After we left the quiet village of Thiverval-Grignon, we drove about 40 minutes to Monet’s Gardens in Giverny.   It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and the ticket lines were long.  Took about 1 hour to get in but well worth the wait.  Claude Monet, sometimes called the Father of Impressionism, liked to paint in the gardens that he landscaped and designed in his home in Giverny.

One of Douglas’s highlights was hearing a mother triple-warn her toddler to stay away from the water, after having already brought him to the wrong side of a roped off area, and then finally having the kid fall in causing much excitement.  Alas, no gorilla was around to drag the child away, but a 6 and a 1/2 foot tall guy did pull the soaked kid out of the water covered in algae and Monet lily pads.

Everything in the village was focused on tourists having their “Monet moment” and parting with some “Monet money.” Regardless, la jardin à la française est bebe.