After all the paperwork was signed, we set off - driver Helen, chief navigator - Joe. However, Joe had some help from Grace. Grace was the name we gave to our free GPS, one of those modern electronic devices we hadn't yet had the pleasure of trying. Little did we know how big a part Grace would place in out trip to southern France.
By fits and starts, Grace took us to the nearest gas station where we would fill the tank with 56 euros worth of diesel fuel, (that's about $84 - and we Americans dare to complain about gas prices!). From there our little friend Grace took us by the most direct route to Sannois, only a half hour from the airport (if the driver knows where she is going). We stayed in at one of the many Campanile hotels in France, this one managed by a former student of mine (Spanish). Frederique spent over a year in the States as an "au pair" with an American family and they encouraged her to take classes at a local community college. I later met her parents Christian and Francoise and one of her two brothers on a short trip to France.
When I found I was to spend several months in France, I wrote to Christian and he became my advisor for the "dos and donts", banking as well as other useful matters. We rested a short time (not having slept on the plane at all) and in the evening Christian and Francoise came to the hotel to welcome us to France and invite us to a barbecue the next evening at their home. I slipped easily into the "French" personality I had acquired years earlier as a student in graduate school in Paris. It was good to see my former student who now manages a hotel as well as parenting a little girl named Oceanea, 8, and is pregnant with her second child whom we may meet at the end of our trip.
May 20 - plan - Drive to Giverny, about an hour (without getting lost - which we did), Claude Monet's home, setting for the famous waterlily series of paintings. We started out a bit later than I would have liked, jet lag still hanging heavy over us.
Below are my best pictures of Giverny: These first pictures are of the very large garden in front of the house and greenhouse. Those are followed by pictures of the path down into the bamboo and other forested area that lead to the waterlily ponds.
This is the path leading to the ponds
First look at the pond!
Channel along the path to the pond. Perhaps an irrigation ditch?
Joe hiding in the shadows
No comments:
Post a Comment