My wife and I will be in Paris for the first time later this month. We have an opportunity to take a half-day bus trip and are having trouble deciding between Giverny and Versailles (well, I say Giverny, she says Versailles). I'd appreciate any opinions on which we should choose.

silly man. she should choose, and you should say yes, dear.

If it is a bus tour why won't you go to Giverny and she may go to Versailles. People travel alone too.

Yes indeed, I don't see why each of you can't go to the one you want, either on the bus or independently which is quite easy for both, especially for Versailles.<BR>The glory of Giverny is the gardens of course. The house and studio are nice, as are the American Impressionist museum nearby, but you go for the gardens.<BR>Versailles has both sumptuously decorated buildings, offers a perspective on history, and also has beautiful gardens and walks. If the bus tour of Versailles is only half a day you may find you haven't had enough time, as some of the "out buildings"<BR>(and I use that term loosely, they are mini-palaces) are quite a way out in the gardens and I can't see that in half a day you'd have time to see it all.

I meant to add, if you want more details on the bus tours or on going on your own, do a search here on either venue. I also have some info on them in my long Paris file; if you'd like to see it, email me.

Granted that Giverny is the place where Monet lived, and that he is a famous artist, but his major paintings hang elsewhere. The house itself is interesting but relatively modest considering the owners place in art history. The gardens, while nice, are not the greatest in the world. <BR><BR>I like Monet, and have gone out of my way to see his paintings, and I have been disappointed that the Orangerie has been closed what seems like for years now because of endless renovations. <BR><BR>BUT, Versailles is the essence of French history. It was the show place of the empire and the scene of many important political and diplomatic events that determined the fate of nations and millions of people long after the French monarchy was removed from power. In terms of its importance to the history of Western Civilization, there is of course no comparison. To me there is absolutely no comparison in the two places. <BR><BR>My wife has a different point of view.<BR>She feels that one should visit Versailles to understand the opulence of royalty that helped to precipitate the French revolution. As she said, one should go once, get sick of the place because of its excesses, and never go back. No wonder the starving rabble stormed the place, knocked the heads off of every thing in sight, including the king.<BR>

I did a 1/2 day tour of Versailles in the morning and a 1/2 day tour of Giverny in the afternoon on the same day. If I had to choose I would say Versailles, without a doubt. It has so much more to see, I love Monet but I felt Giverny could wait for another trip to Paris if I couldn't do it, but I managed them both.<BR><BR>Good luck choosing, why not do the adult thing and flip for it.