Giverny Gardens Half Day Private Tour - French at a Touch Travel

TOUR DESCRIPTION :
Escorted by your multilingual driver or professional driver/guide you will discover the Seine river valley countryside.

You will be introduced to the life and work of Monet, and receive a guided tour of Monet’s house where he lived from 1883 to his death.
You will visit the formal enclosed Norman Garden with its central alley covered by iron arched trellises on which climbing roses grow among wisteria, tamarisk, iris, lupines, snowdrops, primroses, poppies, daffodils… Monet often planted flowers together according to their colors and then left them to grow freely. In the Japanese Garden grow bamboo, poplar, weeping willow, alder, quince and Japanese cherry trees. Here you will find the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisteria from which you will wiew the water lilies, which bloom all summer long. Monet would dedicate 20 years of his life to painting these water lilies, although he painted as much the reflections of the flowers in the water as he painted the flowers themselves, a kind of inverted world transfigured by the water. You will certainly want to have a quick visit to the Museum of American Art or stroll along the charming “route des Cretes”, passing near the Chateau La Roche Guyon, passing through the village of Vetheuil where Monet lived for 3 years.

Your guide will explain the difficulties the Impressionists had in starting their movement, the critical reaction, the closed doors that met them at official exhibits and the evolution in tastes that has come about that has assured their fame, and their place in the history of art.

And you will understand why Monet refused one of France’s most distinguished awards, the “legion d’honneur.”