I took my bike to the metro station at Montparnasse to get the line 12 to gare Saint Lazare and got on the train to Vernon. Before leaving I did a little research on the web for train times and how to get to Giverny, it is real easy. The train going took 90 minutes and was without toilets so I played golf on my cell phone the whole way to keep my mind off of the necessity to go.
Right of the train at Vernon I followed the crowd out under the train tracks and out of the station to the cafe de chemin de fer where I rented a bike for 12 Euro and headed off. After I came back I found out that the other bar rents for 10 euro a day. The ride to Giverny is flat and there is a nice bike trail off of the main road where all the trucks are. The weather was beautiful and I stopped every 5 meters to take a photograph. That was my mission to find subject matter for my clients paintings. They told me that I had done enough of Tuscany. After painting Tuscany for 21 years it is great to see the green of Normandy. Green is a great color to paint, it doesn't really exist.
There was on the way this beautiful red cat that angrily stared at me taking his picture. "Another tourist to bother me." He seemed to say. Giverny is just packed with tourists. Monet's garden and house were like Venice at carnevale. You just got pushed around by the crowd and it was impossible to get photos of things without tons of people in the way. I was also in the way of people taking pictures.
The day was hot, great for me after experiencing the Parisien cold. I doubt i will get the parisien cold out of my mind for a long time. I imagine that the valley of the Loire in the summer is unbearably hot and humid considering how warm it was yesterday. And there are mosquitoes. I swallowed a few on my bike ride back to Vernon and had to clean my sunglasses like a windshield. At least I don't suffer allergies from pollen, you could taste it in the air. This morning i am discovering all the mosquito bites.
Now I have over 200 photographs of tulips and stone houses to paint from. Off to the atelier.
