Do You Know the Way to Monet's Gardens at Giverny?

The Grande Allée in Monet's Clos Normand.
Giverny, France. September 2013

In Paris, the weather is anything but predictable, but you cannot wait around for a sunny day. So it was with umbrellas and raincoats that my husband and two friends left our apartments in the Marais neighborhood and descended into the Saint-Paul Métro station at seven that September morning. Destination: Giverny.

Switching once at the Châtelet métro (but we prefer to switch at Concorde), we traveled to the regional train station, Gare Saint Lazare. There, we purchased roundtrip SNCF tickets on the Rouen-bound train. Before boarding, we validated our tickets in the yellow boxes on the platforms. If you don't validate, you'll have to pay the conductor a fine when he comes around to check tickets.

After forty-minutes in our comfortable second class seats, we descended onto the platform at Vernon. Since there were four of us, we climbed into a taxi (instead of the buses) destined for the nearby village of Giverny. Minutes later, we were the first ones in the door at 9:30 a.m.

Easy—because I'm familiar with Paris and have been to Giverny. (Our friends later called me a Garmin GPS). Although it can be daunting to find your way to Giverny without a guide, you can go without a tour group.

Here are some tips to help you find your way, but remember to double-check all information before you go as anything can change.

SNCF Train Schedules
You can search for Paris to Vernon on the SNCF train website. Once you decide what time you want to depart Paris, plan how much métro (or taxi) time you need to get to Gare Saint Lazare. Allow another twenty minutes to get to the platform and purchase a ticket.

You don't need to purchase these train tickets online.

Paris Métro Map
Find the métro line closest to your hotel/apartment in Paris. You may have to switch trains to get on a line that goes to Saint Lazare.

Saint Lazare Train Station
From the métro—go up, up, up to the Grandes Lignes arrival and departure platforms (accès aux quais).

If you're not experienced with the ticket machines, go to the window and buy a round-trip (retour) ticket (billet) to Vernon on the SNCF train headed toward Rouen. For the forty-minute trip, a 2nd class train car is quite comfortable. No seat assignment is made for 2nd class. Choose an empty seat.

Make sure you get a train schedule when you buy the ticket so that you'll know what time to return to Paris.

France uses a twenty-four hour clock, so if you want to leave Monet's Gardens in the afternoon, add twelve hours. For example, 4:20 p.m. will show as16h20 on the ticket.

Once you have your ticket for Vernon, watch for departure  (départ) times on the big lighted overhead boards. You want the DIRECT train bound for Rouen with a travel time of 00h44 (forty-four minutes).

When a track (voie) number shows on the marquis, go to the bright yellow box at the beginning of that track and insert your ticket. Once validated, find a coach car for 2nd class and board.

Forty-minutes later, get off at the village of Vernon.

Outside and to the right of the train station, there will be buses waiting to take tourists directly to the nearby village of Giverny, where you'll find Monet's Gardens.

The buses park down the hill, across the road from the village, so it will take 5+ minutes to walk to the admissions door at Monet's Gardens.

Fondation Claude Monet
Located in the small village of Giverny, accessible from the town of Vernon.
Open April 1 until November 1
9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
9 euros for adult admission

You'll go through the gift shop first, so pick up a map of the gardens at the ticket window so you can find your way around. Just outside the gift shop, you'll find restrooms.

You cannot picnic in the gardens and there is no place to eat. Your ticket is valid until you exit. You cannot reenter on the same ticket. Once you've left the gardens, you can find several places to dine in the village.

When you're ready to leave, return to the bus parking lot at least 30 minutes before time to catch your train to Paris.

Once you are back at the Vernon train station, find the yellow box to validate your return ticket.

Enjoy your excursion!

Next post...the gardens.


In May 2009, my husband and I visited Monet's Gardens for the first time. Even though we've been to France every year since, it wasn't until September 2013 that we returned to Giverny. On this visit, we showed Southern Living writer, "The Grumpy Gardener" and his wife the way to this gardening mecca.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Pics from Paris: Dahlias are a Big Deal

Dahlia 'Bel Amour' at Jardin des Plantes. 15 Sept 2013

Jardin des Plantes is my favorite Paris garden, and I wander through on every visit, in different seasons and it's always delightful.

Huge dahlia blooms—in many forms and colors—are abundant right now. The flower trial sign indicates the varieties were created by Label Rouge and are "Les dahlias de qualité supérieure."

After enjoying our picnic on a bench in the gardens, I snapped a few dahlia photos to share with you. I can't decide which ones I like the best—do you have a favorite?

Huge blooms!

