Mom and Mary were ambitious enough to get up early to catch a 10:20 AM train with us. Giverny, Monet's home, is a very popular tourist stop. Not only foreigners from around the country but also as we found out yesterday many preschoolers. Giverny isn't a straight shot on the train. We took a French train to Vernon, a quaint town located on the oppisite side of the Seine River. There is a bus that connects Vernon to Giverny but all the tour books recommend by passing the bus and taking a taxi. After seeing the line, Mary acquired a 9-person taxi. It was a smart choice because we arrived sooner than all the people on the train which was so crowded we didn't sit together. Since we had purchased our ticket online, we walked right it. It is amazing. Rows and rows of colorful flowers all in bloom. Some of the flowers we reconized but there were just as many that we didn't. The walking paths are designed so you can't really meander. If you follow the crowd, it will take you to the bridge with the water lilies blooming in the pond. It started to mist so the view was more like his paintings. We toured his house, a comfortable place with a bright yellow kitchen that feed 14 at the table. Grace liked Monet's living room that had big comfty chairs with lots of sun. Apparently, Monet and his Alice had 8 children combined from previous relationships that lived in the house. Monet was first married to Camille, his model, and they had 2 sons. She had died young.
We returned to Paris around 4 PM just in time for a goûter (snack) at the much acclaimed Jacques Genin chocolaterie. Mary ordered several pastries including a double eclair chocolat, carmel eclair, coffee puff and vanilla creme. We also ordered cappuccino, but it wasn't your typical cappuccino. It had lots and lots of chocolate and lots of cream in it. Apparently, there were several tea choices as well that had chocolate in it. The double chocolate eclair was the favorite. The store/cafe was very chic. They only have a few chairs and tables set up more like a living room. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a couple get up to leave and a man from a different table stole the chocolates from their table. I don't know why I was so surprised; yesterday I saw a very clean-cut man taking several loaves of baquettes from a garbage can. Anyway, the kids were very excited because Kai, Amely, Jan and Anja were in town for the weekend. The night ended with dinner at Le Toumilou, recommend in a kids-in-Paris book for good French food that has exsisted for over a century, with the von der Felsens, Mary and mom. The girls got beef bourginone and the boys ordered liver. The beef bourguinon was very tender and good. Jack thought the sauce on the liver was good and would have been even better without the liver, which he orders every decade or two to see if he might eventually like it. The appetizers were full of flavor.
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