Giverny, Back to Paris and a Fond Farewell
We chose this image as our background for this page. Did I mention that I LOVE Impressionist art? I can dream of water lilies!
Giverny
Our next stop after Bayeux was Giverny, where Claude Monet spent the last 40 years of his life painting. It is absolutely gorgeous, and brought to life those paintings we had seen in the Orsay Museum in Paris.
Our background photo. This place made us feel like we were wandering around inside of a Monet painting.
And back to Paris
We arrived back in Paris in the afternoon and bid farewell to Matt and Annie, our bus drivers. They had been terrific and a great asset to our tour. We had time to wander around a bit, this time in a new neighborhood - our final hotel was right near l'Arc de Triomphe. Our farewell dinner was a happy/sad occasion for the group. We had a great time and a really good dinner, but were sad to be leaving.
The next morning, we were off to the airport, sharing a ride with some other group members ... thanks, Christine, for arranging this! So typical of her style - trying to make everything easier for us.
L'Arc de Triomphe, right near our hotel. See the enormous French flag hanging in the middle? Wow!
Hint: As I stated earlier, we arrived in Paris several days before the tour began. It was simple to e-mail the first hotel (or the last if you opt to stay later) and reserve a room for your extra days. They were very accommodating and gave us the Rick Steves rate.