate and bruised my nail. I have NO IDEA how I managed to hit my hand that hard, but it happened! Oh well - it did not put a damper on the trip at all, and we headed to bed (I wonder if this was the night I watched French Idol...) to get ready for our visit from Evelyn and Gunther the next day!