Paris to Giverny to Normandy

Champs Elysees Drive * Giverny * Bazenville

We left Paris today.  I was sad to leave the city, but big cities are tiring with kids - also our apartment was just a step above the youth hostel and although nicely located, not very pleasant.  I actually had to straddle the dishwasher to load it because the door hit the opposite side to the "kitchen".  Each night we had to move the dinner table to pull out the sleeper couch and the bathroom drains were super slow.  I slept in my silk sleeping sheet just in case.  Oh well, it didn't change our love for Paris.  Tonight we are just outside of Bayeux France (Bazenville) and our new accommodations, a small farm house, more than make up for our small apartment in Paris (two stories, everyone has their own bed, family room with TV, table big enough for 6, private yard with grass, and cows just down the street).

On our way to Normandy we had to say good-bye to Paris in style, so we drove down the Champs Elysees and drove around the Arc de Triomphe - 3 times - just to say we did it.  It was fun, crazy, and Eric proved to be a masterful driver!  12 streets feed into the round about around the Arc de Triomphe making it the biggest round about in the world.

We stopped in Giverny on our way to Bazenville to visit Monet's home and gardens.  He lived in a farmhouse an hour outside of Paris for over 40 years.  He designed and planted his own gardens and used them as his own study in light and color.  It was especially meaningful as we had just seen his Water Lilies in L'Orangerie in Paris.  It was wonderful.  We arrived just after a rain storm and during lunch so there weren't many visitors and because of the rain all the colors glistened.  It made me miss my yard at home - although, my yard could never look this amazing, not enough rain.  (I should point out we were right in back of an LDS family when buying our tickets - it took us about 30 seconds to figure out they were LDS and then about 30 seconds to confirm that when we started talking to them - Mormons are easy to pick out in a crowd)

We are excited to slow down a bit for the next 4 nights in Normandy.  We're watching a UEFA soccer game right now on the TV. France is hosting Europe's World Cup for the next few weeks - while in Paris we saw many soccer fans from around Europe showing their country's pride with flags, costumes, and soccer jerseys.

Arc de Triompeh