Our Day Started at Giverny

We started our long weekend adventure with a stop in Giverny, the place where Claude Monet lived and worked.  It is just under an hour's drive from our house.  On the way there I used the time to read the kids a book.  It is called Linnea in Monet's Garden.  This book tells the story of a little girl taking a trip to Paris and spending a day visiting Monet's house and gardens in Giverny.  It was the perfect book to read to the kids on the way there, they were so excited to see the pink house and the green bridge.  I really think this book helped everyone get excited for our stop.

The gift shop and cafe were our first stop, they had coffee to go, bathrooms and a sweet little shop.  The shop had some beautiful things, but they were all quite expensive.  If you are going to do any souvenir shopping I would suggest the museum gift shop.  You don't have to go into the Impressionist Museum to shop in their store.  Their prices and selection were excellent.

As we headed to the entrance a small shop had a bubble machine, our kids' favorite thing.  

They were having so much fun strangers decided to take a few pictures of them.

We had bought our tickets ahead of time, which I highly recommend, and we were able to get right in.  The gardens were a little crowded already, but still beautiful.

This was my favorite grouping of bushes.

This was my favorite row.

These tulip beds were right in front of the house, and they were just stunning.

My mom was there with us and she was also taking pictures.  It is funny to see pictures of myself in action.

And then it was under the road to the ponds with the bridge and water lilies.  This area was so beautiful.  

And just like that we were through all of the ground and headed back to the car.

It was a lot of walking for little legs.

Getting some wiggles out before we get back in the car to drive.

For a visit to Giverny I recommend getting their as early as possible.   When we got there we had plenty of parking options.  There are bathrooms at the Cafe and in the Impressionist Museum that are free and clean.  We packed a picnic lunch to eat, we ended up just standing outside our car eating it.  

And most importantly, enjoy!