Why I love France: Nikki's trip to Normandy
Oct 26th, 2018, 07:05 AM
#61
I can't imagine returning a glass of wine because an insect is in it. I mean not unless it is a bumblebee or something. It's not as though insects are unsanitary. I have often fished bugs out of what I am drinking.
Oct 26th, 2018, 09:30 AM
#65
lovely sunset, Nikki and I love the picture of the cyclamen under the tree too.
as I think I said before having never been to Normandy except for the odd drive through, the Bayeux tapestry is another of the things I've never seen there and now i have a dilemma - to not see it in Normandy, or to not see it in the UK. Decisions decisions. i suppose that I could combine it with a trip not seeing Giverny as well!
as I think I said before having never been to Normandy except for the odd drive through, the Bayeux tapestry is another of the things I've never seen there and now i have a dilemma - to not see it in Normandy, or to not see it in the UK. Decisions decisions. i suppose that I could combine it with a trip not seeing Giverny as well!
Oct 26th, 2018, 03:20 PM
#67
Original Poster
In the morning, our hosts wheel in a cart loaded with wonderful things for breakfast: fruit salad, cooked apple slices in syrup, cereal, yogurt, bread, butter, homemade jams and marmalade, a cheese board with five cheeses, croissants, crackers, and a tureen of that rice pudding with cinnamon that we are finding all over.
Unfortunately Alan has started feeling ill. He leaves the breakfast table and eventually says he will have to stay put today and I should go to Monet’s house and garden without him, so that is what I do.
The street with Monet’s house is pedestrianized. I pass some very pretty shops and houses and the Impressionist Museum. There is a very short line to buy tickets for Monet’s house and garden.
First I walk through the gardens. Since I am alone, I take my time and take many photos. The warm summer has seen the flowering and reflowering of many plants that might have petered out by October in other years, so there are great displays of color. Overheard in the garden: “I don’t really like flowers. It’s the smell that bothers me.” I think of Proust, who had severe asthma and could not be near flowers without a serious reaction. Yet his novel is filled from beginning to end with blooms of all types.
There is a tunnel that passes under a busy road to the water garden with a bamboo wood and the famous lily pond.
There are many people taking photos here. We are all taking pictures of the same lily pond painted by Monet. Is it more beautiful than other lily ponds? Certainly it is lovely, and it was designed by Monet himself, even though the entire house and garden was damaged during the war and neglected for many years so that it had to be reconstructed and the pond dug again before it was opened to the public in 1980. But the reason we are all taking photos of this particular lily pond is not that it is the most beautiful pond and garden we will ever see, but that Monet has elevated it to art. He transformed the landscape by planting the garden and then he transformed it again by painting it. We have all seen the paintings. We are trying to capture the art with our cameras and own a piece of it for ourselves.
I think of the article Proust’s narrator reads in the seventh volume of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, and the narrator’s realization that real life is not a diminished version of art but that art elevates the ordinary into the extraordinary. The lesson I take away from this is not to expect Monet’s garden or the town of Cabourg to be the most spectacular places I will ever see, but to go see how these places in the real world have been transformed into the Nymphéas of Monet and the fictional seaside resort of Balbec of Proust. How the real world has been transformed into the divine.
May we all see the miraculous in the everyday.
This is why I love France.
Unfortunately Alan has started feeling ill. He leaves the breakfast table and eventually says he will have to stay put today and I should go to Monet’s house and garden without him, so that is what I do.
The street with Monet’s house is pedestrianized. I pass some very pretty shops and houses and the Impressionist Museum. There is a very short line to buy tickets for Monet’s house and garden.
First I walk through the gardens. Since I am alone, I take my time and take many photos. The warm summer has seen the flowering and reflowering of many plants that might have petered out by October in other years, so there are great displays of color. Overheard in the garden: “I don’t really like flowers. It’s the smell that bothers me.” I think of Proust, who had severe asthma and could not be near flowers without a serious reaction. Yet his novel is filled from beginning to end with blooms of all types.
There is a tunnel that passes under a busy road to the water garden with a bamboo wood and the famous lily pond.
There are many people taking photos here. We are all taking pictures of the same lily pond painted by Monet. Is it more beautiful than other lily ponds? Certainly it is lovely, and it was designed by Monet himself, even though the entire house and garden was damaged during the war and neglected for many years so that it had to be reconstructed and the pond dug again before it was opened to the public in 1980. But the reason we are all taking photos of this particular lily pond is not that it is the most beautiful pond and garden we will ever see, but that Monet has elevated it to art. He transformed the landscape by planting the garden and then he transformed it again by painting it. We have all seen the paintings. We are trying to capture the art with our cameras and own a piece of it for ourselves.
I think of the article Proust’s narrator reads in the seventh volume of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, and the narrator’s realization that real life is not a diminished version of art but that art elevates the ordinary into the extraordinary. The lesson I take away from this is not to expect Monet’s garden or the town of Cabourg to be the most spectacular places I will ever see, but to go see how these places in the real world have been transformed into the Nymphéas of Monet and the fictional seaside resort of Balbec of Proust. How the real world has been transformed into the divine.
May we all see the miraculous in the everyday.
This is why I love France.
Last edited by Nikki; Oct 26th, 2018 at 03:35 PM.
Oct 26th, 2018, 04:51 PM
#68
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Nikki, beautiful words and photos. You've captured the sunshine on autumn flowers. It can't be possible that you were alone at Giverny, but it feels like it was just you there--with each of us looking over your shoulder.
In France I see the miraculous in the everyday much more than I do at home. It may have to do with being a guest at B&Bs and restaurants in France instead of the person who does laundry, cooks, and washes the dishes. If I were a serious person I'd probably see the miraculous in clean clothes and dishes.
