Giverny Off The Beaten Path Tips by bpacker Top 5 Page for this destination

Monet's second wife

This is the woman whom Claude Monet had an affair with while he was still married to his wife, Camille.

Alice Hoschede was the wife of Monet's patron, Ernest Hoschede. And when Monet's wife fell seriously ill, Alice left her husband to care for Monet's wife and provided companionship for the artist. However, Monet's wife died soon after and Monet fell in love with Alice.

Monet and Alice moved to Giverny after that and he married Alice a good 10 years after that (when Ernest Hoschede died in 1892 ).

NOTE : The potrait of Alice that you see over here is not painted by Monet but by his American contemporary , John Singer Sargent.

If you're interested to see this and more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

Cycling in Giverny

Cyling is the best way to sight-see Giverny. The roads are quiet, the surrounding areas are lush with greenery and the places of interest are not too far away from one another. Why zoom past all these beautiful sights on a bus? Gimme a bike any time and let me breathe in the good country air and see the river, skies and hills anytime!

To convince you furthur, I've attached pictures and write-ups on all the places that I've seen on the tour. And if you're interested, contact details for the bike tour agency is given below.

Contact Details :
Click onto the weblink given below and contact Fat Tires Bike Tour to reserve a place for yourself on the Monet's Gardens Bicycle Tour. If I'm not mistaken, the tour runs daily in summer if there are enough people. The tour cost about 65euros but it is worth it if you want to maximise your time and avoid eating Prozac from interpreting maps and missing train stops.

Included in the tour would be :
1) Your return train ticket from Paris to Vernon
2) The entry ticket to Monet's gardens and house.
3) Your bike leader guide
4) Your bike, of course..

Other Contact: info@FatTireBikeToursParis.com

Phone: +33-1-56-58-10-54

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

How Monet discovered Giverny

Sometime in 1883, Claude Monet discovered the beautiful village of Giverny while he was looking out of a window from a train.

At that time, this chap was broke, his wife just died and he had taken up with a pregnant female companion with 5 kids. That's not all, he had 2 sons as well. So all in all, he had 10 mouths to feed. Poor fella! Yeah, other than being the Father of Impressionism, he was Father to a Huge Brady-Bunch family. What an enormous burden it must have been! Whatever it was, it turned out alright. The beautiful village which he spotted would be haven to him for the next 43 years. He eventually rented a big house there ( The Press House ) for his big family and planted his famous garden. The rest , is history

If you're interested to hear more stories like this and see more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

The church grounds where Monet is buried

Not far from away Monet's house and garden, lies an old village church where Monet is buried. If you look carefully at the walls of the church, they are still riddled by bullet and sharpnel holes. You'll also notice that the stained glass panels are gone as they have been shattered by the impact.

If you're interested to see this and more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

Of Hoschedés and Monets

If you ever get an opportunity to visit Monet's grave, look at the names on the plot. You'll notice a lot of Hoschedes and Monets.
Of you'll wonder who the Hoschedes are right? Well, Claude Monet used to have a rich patron by the name of Ernest Hoschede and the artist had an affair with his wife whilst still married...
Eventually, the two lovers were married after the death of Monet's first wife and the old patron. Their children from their respective marriages also inter-married so that is why a nice big family of Hoschedes and Monets were formed.
Carry on reading the rest of my tips if you're interested to see the faces of Monet's first and second wives.

TIP: If you're interested to hear more of these stories and see more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

Picnicking next to the Old Mill at Vernon

Near Monet's house, near the bridge spanning across the River Seine lies a beautifully restored mill and a beautiful park filled with swans and ducks. This is an excellent picnic spot. Go there if you can and have a picnic there before making your way to Monet's house.

If you're interested to see this and more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

Farmer's Market in Vernon

At our first stop on our bike tour in Giverny, we went to this farmer's market in Vernon (not too far away from the train station) to grab our picnic supplies. Lots of good stuff were found there. Really fresh produce like crisp apples, succulent peaches, juicy strawberries, etc were the main draw. The local specialties (apple cider and camembert cheese) weren't too bad either. Also available were olives, good wine, loaves of fresh baguette, etc. Guess what made the experience memorable for me were the friendly locals whom I interacted with.

TIP : Market closes at lunch time.

If you're interested to see this and more off beaten track destinations in Giverny, join a bike tour or click here to see more pictures. Web contacts are below

Website: http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

Monet's first wife

Monet married Camille Doncieux, his mistress and model in June 1870. They had previously suffered through Monet's conflict with his father, a wholesale grocer, who refused help when Camille became pregnant in 1867. Monet married Camille 3 years after the birth of their son, Jean.
The Monets , it seems, had a tumultous marriage. While they were still married, Monet had an affair with his patron's wife. Later, when Camille died at a young age of 32, Monet was so agrieved that he painted her on her death bed and kept it with him till he died.

In this picture, Camille posed for Monet wearing a blond wig and a Japanese kimono. He would later denounced the picture , calling it 'trash'.