Giverny, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur

I asked Matt to pinch me today because it feels like I’m still dreaming.

Giverny 

We were picked up at 8am for the hour drive to the countryside of Giverny.  We had 4 other people on the tour with us. Giverny is where Claude Monet lived the last half of his life and was inspired to paint his famous water lily scenes.  I did not know, however, that he was equal parts artist and gardener and actually created the garden he was to famously paint.  That blew me away…to know what to plant in order to paint.  My first view of the garden. He was inspired by the Japanese and planted bamboo:

M&M&L at the lily pond.

I still can’t believe I got to see this with my own eyes.

Here is a copy of his painting that I found on the internet.

When we left the hotel, it was raining.  I prayed and prayed that it would stop raining for our tour.  God answered my prayer and it didn’t rain a drop the whole time we where there. Then God surprised and delighted.  On the tour, they played a video and they advised to make note of how the sky reflects off of the water.  After a rain storm is the best time to take photographs.  And I forgot about that advice (you kinda get lost in the garden…another place and another time, yet being in the present at the same time) until I saw this photo on the drive back.  Unreal.

Water Lily Pond selfie.

This bridge was on the other side of the pond and I actually like it better.

The house he built - the man loved his pink and green. So many colors inside, too!

The entire kitchen was yellow.

These paintings are replicas.  For YEARS I have had this “Rainy Day In Paris” print hanging in my house.  I couldn’t believe it was here, too!

He has a lot of land with gardens and paths everywhere.  


Took a little break to appreciate the peace and garden sounds. We asked one of the couples with us on the tour to take our photo.  She held up her iPhone.  We were cracking up that she probably didn’t want us in her camera roll or for her family Christmas cards. Then I offered to take one of her and her husband in the same spot.  She sat down and all I had was MY phone.  We laughed all over again.  They are lovely, but I don’t need a picture of them, either.  We got it worked out.  HAHAHA

One of my favorites. We took 100 pictures…and more in my memories.  I won’t bore you with all of them and move on to the church we went to, where Claude Monet and his family are buried.  It’s called Saints-Radegonde Church (I never would have remembered that, had to Google it LOL)

I mean, just look at that sky!

I wonder what S. Jean means.  It was on the back of all the chairs. Google was not as helpful here.

I loved this.

Then we stopped at the Museum of Impressionism. It had a Renoir exhibit and I loved seeing paintings from Monet’s family. My favorite was this:  

This was done by his son-in-law.

We shared lunch with unusual characters!

Montmartre

Then off to the martyr’s hill.

We did a walking tour with Fat Tire (they are SOOOO good). Our guide was Pravin, and he was awesome.  We started at the Moulin Rouge. 

I thought it was a standalone building. Nope, right in the middle of the town.  It was cool to see something so iconic in person.*

Then we saw where Van Gogh lived. After hearing more about him, I want to find a biography book and read it.

That’s Pravin in the blue shirt. The two boarded up windows on the fourth level were where he lived.

See the pac-man looking painting on the building in the distance? Apparently there is a famous, anonymous French street artist named Invader.  So bizarre, but cool.

The oldest windmill, and one of only two working windmills left.

This is by far the weirdest thing I have seen.** Based on a kids book where a man discovers he can walk through walls. I can’t figure out the book online. Will have to research more later.

Statue of Saint-Denis (Deh-knee, not Dennis - you’re not supposed to pronounce consonants at the end of French words).  Our guide didn’t correct me, but probably cringed on the inside.  This legend is bonkers, another story I want to research more.  I’ll let you do the same.  But it was at this point of our tour that me and God had a big moment. He was with me the whole time. I realized a few things about myself on this Montmartre walking tour:  1) I am stronger than I think I am.  2) I can walk for days on flat ground.  Uphill/downhill and on cobblestones was TRICKY! 3) I count steps when I walk, or sing songs with the wrong lyrics.  I was singing “give me strength, to trust what you say” cuz I needed HIS strength, but that phrase didn’t make sense to me.  The song is actually “Give me faith, to trust what you say” by Elevation Worship. Yeah, that makes more sense.  HAHA

When we were on the sidewalk outside this park, I thought, “God, if you could just show me a little shop where I can buy a bottle of water (mine was empty) that would be so great.” Then we round the corner and there was a fountain where I could fill up my water bottle.  Asked and answered…thank you Lord!!

And I was exhausted, still aware of the 220 steps we needed to take up to the Sacre-Coeur.  But surprise!

Sacre-Coeur

I asked our guide how long the tour was expected to last, and he said we were almost done.  We rounded another corner and we were there! All of our uphill and downhill and winding around the town brought us directly to the church.  Hallelujah!!!

Before we toured inside, we went to dinner and shopped around the square.  We ate outside and there were pigeons everywhere - as there are everywhere here.  One of them landed on my head and pushed off.  I couldn’t see anything but M&M saw the whole thing and died laughing.  I thought something crashed onto my head.  But no, just a pigeon who needed an al-ee-oop off the top of my head.

*I can’t believe I got to see THIS in person. The inside was magnificent.

We sat for a moment.  I caught the tail end of mass. I looked for the nuns that were praying but couldn’t find them.  According to the interwebs,”’We Never Leave the Lord Alone’: 135 Years of Eucharistic Adoration at Sacré-Coeur.  Since Aug. 1, 1885, the chain of perpetual adoration of the Holy Sacrament at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre in Paris has continued uninterrupted, including during the 1944 bombing and the coronavirus crisis.”  I wanted to take a turn with them, but I settled for praying in one of the beautiful pews. Mostly thanking God for everything!!!

This was inscribed BIG (in the photo above, you can see it below the image of Jesus in the photo above) and we wondered what it meant.

The view of Paris.

Peddlers were displaying their goods all over the place.  I think I was supposed to be here! My name says so!

A pretty view of part of the 220 steps down. Appreciating the beauty and thanking God I didn’t have to do them on the way up!

I think this is the pigeon that was on my head.  He recognized me.  HAHAHA

**THIS is the weirdest thing I’ve seen.  We have seen a few dogs in our travels but hardly any cats.  When we rounded the corner to the church, we heard a cat howl and hiss.  And we saw this guy.  I took the photo after the cat had settled down and got a video of the cat sitting there while he played, too!

You can’t make this stuff up!

Another red letter day!!!  Experiences of a lifetime!