Tuesday 11th Giverny and Versailles

Bonjour.
Picked up at the hotel at 8:15 for the day's adventure in a mini bus. There were eight passengers, four Americans, two Kiwi ladies and we two. Driving out of Paris at this time of day was rush hour but we seemed to make steady progress. I can't work a lot of the roads out, you seem to have to go past where you want to turn off and turn around and go back to the corner on the opposite side of the road.
Anyway about an hours drive in the country we came to the village of Giverny, a pretty spot where Monet's house and garden is situated. The weather was cloudy with a little drizzle at times but it didn't stop us from enjoying the garden. The roses are in bloom as well as irises, peonies, pansies, lupins, water lilies, rhododendrons, violas plus plenty of others. It was a picture and well worth the visit. Everybody was queuing up to have their photo taken on the Japanese bridge. The house was interesting too, considering that old Claude lived there with his wife, mistress and eight kids, some of them his. Giverny is a pretty village with narrow roads and the locals all have to keep their gardens up to scratch or face a fine .
Through our travels in Europe we have seen Flanders Poppies growing in the fields, they are considered weeds in many places, but Monet painted them many times. There was a field next to the Monet Museum where the poppies were growing wild and they looked beautiful.
We then drove through the countryside and other quaint villages to our lunch stop which was at a village called Fourges. There is a mill there with an operating water wheel namely Moulin et Fourges.
Lunch was nice and we enjoyed the company of our fellow travelers.
Then it was on to Versailles. Have you ever been swamped by other people so much you don't get to enjoy the place? This is what happened to us here. The queue to get into the castle was enormous and everybody was surging through the building, we just got carried along. It is of course heavily ornate with frescoed ceilings, marble etc. etc. we were just over it altogether. The gardens are very manicured but we didn't  really have a lot of time to wander too far.
Anyway it was back to Paris and tea and get organized for shifting.
We are on the Eurostar at 10:13 tomorrow morning and pick up a car at Ashford in Kent.
I don't know what the availability of WiFi will be like in the next two weeks so will have to take the opportunity to update the blog when I can.
Au revoir.