France

Paris in the Fall several years ago

Posted on April 7, 2022 by usjapanesegardens

In the fall of 2014, I was fortunate to have our son and daughter-in-law as traveling companions for a trip to Paris. Being unfamiliar with the City of Light, for the first day we hired a car and driver: specifically Roland and his vintage Citroen. We booked this adventure through 4 Roues Sous 1 Parapluie

our driver and his Citroen
Ronald and K.T. discussed the list of Japanese gardens in Paris and a selection was made of what could be done plus he added a few
Bateau le Calife, an amazing dinner and journey on the Seine our first night in Paris. This is the type of barge on which our driver Roland grew up and still lives with his family.
Noguchi garden at UNESCO
This was among the gardens we determined would fit in our morning schedule. It is highly recommended that you make advance reservations to see Noguchi’s garden at UNESCO. We were fortunate to have a school group accept us into their tour. Mark Treib wrote extensively in “Isamu Noguchi in Paris” about the UNESCO garden. The garden was commissioned in 1957 and occupies 1700 square meters of land at the foot of the building. His Fountain of Peace completes the installation.
Fountain of Peace at the Noguchi garden, UNESCO building, Paris
Musee Guimet features a tea house and garden behind the well-appointed museum building.
Inside the museum looking out at the tea garden
Roland dropped us off and we joined a walking tour of chocolate makers and bakeries.
Truly a memorable day

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Giverny

Posted on March 26, 2021 by usjapanesegardens

Catching up on gardens visited some time ago but not yet posted: in late summer-early fall of 2014, two family members joined me for a trip to Paris and Giverny.

Chez Marie et Gilbert Therin B&B in 2014 … such a sweet older couple who picked us up at the train station and brought us to this lovely bedroom under the main house … their practice at the time was to focus on one set of visitors at a time … room slept two in 2014
we had a light lunch at Ancien Hôtel Baudy then walked the grounds to see this studio where friends of Monet would gather to paint
a short walk down the street brought us to the Monet Museum prior to our visit to the gardens
familiar?
haystacks was recreated in the field adjacent to the museum
and at last to a long awaited visit to the gardens of Claude Monet — access to the Japanese style water garden is down through a tunnel
the tunnel’s colors match the home and garden
blooms everywhere – not the same as near the house as there is more greenery along the strolling paths in the water garden
couldn’t help but note the bamboo is contained by a canal
a slightly different view of the famous bridge
what a wonderful creation — a garden designed for painting
we stayed overnight to allow for an early morning stroll
and a visit to the church cemetery where the Monet family is buried; also the gravesite of Gerald Van Der Kemp, curator of Versailles for 35 years and mastermind of the restoration of Versailles … he also saved the Mona Lisa from Nazi destruction during WWII
train from Paris to and from Vernon (Giverny), Gare St. Lazare
happy memories of our trip to Vernon and Giverny

Here is a link to Monet’s home and gardens should you choose to plan a visit: http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/visitgb.htm

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