It was Katha and Celia’s last day in Paris so we made the trek out to Giverny to see Monet’s garden.

Tip 1 Pre book your train ticket!- we didn’t and made it onto the already overcrowded train with moments to spare.

Once we were on the train it was like a mini introduction into the what life is like in countries where overcrowding on (country) trains is just a way of life. On the outbound train there were no seats in 2nd class.

Tip2 . If there is standing room only on a train pay the extra and go 1st class. There were people with suitcases the size of a smart car blocking doorways. People with empty shopping carts blocking the other and in the middle were families of African French folk sitting on the floor taking up as much m2 as possible with all their legs spread out . So it was 50 minutes balancing on one foot while grabbing for different poles/ pieces of solid furniture depending on what way direction the train was jolting.

Tip3 pre book your entrance to Giverny. We stood in a queue for a while (it may have been not that long , queueing is not one of my strengths in character). After a while we got told in French that we could not go in that way and to follow Renaud. He took us to a back entrance where we all queued again. It was some sort of French happy weekend and the entrance was discounted to 5 euro. So that was a bit of a win. It was all worth it , the gardens were amazing. Even though they were quite crowded with other visitors it was quite calming. No wonder Monet liked it so much living there.

It was a really nice day, even though the journey out there was a life experience it was well worth it. Katha and Celia were getting very inspired by it all and they were super excited to see a flower called Crocus.  We didn’t have time to go and see the Impressionism exhibition though which was a bit of a pity. Well we could have done a quick trot around but at 16.50 euro it would’ve been a very expensive trot. I am going to leave out the details of the bus to the station so as not to slur against Americans.(There was a couple of examples ( over the day)of American tourist behaviour that made me rather proud not to be one) The train back to Saint Lazare was much more comfortable. It was a very nicely decked out double decker train. We went back to our different abodes and got ready for a trip to a comedy show. It was called “how to become Parisian in an hour” by a comedian called Olivier Giraud I have wanted to go and see his show for a while. I have even tried to get his DVD. It is a very funny look at Parisian life. Sometimes when I look forward to see something I am disappointed as my expectations are too high. I was not let down it was very funny. He comes across as very humble and real and double take good looking when you see him after the show. What is it about stage and tv that makes people not look as good as they do normally? If you are in Paris between now and Nov 2015 he is playing at Theatre Nouvelle . Well worth the money 24 euro.

 

This post comes with a disclaimer: I do not mean any of what I have typed with any sort of racial slur to any race,creed or colour.