Day 28

Got up and going earlier than we have been to catch a train to Vernon.  Well, should have bought them the night before.  Had a two hour+ wait sooo, wandered through the mall that is attatched Gare St. Lazare.  Still searching for gifts for grandchildren that I can afford or that Ross is willing to fund.  That took about an hour so we walked around outside.  Most of the shops don't open until 10a or sometimes 11a.
Following a 40 minute train ride through the outskirts of the city, along the Seine in places, past a couple of small french towns, we arrived, flooded out of the station to the buses to take us to Giverny and Monet's gardens.
This area had several rows of perenial beds, iris, tulips, poppies, lush.  The beds were about 6 foot wide and maybe 200 foot long, they went on and on.  Trellises, apple trees and more and filled with people, swarms of people on limited pathways.

The area with the lily ponds was surrounded by shrubbery and trees.  I loved how the colors progressed through the gardens, a yellow section with touches of orange would move to a section predominantly red and on around the pond.  A little rivulet led to the ponds.  It was challenging to take photographs.  People taking selfies or portraits of friends and families, vying to take that special shot of the scenery, cheek by jowl in many instances.  And yet....fairly quiet, birds singing.

Enjoyed the gardens but decided to forgo museums and getting hungry so went back into Vernon.  Giverny itself is very pretty and has beautiful gardens like this gift shop.

As we came through town we noticed a street fair.  We followed a mom and her children.  The first thing we saw were kids in bungee cord harnesses jumping on trampolines.  Ross immediately noticed lots of happy people drinking beer in large mugs sitting in front of La Guinguette de Bad Kissengen.  Had a couple of biere brun de monastere, delicious, camembert on brown bread with a pretzel stuck on top and Frankische Rostbratwurst im brot, a long skinny sausage in a short baguette.  And then these guys came around.  The rest of the street fair was very like our own, carney games, local businesses promoting their products from home improvement to wine.  Just a lovely, lovely afternoon.  We brought home some pepper sausage and another with saltpeter dusting the casing, I asked, for dinner that night.