HOUSE OF CLAUDE MONET

I absolutely love impressionism, so I wanted to visit Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, where he lived for 43 years and made his home an extension of his art. You can see his handywork from the yellow kitchen to the blue sitting room, as he loved colors. He even designed the house to blend in with the garden by choosing the color pink for the façade and green for the shutters, while adding roses and a Virginia creeper to the front of the house. Not only are the house and gardens a vibrant sight to behold, the water garden that Monet created (and that inspired his incredible Nymphéas – or water lilies – works) is also there for you to view. Monet fully took refuge in nature, and you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in his world with a trip to Giverny!

That being said, it is not a straightforward path to get to his house if you are coming from somewhere like Paris and you don’t have a car. Even if you decide to take the train from Paris to Giverny, it would still require you to take some other type of transportation to reach his home (as the walk would take some time!) Therefore, I signed up for a ParisCityVision tour, where I met the bus at a designated spot in Paris and was driven right to his house!

While on the bus, you are given an audio guide in the language of your choice to learn about Monet and his time in Giverny. I would listen to this on the way there, as you are not allowed to listen to audio recordings when you are in Monet’s house. Once you arrive, head straight to the water garden, especially if you are arriving in the afternoon, as this is the first place the employees will start to clear people out of when it gets near closing time. You want to make sure you have plenty of time to take in the peacefulness of the pond!

Then walk around the gardens and his house. On his property there are restrooms, a (BIG) gift shop, and a vending machine, but other than that there are no refreshments or snacks provided (unless you wanted to venture outside his property), so keep that in mind! I brought macarons with me from Paris and everyone was asking me where I got them!

I hope you feel as inspired as I did when I visited his home!