Day Seventy-five 28.5.05 We took the short drive to Giverny and the house and gardens of Claude Monet. We arrived in good time despite the Saturday traffic and the where to park the van fiasco. There was a short queue to get into the gardens and we read the ticket price board and discovered that the entry fee was fifteen euros each! We thought this was very expensive but decided we may not be passing this way again and it would be a shame to miss it. The ticket lady gave us our tickets and change without so much as a smile and we entered feeling a bit cheated. The first thing you have to go through is the extensive shop where anything and everything conceivable was covered with Monets from the usual pencils and rubbers to mouse mats and rain hoods all at exorbitant prices which didn't matter as we weren't buying. We followed the slow procession through to the garden along the pre determined and chained off route. Even though it was restrictive and busy and quite frankly a big monet spinner it was a glorious garden and the weather was sunny and bright and by chance we had picked the perfect time of year as the plentiful Iris and Rhodendrums were in full bloom. On exiting we realised our tickets had in fact cost us 5.50 each and we had got the correct change by then it all seemed like much better value. We decided to spend the money we had 'saved' on lunch at the overpriced restaurant across the road. We found a really old fashioned campsite nearby with outside washing facilities and a calm feel about it.