Before our room at the Derby Eiffel Hotel was ready we spent a short time saying hello to Paris. We'd first been to Paris in 2006 on our first Rick Steves tour. At that time we'd seen most of the places that tourist visit so this time we finished up what we missed. To start ​we just wondered the neighborhood to get our bearing. How better to do that then to get some pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the other buildings in the area. Pictures/Paris/20150612_120035f.jp
Wow! One of the highlights of Monet`s estate are the gardens. You can just imagine him walking the garden each day getting inspiration for a new work of art.
Main Entrance
The sitting room
First Studio seating area
Monet himself
Monet`s bedroom
Dinning Room
Bridge in the Water Garden
The directions to get to Giverny (home of Claude Monet) are well done in Rick Steves France book. We took the Rouen-bound train from Paris Gare St. Lazare station to Vernon (about four mile from Giverny). From Vernon we took the bus (as advised) and used it to return to Vernon from Giverny at the end of our stay.
We did run into one problem with the train from Vernon. The times we were given for the return trains were WRONG. They were off by 1.5 hours. Just be forewarned. Other than this one issue, we had no trouble with our transportation.
The walk from the bus stop to Monet's home is short. Took no more than 15 minutes. Since we traveled during a busy period we had to wait another 15 minutes for the tickets to get on to the grounds. Again not really a big deal.
The house and grounds are well worth the trip. The house is much as it was when Monet lived there. Most of the furnishings were authentic (as the notice says...Please don't touch). The house REALLY interesting. Long and very narrow (15 feet). The rooms stretch from the front to the back. There is only one, however with windows both front and back...Alice Hoschede Monet's bedroom. A little strange. The grounds are beautiful. They are extensive and the flowers are OUTSTANDING...check out the pictures above.
Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet 84 Rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny, France Tel: +33 2 32 51 28 21
SEINE RIVER CRUISE TOUR
Pont Alexandre III Bridge
Art Work on the Pont de la Concorde (Bridge)
Bibliothèque Mazarine...oldest public library in France.
Notre Dame Cathedrale of Paris
The Louvre
Working boats along the Seine
Statuary north end Pont Alexander III
Final shot of the Eiffel Tower
Map of the cruise route
From the Eiffel Tower to the île Saint-Louis and return. The tour takes a couple of hours. There is a narration of all the things you see in four languages (one being English). You can freely move about the boat including the walkway along the rails. Of course most of the locations you see are from the perspective of the river but you get a good idea of the importance of the river and the layout of the city.
Seine River Cruise Tour Bateaux Parisiens Port de la Bourdonnais 75007 Paris
AU XV DU ROND POINT
Brasserie le Rond Point
From the street
Inside
Second dinning room
Rugby trophies
Okay so we're walking down the Av. des Champs-Elyse and we decide to find a place to eat. Mind you it's Sunday morning. Oh, there are places open, but boy are they expensive. So we push on until we're almost ready to return to the hotel, but Jan happens to spot a cafe down one of the side streets.
What an OUTSTANDING find. It was the best place we ate in while in Paris. The food was outstanding for breakfast and the people running the place were so friendly we were delighted. Turns out the cafe/bar is the local Rugby watering hole. As you can see from the pictures, the teams come to watch and celebrate their matches here. In fact they did just the night before.
Well as I said we were VERY happy! A big thumbs up!!!
au XV du Rond Point 5 Rue De Paris 75008 Tel: 08 99 87 44 40
FLIRT`THE
Having a quick snack
Up the street toward the Eiffel Tower
When we arrived from the airport we stopped to have a tea & coffee at a restaurant right next door to our hotel. They had a limited menu and are only open for breakfast and lunch. At the time we were BEAT from the trip over and just sitting for a few minutes was great.
After leaving Monet's home, we looked for a place to have lunch. We didn't look far. If your turn right out of the Monet complex and head down the rue Claude Monet (tricky name?) you find the L`Aquarelle Pizzeria. There is both indoor and outside seating. We sat on the patio. The pizza was very good as well as the service. The only issue we had was one of communications. None of the staff speak any English (our fault NOT their's). Delightful atmosphere, with good food and good service. Recommended.
L`Aquarelle Pizzeria 96 rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny Tel: 02 32 64 27 63
PETRI ET CUIT SUR PLACE (BAKERY)
Looking back down Rue Cler (toward our hotel)
Jack, Jan and Linda...lunch our first day
Once we met up with Jack and Jan we stopped for a quick at this small bakery. The location was only a few blocks from our hotel. The food was fast...not fast food but about the same quality. Okay for something fast. Not highly recommended.
Petri et Cuit sur Place (Bakery) 40 Rue Cler Paris
This is the hotel we picked (not on the tour or picked by Rick Steves...although one they recommend). The room was typical European for this class of hotel (simple but clear). The WiFi wasn't free (they were selling a one day pass for 8€. The location on the other hand was great. We were about 1/8 mile from the Eiffel Tower/river front (picture above) and about three blocks from a sizable restaurant street (where we ate both nights). The final picture above (the IHEDN) is directly across the street, although this entrance faces toward the Eiffel Tower. The associated website link is found under Other Stuff (right column above).
As with most hotels in Europe, you should make a reservation directly with the hotel. If you make a reservation online (even though it goes through their site) if is probably through a third party. This will generally mean an additional fee and MAY cause a complication if you should have to cancel. We simply used email to communicate (a little nervous sending credit card info that way) but it all worked out well.
