Day 19 ... highlights Giverny and the Palace of Versailles

... this morning we got up extra early at 6h15 ... ... that's tough when you're on vacation and you didn't go to bed until 1h30 ... it's the Blog's fault [it's hard to believe I do this the other 330 days of the year ... I think I may be slightly insane ... I need a hobby!!!]

... we made our way via the Metro to the tour office at rue de la Pyramide - did smashingly well finding our way considering it wasn't on our small map and most of how I was navigating was from memory while drinking beer with Captain Bob ...

Giverny

I've always held an appreciation for Claude Monet ... not just for his artistic creations and masterpieces but also because he put himself "outside the box" ... he was not satisfied with the typical definition of artist or painter ... what I mean by this ... he wasn't the norm, he didn't see his art simply as painting portraits or depictions of the Bible or Greek mythology ... and he didn't see the landscape as simply "the background" but rather brought the landscape to the forefront and made it the subject - showing it in a new and stimulating way ... his experimentation with light and colour ...

I found this morning's tour rather interesting ... it began with a walk through Monet's Japanese garden ... it was surreal walking through the very "real" landscape this guru painted ... and to gain an understanding of how he created this garden from nothing ... he dammed a river close to his property and redirected some of its waterflow to create the lake on his property ... the famous lilypad paintings are an example. A major inspiration for Monet was Japanese culture and art ... touring his garden, home and studios it is easy to see what and how he was inspired.

The great thing about Monet's time was there are many photographs of him in his home and in his gardens - as an example, there is a photo of Monet in his Drawing Room and what the Foundation did was take these photos and painstakingly recreate the rooms as they existed in those photos [same thing with the kitchen ... right down to art work on the walls, pottery, pictures, arrangement of furniture, and so on] ... and the use of colour in his home is incredible but it only makes sense based on his use of colour and light in his works.

I always appreciate when I am able to learn something new, and today was one of those days ... I learned that toward the end of his career Monet suffered from cataracts and at the encouragement of friends sought out surgery but unfortunately he ended up almost blind ... which explains his use of light, depth, shadowing in many of his later works ... the indistict qualities of the subjects - the light, depth, shadowing - has always been the captivating bit for me in those later works ... the ambiguousness.

So in the end Monet lived to a good age of I believe 83 ... falling victim to lung cancer ... every picture I saw him in today he either had a cigarette in his mouth or in his hand ... but these pictures captured my attention and this is what I sought out in the gift shop ... not the postcards, not the posters, not the placemats or the scarves but photos of Monet and I was fortunate they had a grouping of six in the back to choose from ... but I chose one of him in his art studio and another of him in his garden on that famous lily pond bridge - I plan to frame them and hang them next to my fake Monet at home ... add some reality to the surreal - it'll be a nice contrast ...

Palace of Versailles

What can I say here that you likely have not read a ton about already ... it was fantastic to see this in person having read so much about it over the years. It truly is a palace fit for Kings and Queens in all its grandiose glory.

My goal today, here, was to get out into the magnificent gardens this palace is purported to house and the little time I had did not disappoint ... from what I understand it takes two full days to fully see the grounds and out-buildings but what I was able to squeeze in today was just as grandiose as the palace itself. Amazing sculptures, hedging, flora, greenery, fountains ... walking through while listening to classical music ... truly lovely and memorable ...

BUT if I were to choose where to spend my full day or the rest of my days??? It would be Giverny of course, nothing beats inspiration / vision / serenity ... nothing!!! ... so moving

Today's Photo: what else ... Monet's garden

Cheers All - RGR

P.S. Giverny [pronounced Jzee-ver-knee ... the G is a very soft G if Jzee doesn't work for you try Xi OR for those that know the old movie Gigi ... and it's not "Gee"]