Brush strokes to Giverny

Why look at a painting when you can be in one? So for those of you who aren't familiar with Giverny, France this is where Monet lived. Earlier in the blogs you may have remembered us talking about Monet's paintings and the ridiculous amounts of pieces we've seen. Well imagine looking at his paintings and imagining what he was thinking, where did he get his inspiration, what did his subjects look like, smell like? In a sense we were able to dive into his paintings and see the actual gardens, fields and lilies that inspired his paintings. It's one thing to look at a painting and appreciate impressionism, the brush strokes and his use of color; but to actually look at what he saw brings a whole new sense of appreciation. If you like any of Monet's work I highly suggest taking the extra expense to travel outside of Paris to see where he lived and worked.




We couldn't have asked for a better day, not too hot, not too sunny a perfect day for a picnic and tour of Monet's garden. The pictures don't do it justice. By far one of our most inspirational days!



We left for Paris in the nick of time, we had to return the car by 6pm and it was an hour drive. So we packed it in and assumed that we could make it back alright. We felt confident that we could at least make it to the city. Keep in mind, no phone and no maps. This again amazes me, we made it into Paris without a problem! Granted we came close to not having a enough money for the tolls but we made it. Well that is until we got stuck in traffic and needed to find a gas station to fill the car. We took some side streets through the city, figuring we would have to drive by a gas station eventually. And we did, although for anyone traveling in Europe most of the machines that take credit cards require you to have a smart chip which we don't. So we couldn't get gas anywhere, no gas attendants were even working. So bizarre! Two hours later, we were able to find a gas station that would take cards. When we returned the car, we parked in the wrong garage, and were two hours late. Hertz actually tried to charge us for an extra day but luckily Josh was able to argue our way out of it. Technically we did run in and ask them where there was a gas station before our check-in time. Although since we were so late getting in, meant that we were also late in getting to the grocery store to pick up supplies. We got to the store literally as they were locking the gate. The kicker was, that had we not looked for a grocery store in Paris, we would have made it in time to go the Carrefour right next to our hotel. The same hotel that we stayed at the first time we were in Paris, and as luck would have it we had the same room too!

Never say Nevers

Lyon was pretty amazing despite our short visit. It's too expensive to stay in the hotels there, so instead we hopped a train to Nevers, France. If you picture the country and point directly to the center that's where Nevers should be, right along the river.

Camping is currently our cheapest option with less than 6 euros per person a night. Although we're still sleeping on the ground but the sand seems a little more comfortable. We are getting the hang of this camping thing, except we still don't have electricity or internet. At this point we're only surviving on what we can buy at the grocery store and wine. Oh yeah and Kababs (I think we're becoming regulars at the one place) and if it's not Kababs then its McDonalds cause they have free Wifi. Oh and it's like $9 for a value meal, super expensive!!!!! Nevers is even smaller than Lyon which means that even less people speak English. The town is really cute and easy to walk around, old castles and antique looking buildings.

My favorite part of Nevers would be the canoe trip that Josh and I took. We went down the river that I can't remember the name of, it was really quiet and relaxing. The water was pretty shallow because in most parts we could stand in the water and walked the whole way. The water here is so clear that you can see all of the fish, even from the top of the bridges. Had we had our fishing poles we may have given it a try.

Our days in Nevers were spent walking around town while we spent our nights laying on the beach drinking wine and watching the meteor shower. AMAZING!!!!! We saw so many shooting stars. We tried finding constellations but the only two I know of our the Big and Small Dippers. We also discovered that if you look closely you can see the satellites circling the earth. I of course was determined to take a picture of a shooting star so I sat with my camera the whole time taking pictures of all the stars, probably about a few 100 or so. I think all I got was the tail end of one. Oh well there's always next time.

In a day we will be off to Paris to finish up the trip, I can't believe it's almost over. :(