Dahlia 'Château de la Bordaisière'

Dahlia 'Flamina'

Dahlia 'Bumble Rumble'

Dahlia 'Fripon' is a short variety, paired with echinops.

Dahlia 'Néo'

Dahlia 'Colorama'

Dahlia 'Clair de Lune'

These red dahlias show the height of most.
Paired with deep red coleus, backed by grasses.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Capturing Paris

1. La Tour Eiffel shot from Museé du Quai Branly. Paris, October 2012

2. Boucicaud Square, Sévres Babylon neighborhood. Paris, October 2012

3. "Jelly Baby Family" by artist Mario Perucchetti.
Photo by my husband. Paris, October 2012.

4. Parc Monceau. Paris, October 2012

5. Panorama of Parc Monceau. Paris, October 2012
(click to enlarge photo)

6. View of Louvre. Paris, October 2012
Special effects using CameraBag.

I packed a "real" camera, but it never left our Paris apartment. On this trip in October 2012, I used my iPhone 4s with OS 6 for all photos. That said, we've traveled to Paris many times, so I've accumulated hundreds of photos with Canon and Sony cameras that took advantage of powerful zoom capabilities and high resolution. I've used some of those photos to decorate our family room. If you travel to Paris for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, take your best camera.

Unless specified in the caption, none of these photos were edited (other than cropped or straightened). You may click any photo for a slideshow.

Where to take your own photos of these scenes:

1. La Tour Eiffel shot from Museé du Quai Branly: If you're walking along the Seine between the Eiffel Tower and Musée d'Orsay, stop off and wander through the walled garden of the Quai Branly Museum in the evening. Besides going inside the museum, there's a little coffee shop/snack bar if you want to wait for the Eiffel Tower lights.
2. Boucicaud Square, Sévres Babylon neighborhood: Get off at the métro at the Sévres Babylon stop. This little park with the marble statue of Mme. Boucicaud and Baronne de Rothschild and stroll the neighborhood to go to the Sorbonne or Cluny Museum.
3. "Jelly Baby Family" by artist Mario Perucchetti: See this work of art (and a few others by the same artist), in front of Église Saint-Eustache (a church) near the Louvre.
4. Parc Monceau: A beautiful, tranquil park filled with French families strolling, playing and picnicking. This park is in an upscale neighborhood, within a few blocks of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées.
5. Panorama of Parc Monceau: For more on how to do panoramic shots, see this story.
6. Louvre view: Walk through the arches from rue de Rivoli. I used CameraBag software for this special effect.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Jardin des Plantes Is Better in Autumn

Jardin des Plantes, Paris in panorama mode. October 2012
(click to enlarge photos)

Jardin des Plantes in October exceeded my expectations with grand displays of color, especially through salvia, tropicals and grasses. This is my favorite garden in Paris, but all of my prior visits were in the spring when the tulips and forget-me-nots formed low carpets of color.

All of my photos were taken with an iPhone 4s with OS/6. Today, we went to a social hosted by realtor Adrian Leeds (you may have seen her on HGTV's House Hunters International). "Eye Phoned Paris" was presented by professional photographer Michael Honegger who introduced us to a few applications to edit and enhance photos taken with an iPhone. After I shot these photos, I played around with CameraBag and Iris Photo Suite, so some have been edited with filters. For true inspiration in photography, be sure to take a look at Michael's website.

We spent very little time in the gardens today as it began to sprinkle rain. Perhaps we'll return to the Jardins on this trip as I never made it through this one front garden, let alone the wooded paths or alpine garden. This is a true botanical garden with many (free) sections and I highly recommend visiting to stroll or admire the plantings.

Passiflora at Jardin des Plantes. Enhanced.
I used CameraBag "fish eye" and
Iris Photo Suite for the watermark.

Glorious red salvia greggii steals this scene (above).
Tall grasses and tropical foliage add height (below).

Beautiful mixed borders
fill Jardin des Plantes.

Salvia leucantha looking great.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Panoramic Paris

Photo taken using iPhone with IOS 6, Panoramic mode. October 2012

Double trouble? That's my wonderful husband (aka "The Musician") on the left, then he walked behind me and stood on my right while I scanned the scene in the panoramic mode with my iPhone. (click the photos to enlarge) To take the panoramic photos, you'll need to upgrade your iPhone to IOS/6. Cool trick, huh?

The Musician then took my photo in the Tuileries, outside the Louvre Museum. We're celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary and having a great time catching up with expat friends and eating far too much. That said, we walked at least six hours today.

À bientôt!

That's me with the umbrella on the left and again on the right.
Who else wears sunglasses in the rain?

Louvre from the Tuileries.

View from terrace atop Galeries Lafayette.

