Pontoise, Giverny, Maisons-Lafitte, Auvers-sur-Seine, Paris FR 18-24 Juy 2022 We originally planned to spend 6 days at Pontoise, but we kept extending it as there was so much to do in the area. Monday and Tuesday were extremely hot, over 40 degrees each day. We brought the portable air conditioner (AC) up into the wheelhouse to try and keep cool. It did manage to cool the boat down by about 10 degrees from the outside temperature, but it was still quite hot on the boat. I guess that's what you must expect if you live in a tin can. Luckily the AC worked well in our cabin overnight and it did cool down outside too. On Tuseday morning we went for a bike ride down the river to the nearby town of Cergy where there is a boat harbour, that had been recommended to us as a possible winter mooring. It was great to get out in the cool of the morning after being cooped up all day. On Wednesday morning we picked up a hire car for a couple of days. That day's trip was to Giverny, less than an hour away. The aim was to visit Monet's house and garden there, which I had heard from friends was wonderful. The weather was now overcast with some patchy rain. The town was obviously popular, given the number of cars in the parking lot. We really enjoyed visiting Monet's house and garden, although there were plenty of people there. The garden nearest the house was mostly set out in rows with masses of flowers which seemed to be arranged by colour - with delightful displays. Then we had to take a tunnel under the road to visit the water gardens. These gardens were the subject of many of Monet's paintings including his famous water lily paintings now installed at the Orangerie in Paris. Next we visited the house, which was bigger than I had expected. Lovely views of the garden from the upstairs rooms. We had a delicious lunch at one of the local restaurants and then visited the Museum of Impressionism which displayed works by lesser known impressionist artists, as well as some work inspired by impressionists. My favourite was the screens done by a Japanese artist inspired by Monet's water lilys. On the way home we stopped off at Ambleville where we had seen a nice looking chateau on our way in the morning. We were able to have a walk around the gardens which were lovely although needed a bit of attention. On Wednesday we drove to the delightful French baroque Chateau de Maisons. Originally built in the 17th century with a huge park, it had many different owners over the years, many of whom made changes. In the 19th century, the owner, Jacques Lafitte, subdivided the park for building blocks, resulting in the suburb now called Maisons-Lafitte. In 1905 the state purchased the park to save it from demolition. In the late 19th century there were 2 technology improvements that resulted in painters coming to the Oise river to paint in the outdoors. The first was tubes of paint, which could easily be carried, and the second was the railways, making it easy and quick to travel. Pontoise had many painters visiting, the father figure being Camille Pisarro. However on Thursday we cycled up to Auvers-sur-Seine, where Vincent Van Gogh had spent his last days and was buried, alongside his brother, Theo, who died about 6 months after him. Van Gogh wasn't the only painter who had resided there, but was the most famous. There were many signs with information about the painters and showing scenes from paintings from the spots where they were probably painted. Of course there was also a map issued by the tourist information with routes to follow to see the major sights as well. After a trip around the town and up to the cemetery we cycled along to the chateau. We decided not to go in but did have a look around the garden. It started to rain so we decided it was time for lunch. The restaurant we chose even offerred to put our bikes in the bar area so we were very well looked after there. On the way home we read a few more signs giving an overview of Van Gogh's life and then followed a path which was surposed to have more sign posts, but we didn't find any of them. It had been a very hilly cycling day so my foot was quite sore when we returned home. Saturday was market day, so we cycled up to the main square. It was a very steep hill and I had to walk the last part. The market was quite small and in the old part of town, so we had a bit of a walk around and a coffe and hot chocolate at the bar on the square. I had a quiet afternoon while Howard did some more work on the painting. He had been trying to work out how the commercials did their painting and decided to rig up our gang plank to allow him to paint the bow and stern of the boat. I was very sceptical, but it worked a treat. In the evening we headed back up to the old town - this time walking - to go to a creperie / restaurant, which was really nice. A few photos on the way. On Suday we had been planning to take the train to Paris (only 40 minutes to Gare du Nord) and see the end of the tour de France, and possibly an exibition in the afternoon. I was chatting with my french friend Louis, and he suggested we meet up on the Champs Élysée for brunch/lunch, which we did. What we hadn't realised was that the Tour de France Femmes (Womens) started that day, and raced up and down the Chanmps Élysée too, so it was a bit of a zoo, with closed roads and exits from the metro closed too. We ended up running late, and walking more than I had expected. But we had a delightful lunch at Flora Danica, which was an oasis of calm just a step away from the crowds in the Champs Élysée . It was great to finally meet Louis in person, especially since we have been chatting most weeks for over 2 years. Ater lunch we thought we would have a stroll down the Champs Élysée and look at the Tour de France Femmes. But there were already big crowds with people arriving all the time. It was impossible to get a good vantage point even though the women were doing 10 laps of the Paris course, so we soaked up the atmosphere, before realising that the metro we had planned to catch was closed and we had to replace our steps. In the end I did quite a bit of walking, especially to and from trains and metros stops, so my foot was quite swollen and sore when we finally got home.
1 Comment
Neil
28/7/2022 06:01:55 am
Giverny and then Paris, what wonderful memories it brings us.
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