Giverney in September?
Mar 29th, 2002, 09:23 AM
#2
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Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder, to quote an old cliche.<BR>I went in September and my chief complaint was the loads of visitors.<BR>Somebody thought the gardens were worth seeing; bus loads of them.<BR><BR>If you go, my suggestion is to free lance it by taking the earliest train convenient from Gare St. Lazare to Vernon. There is one at 8:16, but not another one until 11:03. Returns to St. Lazare are at 18:05 and 19:15, and 20:42 if you want to have dinner before returning.<BR><BR>Then take a bus, or taxi to Giverny. <BR>There are a few cafes near the exit/entrance to the estate.<BR><BR>Even with an early start, you will probably find many people at Giverny.<BR>
Mar 29th, 2002, 10:15 AM
#3
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If you go, take time for the American Impressionist museum down the road; we had a good lunch there too; great gift shop. We were there in early August and everything was in full bloom; I wouldn't expect 5-6 weeks would make a lot of difference unless there were a frost (Sept seems a bit early).
Mar 29th, 2002, 10:44 AM
#4
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If you're searching for info here on this forum or on the internet, you'll need the correct spelling - -which bob Brown DID provide - - so I won't take the credit for that.<BR><BR>Giverny.<BR><BR>And I would anticipate no drop-off in the appeal of the place in September, notwithstanding the crowds that Bob mentions. I do wonder if they get just as many visitors in September as during the school's out months. It may not appeal as much to the families with younger kids, who are of course, traveling in France much more in summer, much less in September.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>
Mar 29th, 2002, 06:14 PM
#9
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We have visited Giverny in both spring and fall...late Sept. last year...and the gardens were as spectacular in the fall as in the spring. There is plenty of parking. We were there on a weekday, and though it was busy, it was not packed by any means.
Mar 30th, 2002, 12:37 AM
#11
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The people who were there when it was not packed were very lucky. It is a great site, or it would be if they would ban the tour buses. When I was there in June of '99 you may as well have been on a conveyor belt--and that was in the garden. The house was so jammed full of people that my wife and I lingered outside and in the gift shop for an hour and a half to wait and see if the crowd would thin at all. It didn't. We finally went in and again, the artifacts and pictures in the house looked like they must have been fascinating; unfortunately the sweaty, mosh-pit like press of the crowd precluded any appreciation of longer than a quick glance. It was by far the most tourist overrun place I have visited in Europe, because it is too small, and at least at the time they did nothing to limit the number of people entering the grounds, and especially the house, to a reasonable number. Also I would observe that the vast majority of the visitors on the day I was there seemed to be American. I am an American myself, so I am not interested in doing any bashing, but I did get the impression that this site is really hyped up by the American guide books as one of the great day trips from Paris, so lots of people who wouldn't otherwise go there seem to end up doing so. <BR>The gardens are beautiful, though unfortunately not very peaceful and conducive to contemplation if you hit one of the crowded days.