View of Île de la Cité.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Free Palace in Paris

Is the line to visit the Louvre or Musée d'Orsay too long? Are the crowds at the Eiffel Tour overwhelming? Instead of paying and spending time waiting, there are free museums in Paris where you can walk right in and enjoy a bit of elbow space and quiet as you get up close to the exhibits.

Except for special exhibits and the archaeologic crypt and catacombs, there is no admission fee to see the permanent collections in the municipal museums in Paris. While residents of Paris are well aware of this benefit, most visitors are focused on the "must see" famous sites.

The courtyard garden inside Le Petit Palais.

Le Petit Palais is a charming palace on a human scale. Located directly across Avenue Winston Churchill from Le Grand Palais, the smaller palace is filled with sculpture, paintings and relics. While you won't find the Mona Lisa, the galleries include representative examples over the ages: Paris 1900, Seventeenth-Nineteenth Centuries, Renaissance, Eastern and Western Christian, Ancient Greeks and Romans as well as Graphics, Photographic Collections, Books (including Oscar Wilde) and Manuscripts.

Le Petit Palais was built for the 1900 World's Fair. There are four wings to this trapezium structure that surround a central garden. The architecture and decoration make the Palais worth a short visit, even if you have no interest in the art collections. If you've been walking down the Avenue des Champs d'Élysées and are heading toward the Louvre or Invalides, the garden is a pleasant place to take a break.

There is a café for beverages and snacks, but with all the wonderful foods available in Paris, go somewhere else for a complete meal. The museum is closed on Monday and holidays, but it is open other days from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm, with last admittance at 5:00 pm.

In the garden.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Le Jardin Botanique de la Villa Thuret

The garden was created in 1857 by scientist Gustave Thuret. Photo: 3 April 2012; Cap d'Antibes, France. The third time is a charm. Well, the garden is charming and on my third trip to Cap d'Antibes, I finally visited Le Jardin Botanique de la Villa Thuret. This is not a "oh my, look at all those colorful flowers" kind of place. This garden, created in 1857 by scientist Gustave Thuret, is a collection of exotic Mediterranean trees and shrubs. The garden will intrigue those with a keen interest in botany or offer tranquility to those simply looking for a lush place to stroll.  There are "2500 individuals belonging to 1600 wild species and 145 botanical families." Every year, another 200 new species are introduced in this five acre garden. Newly-introduced plants are tested for their ability to adapt to the volcanic soil and local climate conditions. The new plants are watered for two years and only during extremely dry summers. Dead plant matter is left to drop and add humus to the soil. There's no mulching or mowing as wildflowers dot through clover and grass. Only the gravel paths are maintained to allow visitor access.  Only the main paths are well-maintained. The garden is "natural" without mowing, mulching and pruning. Dead leaves and wood are allowed to drop to add organic matter to the soil. Wildflowers dot the natural, grassy areas. A lovely peony. Being an American and accustomed to "staying on the path" I didn't venture into the grassy meadows to read the labels on the shrubs and flowers, such as peonies, agapanthus, clivia and crocosmia—nor all the plants that I can't identify! Given that we were the only visitors and everyone else had clipboards with eyes focused intensely on the plants, I had no clue as to the proper protocol. We weren't even sure if we were supposed to pay an admission fee. We walked into the open gates and saw no ticket stand. Since no one chased us down and demanded Euros, we assume that there was no charge.  For a lovely, sunny day, a leisurely stroll through the gardens was worth the trip to Cap d'Antibes. To find Jardin Thuret from the town of Antibes, we headed west along the promenade at Ponteil. We crossed Boulevard James Wylie to follow  Boulevard du Cap to Chemin Raymond. There is also an Enviro-bus that makes a circuit through the area for 1 Euro. The garden is closed on Saturday, Sunday and some holidays. Verify through the website. Crocosmia blooms beneath a grove of bamboo. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Inspiration: Great Gates

After a long, leisurely and fabulous Saturday lunch at Plage Keller "Le Cesar" restaurant on La Garoupe Beach, my husband and I strolled along Boulevard Gardiole Bacon. This quiet street on the peninsula, Cap d'Antibes, is lined with villas—more accurately walled gardens that obscure the villas from view. Many of the villas are Provençal style, a common design in this area of France, and quite large and luxurious. Others are Spanish Mediterranean and then there are the modern architectural styles of white boxes. I prefer the traditional styles.

I love garden gates. Even the driveways have gates, and some of those are inspiring. Come along on a stroll down that boulevard as we walked back to Antibes, a distance of about four kilometers, depending upon how many  detours we make to snap photos along the way. You see, we justify all the eating by walking!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.