Sorry that your husband wasn't feeling up to par. My husband refused to go to the Bayeux tapestry, which surprised me, and I've come to see that it wasn't a necessary stop for us.
You might be interested in today's blog post on Days on the Claise which includes an explanation about towns without bakeries.
https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com...charnizay.html
In France I see the miraculous in the everyday much more than I do at home. It may have to do with being a guest at B&Bs and restaurants in France instead of the person who does laundry, cooks, and washes the dishes. If I were a serious person I'd probably see the miraculous in clean clothes and dishes.
Sorry that your husband wasn't feeling up to par. My husband refused to go to the Bayeux tapestry, which surprised me, and I've come to see that it wasn't a necessary stop for us.
You might be interested in today's blog post on Days on the Claise which includes an explanation about towns without bakeries.
https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com...charnizay.html
Oct 27th, 2018, 01:15 AM
#69
I don't imagine that the waiter saw anything wrong with the first glass of wine when he delivered it, what happened under your control was not the restaurant's fault and so was not to be replaced. Makes complete sense. If you had dropped the glass of wine would you have expected another free glass?
Oct 27th, 2018, 05:32 AM
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Nikki, your photos, especially the flowers, are beautiful.
I have a torn meniscus (from my hearth healthy aerobics class - not so for the knees apparently!) I have been rather bedbound and your trip report has made for an enjoyable pastime.
I have a torn meniscus (from my hearth healthy aerobics class - not so for the knees apparently!) I have been rather bedbound and your trip report has made for an enjoyable pastime.
Oct 27th, 2018, 06:46 AM
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"In the morning, our hosts wheel in a cart loaded with wonderful things for breakfast" They would have to roll me out on the cart after a breakfast like that!
I always said that if the foundation that runs Giverny wants to raise money they should auction off solitary time in the garden. We were there in the end of June while the garden were spectacular. Unfortunately there were several bus trips of high school students from the US (my high school didn't take trips except for an afternoon to Spanish Harlem for the Spanish class) who were not very appreciative.
I always said that if the foundation that runs Giverny wants to raise money they should auction off solitary time in the garden. We were there in the end of June while the garden were spectacular. Unfortunately there were several bus trips of high school students from the US (my high school didn't take trips except for an afternoon to Spanish Harlem for the Spanish class) who were not very appreciative.
Oct 27th, 2018, 07:03 AM
#74
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This can't be over, surely?
Thank you, Nikki; your report has gotten me through several days of housework. I took frequent breaks to see if there'd been an update. If you really have come to the end of your account, I'm going to need another excuse to goof off.
Thank you, Nikki; your report has gotten me through several days of housework. I took frequent breaks to see if there'd been an update. If you really have come to the end of your account, I'm going to need another excuse to goof off.
Oct 27th, 2018, 07:53 AM
#75
Bayeux Tapestry was one of the high points of our visit to Normandy. I thought the audio guide system worked well, but that may be because we spent time on the replica outside the exhibit itself.
Insects in drinks: There's an old joke about becoming an African hand. When you first arrive, if you find a fly in your beer you throw it out in disgust. After a few months, you just take the fly out and keep the drink. A little while later, you drink the beer with the fly. Finally, when you get home, you miss the flies.
Thanks for a great report.
Insects in drinks: There's an old joke about becoming an African hand. When you first arrive, if you find a fly in your beer you throw it out in disgust. After a few months, you just take the fly out and keep the drink. A little while later, you drink the beer with the fly. Finally, when you get home, you miss the flies.
Thanks for a great report.
Oct 27th, 2018, 09:44 AM
#76
Original Poster
I’m not quite finished yet. I appreciate all the comments, thank you all.
When I wrote about the insect in Alan’s drink, I anticipated hearing from readers who thought we should have talked to the management and contested the charge. It did not occur to me that we would hear from readers who thought we were making too much of a puny insect and that the waiter had been in the right. Very interesting.
Coquelicot, thanks for the link to that blog with the picture of the bread dispensing machine for bakery-starved towns. Amazing there is such a law.
I was not alone at Giverny, although I am sure the crowds are much greater in the summer. But the gardens have been designed in such a way that the spectators are on walkways that give viewpoints over gardens that have paths closed to the public so that the views of the gardens are free of people.
When I wrote about the insect in Alan’s drink, I anticipated hearing from readers who thought we should have talked to the management and contested the charge. It did not occur to me that we would hear from readers who thought we were making too much of a puny insect and that the waiter had been in the right. Very interesting.
Coquelicot, thanks for the link to that blog with the picture of the bread dispensing machine for bakery-starved towns. Amazing there is such a law.
I was not alone at Giverny, although I am sure the crowds are much greater in the summer. But the gardens have been designed in such a way that the spectators are on walkways that give viewpoints over gardens that have paths closed to the public so that the views of the gardens are free of people.
Oct 27th, 2018, 10:50 AM
#78
Okay, I know we shouldn't dwell on this tiny incident, but the drink does not seem to have been served with an insect already in it. If so, that would change everything. Probably, any difference of reaction comes from those of us who have been to various remote locations in Asia, Africa or South America with no luxury restaurants or hotels. Places like that change your values immediately. I should probably mention that I grew up in Mississippi, which was about the same back in those days.
Oct 27th, 2018, 12:17 PM
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My take on the bug incident is that if a waiter brings you a glass of something and there's a bug in it when he/she serves it, and you notice it and alert him/her right away, they'd probaby take it away and bring you another (actually, they'd probably take it away, remove the bug, and bring it right back to you). If, while you're imbibing, a bug lands in your glass, it's tant pis. If it's a gueppe or frelon or some big nasty thing, it might be another story. At any rate, I don't see it as much of an issue. There are loads of bugs in France.
Anyway, no big deal, and lovely report.
Anyway, no big deal, and lovely report.
