That Summer Light at Giverny Really Is Different

A pink house with green shutters and a killer garden are the few things that could possibly persuade me to leave Paris. Yet, having seen some muddied water lilies at the Orangerie, I was ready to be underwhelmed at Giverny. Still, how could I not go to the place that inspired all that creativity?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawn by Claude Monet’s back story—his woman maintained that their blended family was simply too cramped in the city—the Senior Adventurer, the Youthful Adventurer, and I headed to Vernon and the nearby village of Giverny on a bright July day. Were we too late in the season? Would the gardens be wilting? How cliché would that green wooden bridge be?

Despite the crowds, the heat, the time of year, the gardens were glorious. Had I been fortunate enough to live here I might even have begun painting. I might never have left.

As we learned after walking to the church up the street from the house, Monet himself ultimately opted to remain there forever.

—Lori Tripoli