Giverny

Okay so we get into Paris too early to get into our room after only cat napping on the plane. What would any normal person do? I don’t have a freaking clue, but we decide to go to Giverny, Monet’s home. To do that we had to buy a train ticket out of Paris and into Normandy I think. Anyway, the countryside. After buying the tickets it was time for breakfast, the train/metro station was like a mall and we found a coffee shop for a coffee and pastry. It was delicious and and the coffee was very strong. We purchased the first class ticket for $16 Euros more round trip so we got special seats. We made it on the train. Problem being they seem to over sell the train so people and to stand even thought they had a first class ticket, luckily we found seats : ) It was a 40 minute train ride.
We got to the station in Vernon and had to take a bus out to the house. We went on a little tourist train/shuttle. It was very picturesque and we got the grand tour. We wandered around and found our way to the main entrance. The grounds were very beautiful and we felt anyone would be inspired to paint in such a beautiful place. They had the regular gardens and the water lily gardens. We also took a tour of the house before we hit the gift shop. We had our first French lunch, un Casseolet, with chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. It was delicious and very hot. The passes we purchased included the museum pass to see some Impressionist paintings. The museum was small and had only 3 Monet paintings. We will have to go to another place to find more. It did have a photograph exhibit of Monet’s house, which I found interesting.
We got back to town but the next train did not leave for 2 hours. Shopping time. We found a patisserie and bought sweets and then we

found a café and got a latte and a mocha with Chantilly (whipped cream). They were divine of course.
It was Halloween. The little kids were dressed up mostly as witches and super heros and were trick or treating to the local stores. Some of them were very cute. We headed to the historic district to try to find the church on the tour. It is amazing to be in a town with such a historic past. We had to look for a restroom but try finding one when no one speaks English and you seem only to be able to speak Spanish : ) Oh well, we found one somehow and made it back to the train station. Without sleeping for so long we found ourselves nodding off on the way home. Mom had to get two old Asian guys to move over so we could sit down on the way home. They didn’t seem to happy about it, but it was that or stand on the way home, no way.