We sat an alarm clock so we could get up early, but we ended up waking up a little before 6 a.m. anyway. We were shooting to be able to leave around 7. After we all got ready and had a bite to eat for breakfast we managed to get out the door by about 7:20. We headed down the street to the Metro and made our way across town to the train station. We actually made it to the train station by 7:45. Our train arrived and we boarded and were on our way to Vernon by about 8:20.
The train ride to Vernon takes about 45 minutes. The train was very smooth and we enjoyed the views of the countryside along the way. Once we arrived in Vernon we had our choice of three ways to make the final leg of the journey to Giverny, the small town where Monet’s house and garden are located. Our options were to take a bus, a taxi, or ride a bike. We had decided beforehand that it would be fun to rent the bikes and ride along the river to Monet’s Garden. This is where the excitement begins for today.
The bike rental shop (which was also a café) was directly across from the train station. It was not difficult to find at all. All the information I had obtained on renting the bikes I had gleaned from Rick Steves’ Paris 2014 guide book. According to Rick Steves you “follow a paved bike path that runs from near Vernon along an abandoned railroad right-of-way (figure about 30 minutes to Giverny.) Get the easy-to-follow map to Giverny when you rent your bike, and you’re in business.”
This sounded like a piece of cake. So we walked across the street and rented the bikes. We were worried about how we would lock up the bikes once we got to Monet’s garden, but thankfully they gave us locks. So we selected our bikes from the rack and after I adjusted my seat height we were off. We managed to make it around the corner from the shop before we got lost. We managed to weave our way through the small town asking someone on each street corner which way to Monet’s garden.
Before we ever even made it to the river my chain had come off my bike and we had discovered what POS’s we had rented. The rear rims on Guy’s bike and mine were so bent that it was like riding something you would see a bunch of clowns riding around in a circus show. Because the rims were so bent, that also meant that the brakes rubbed for half of the revolution. As soon as I started off on my bike I also noted that the front of the seat was angled up so much I thought I was going to die from soft tissue damage.
After weaving our way through town like a bunch of drunken tourists asking for directions at every corner, we finally found our way to the river. That still did not help us much. We continued to have issues finding the “bike path.” Once we finally found the path, it was actually quite nice. We rode down the paved path, which eventually turned into a dirt cattle path and then back to a bit wider dirt path for about 3.5 miles. We pulled over at one point and tried to decide weather we had gone too far or not far enough. After everyone had expressed their differing opinions on which way they thought we should go, we lucked out and a water company truck pulled up and we asked him which way to Monet’s garden.
Back on the path we went and sure enough not too much further down the road we came across the parking lot. So it only took us an hour to get there instead of 30 minutes…
We managed to find a bike rack and locked up our bikes—not that anyone would want to steal them, though. However, our wandering aimlessly did not end there. We made our way down another road trying to decide where we were and where we might find the group entrance (which we could use since we had pre-purchased tickets). We finally stumbled across the entrance, purely by accident.
We made our way first into the walled garden. It was very beautiful with just about every type of flower possible blooming. After wandering around the garden for a bit we made our way into Monet’s house. You can tour all around in the house and see his works of art and sketches (no pictures are allowed inside his house). Then we made our way back out into the garden.
Shortly after exiting Monet’s house, Jody realized she had lost her money belt which contained all of her money, her credit cards, her passport and also Guy’s money, credit cards, driver’s license, etc. She thought back to the last time she had it, which was either at the café where we rented the bikes or at the bike rack where we locked the bikes up. So they frantically raced back to the bike rack to check, while we waited for them in the garden. We gave Jody my cell phone so we could keep in contact. Luckily, it was still on the bike seat. She had taken it off and laid it on the seat of her bike (it was black and her seat was black) and it was still there.
After that crisis was averted, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We decided after all that excitement it was time to have some lunch. After our lunch at a café near the garden, we headed back into the garden to see the Japanese inspired Water Garden made famous in Monet’s paintings. By this time it had started to rain lightly. There were still quite a few people around even in the rain and we made our way around the water lily covered pond.
It was so beautiful, words just can’t describe. Even in the rain it was spectacular to see. We sat on some benches for a while and enjoyed the view. We then decided we had better make our way back with the bikes to catch the train. At least on the way back we had a better idea of where we were going, but that did not make the bikes any better. I finally switched bikes with Eric because I could not take the seat any more.
Once Eric sat on my seat he discovered why I was about to die. I think his voice is a couple octaves higher now… He also discovered that the bottom bracket was loose, the headset was loose, and the brakes were bad. I guess we were lucky to make it back in one piece…..Ha!! We managed to find our way back to the café where we rented the bikes and returned them. We checked the train schedule and we only had about 20 minutes to wait until the next train back to Paris.
Eric and I had a beverage and Jody and Guy had an Ice cream at the Café before we headed back over to the station to catch our train. We boarded the train, found some seats and Eric, Guy, and Jody proceeded to be rocked to sleep by the train whilst I took photos of all three of them with their mouths hanging open.
After getting off the train we made our way back across town to the 4th district where we are staying and stopped at the boulangerie to get a couple more baguettes before finally arriving back at the apartment around 4:30 p.m. It was another fun and interesting day in Paris.
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