No rest for the weary – that’s for sure. Day one, port one. Fortunately, we’re not weary! And we are up and breakfasted and off the ship a little past 7:30. We are the first off the ship as a matter of fact!
One of the huge bonuses of sailing with Azamara is that they provide free shuttles into town at virtually every port. In Honfleur, we are docked outside of the main town area near what looks like a lumber yard. It’s a 20 to 30 minute walk into town, if you choose, but the shuttle is right there and scheduled to run every half an hour. We hop aboard the first shuttle, scheduled for 8:00, and sit patiently waiting for others. Nobody shows. And to our great delight, the bust driver shuts the door at 8:00 sharp and proceeds to take us into town. Awesome! Normally in these situations, the shuttle waits until the bus is filled before leaving. We are happy campers as we’d like to beat the rush and get to our rental car quickly.
We’re dropped off at the bus station in town, and walk the remaining 10 minutes up the street to the Sixt rental car office. They don’t open until 9:00, so we know we’ll be early, but we’d rather there waiting, first in line for when the office opens. As it turns out, the rental agent is early too and he opens the office shortly after we arrive. Paperwork complete, we hop into our Ford Focus (which is definitely redesigned from our old Focus) and head out toward Giverny, our first stop of the day.
The car has GPS, so we use both Alice and the car’s unit (which we simply call “him” or “he”). Both send us in the same direction, but as usual, have different ways in the end to get to Giverny. We go with Alice (especially since the highway signs direct us on the same route) and make it to Giverny a little after 10:00. We bypass the parking signs that are a little distance from the house, and drive directly to the entrance, where I know there parking. Unfortunately we end up not going up the hill in the car park, but circle around the handicap area where there are no spots. So, we go back to the parking areas we spied on our way in and find a good spot in shade.
It’s a quick walk to the entrance, where after successfully navigating around the 4 Asian women blocking the entrance while taking pictures, we flash our pre-paid tickets (line jumpers!) and enter Monet’s home and the gardens that inspired him. Well, first we enter through the gift shop, but still….the gardens are right outside the door and we plunge into the sunshine and flowers with abandon.
The gardens are gorgeous, and you can really see why Monet would want to paint this scene. So many varieties of flowers are in bloom, even in September, it is so colorful and beautiful to see. We walk through the main gardens, snapping away at all the different varieties coexisting beside the garden paths.
I was quite entranced with the crocus flowers that seemed to pop up randomly in the middle of the grass.
Next we crossed under the road in the pedestrian tunnel to visit the Japanese garden from which the famous water lily painting was inspired. There is a completely different vibe over here, the flowers aren’t as raucous or abundant as in the gardens behind the house.. What you see and feel here is more the silence and peace in the Japanese style. We walk amidst the bamboo (which they use for walkways and railings) and finally to the bridge and ponds of Monet’s depictions.
Despite the people (and there are tons of people! Not to mention John and Chris here with a tour group) you can still imagine the serenity Monet must have felt here and understand his desire to try to capture it on canvas.
Back to the main garden and house we go, stopping again for more beautiful flower shots.
Inside the house, we tour the rooms which are not necessarily exciting. But it is interesting to see how Monet lived, and his studio, which looks out over the gardens (and now has replicas of his paintings hung everywhere). We walk through the upstairs bedroom areas, then out through the huge bright yellow dining area and bright blue kitchen.
In the giftshop, I actually buy a cool water lily glass case which fits my sunglasses much better than the Ray Ban one that came with them. Then we head out into the little village surrounding Monet’s house on a lovely stroll back to the car.
Next stop – Rouen.
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