Mardi - Giverny

The morning’s activities were based on personal interest.  Cindy and Kim joined Kathy on a shopping trip to Galeries Lafayette.  The goal here was to spend at least 175 Euros in order to get the 12% tax refund.  Total was 180 – success!  Sorry we didn’t have a camera with us because the building itself was beautiful.

Mindy and Jessica went to Victor Hugo's house on the Place des Vosges. One of the floors was preserved as it was when he died and another served as galleries for various drawings by the author and of his work. Jessica rented an audio guide and listened to most of the information, but Mindy didn't feel like paying the five euro so she went through quickly and then sat on a bench to take a nap.

Judy and Phyllis went to do a little shopping and walked the wrong way on St. Germain des Pres.  Since they were close to St. Sulpice, they walked there to go inside to see the rose line which Judy walked over on Sunday and didn't notice.  However, when they arrived, a casket was being carried outside, so they didn't go in.  

After lunch we were picked up at the hotel for a tour of Monet’s gardens in Giverny.  It was a wonderful time to visit with iris, roses, clematis and much more all in bloom. The drive there was interesting; this time, Mindy the Extrovert sat in the front seat next to the guide and the two of them were engaged in a lengthy and weighty conversation about World War II when all of a sudden, the driver, realizing that he was supposed to be telling us what we were passing, gestured to the right and said out of the blue, "Oh, and here is a farm with strange animals," before returning to the conversation. (The animals weren't that strange; Jessica noticed a miniature horse, an alpaca, a llama, a donkey, and an emu.) For more pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/KimCooper88/McKonlyTripToParis?feat=directlink.  

Dinner that night was at Les Ministeres where Kathy demonstrated her mastery of the French language.  When the waiter came to the table with duck, he announced which dish he had.  When no one responded, he asked, ‘quack quack?’ and Kathy responded ‘quack’. This was also the dinner where we were given poorly translated English menus that consisted of the regular menu with papers taped over it. These menus didn't list the ice cream flavors, so Cindy tried to pry up the bottom of one of these papers much to the waiter's chagrin. He tried several times to get her to stop, but she was oblivious and didn't notice until Kathy alerted her to his cries and wild gestures, at which point he scrambled to get her a French menu.

Pictures from Monet's garden.