Rouen: Private Giverny Gardens Shore Excursion

Visit Claude Monet's House & Gardens in Giverny on this half-day private small group shore excursion from Rouen. Arrive in Giverny, visit the House of Claude Monet, and take some time to visit the numerous gardens created by the artist. Depart from Rouen Cruise Port and be picked up at your ship. Meet your guide who will be waiting for you outside the terminal with a sign bearing the lead passenger's name. Your driver guide will also go over the itinerary and program of this half-day trip with you. Then, be taken to your A/C minivan and begin your drive to Monet House and Gardens. Reach the village of Giverny from Rouen port of call, which is about 1.5 hours. Upon arrival, visit the beautiful Gardens and House of Claude Monet. Tickets are included which will enable you to skip the line. Visit Monet’s House and Gardens. Even though the term ‘impressionism’ already existed, one of Monet’s paintings – impression, sunrise – perfectly summarized the style and start of impressionist art and this painting movement. Upon arrival, be taken by your guide to the entrance where your visit to the Gardens and House of Claude Monet will begin. There are several things to see on site. Claude Monet’s House: The painter arrived in Giverny in 1883 aged 43 years old. Thanks to the selling of a number of paintings to art merchant Durand-Ruel, he is able to acquire this house where he believes he will be able to ameliorate his work on light and color. During more than 40 years, Monet will transform, develop, and enlarge the house. As you enter, you will first discover the reading room or ‘little blue sitting room’ followed by the artist’s first studio where he worked until 1899. You will then proceed to the first floor where the private apartments are located. These include Monet’s bedroom where objects and artwork from Monet’s time are exhibited. There are also reproductions of paintings made by his friends: Cézanne, Renoir, Signac, or Caillebotte. Then, move on to Alice’s bedroom – Claude Monet’s wife – and end the tour of the upper floor with the last room which was Blanche Monet’s bedroom. You will then return to the ground floor to visit the dining room and kitchen. Here, you will admire Monet’s famous collection of Japanese prints. The ‘Clos Normand’ Garden: Monet’s love for gardens came as he visited the gardens of friends as well as with the one he took care of in his previous house of Argenteuil. In Giverny, the artist will model his garden so as to better paint it. In front of the house, he creates the Clos Normand. He starts by removing a number of trees, to Alice’s great despair, then reorganizes the flower beds playing with the colors for his paintings. The flower garden is composed of daffodils, tulips, narcissus, iris, oriental poppies, peonies while the central path is lined with nasturtiums, fragrant roses, cherry and Japanese apricot trees.