Giverny and Versailles

Versailles is a jeweled symbol of the absolute rule of the French monarchy and a stunning example of royal power, both a Palace and home to the royals and also a gilded prison for French nobility.

Relive the splendor of absolute monarchy that contributed to its glory and its fall. Share with your guide the fabulous and tragic lives of Louis XIV, Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, and Queen Marie Antoinette.

Representative of French Art, Versailles became the archetype of the royal palace.

You will visit the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen and the Hall of Mirrors.  Then your guide will accompany you through the gardens to discover the Grand Perspective designed by André Le Nôtre.

After returning to the vehicle, you will pass by the Grand and Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine (exterior view).

During the second part of your day you will discover Giverny.  The artistic style known as Impressionism gets its name from one of Monet’s masterpieces, “Impression Soleil Levant”, “Impression of the Sunrise” (Musée de Marmottan Paris).

Your Giverny tour begins in the Water Garden which Monet created ten years after he arrived.  He bought a piece of land neighboring his property which was crossed by a small brook called The Ru.  With the support of the local government, Monet had the first small pond dug.  The garden’s design was inspired by the Japanese garden prints he was very fond of and avidly collected. It is here that he painted the Water Lily series with the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisteria, weeping willows, bamboo and of course the nympheas. He was inspired to paint in this special place for 30 years.

 

You will also visit the flower garden which was planted in 1883 on a slope enclosed by stone walls. The garden is about 1 hectare (3 acres) and he created a garden full of different perspectives, symmetries and colors. He married flowers according to their colors and left them to grow rather freely.

 

Monet’s House

 

Monet’s house was formerly a farmhouse where apples were pressed to produce cider.  You can see his first studio, his bedroom, his second wife’s bedroom, his dressing room, the yellow living room and his kitchen.  Today it is decorated and furnished exactly as it was when he lived there, which you can see in the old photos displayed around the house. 

 

After visiting the house, we will visit the studio where Monet painted The Nympheas which are currently in a specially designed exhibit at L’Orangerie Museum next to The Louvre.  

Pick up and drop off at your hotel or your apartment in Paris.
Entrance fees included with dedicated group entrance door.

The order of the two half days may be reversed.