It’s September, that means it’s my birthday, no wait, Holidays!

Yeah, it’s holiday time again, off for a jaunt across “the pond”.   A quick stop in London to recover from jet lag and to catch a show and eat some curry.  Of course, whenever in London, a walk along the Thames is in order and no matter how many times we walk along it, I take pictures.  Here is just one.......

Now after a few days in jolly old, we take the Chunnel under the English Channel and end up in Paris.  We stayed in the central part of Paris on the left bank of the Seine.  Guess where we were close to?

We found a funky french creperie a few doors down from our hotel and had delicious galettes that I could eat for dinner.  What an awesome way to start three days in Paris.  We got picked up early the next day for our trip to Giverny.  This is where Claude Monet lived and painted his famous water lilies.  The garden he and his wife planted was unbelievably lush with hundreds of different types of flowers.  (We were told that she complained to Monet that they spent more on flowers than food) HA! The Japanese water garden he created where he had all the lilies he painted was equally 

spectacular.

This trip to the country was followed by a visit to the famous paintings of the water lilies housed in L’Orangerie.  These massive paintings cover four walls in a circular exhibit. They are almost as big as the garden, ok maybe not but they are really, really big.  (Really)

The photos of these pictures do not do them justice, if you are looking for an excuse to go to Paris, how about use that one?  You know, I have to go to see Monets in person, it might work.......

We went the next day to see another Monet exhibit, though the paintings were not as large in size as these, this exhibit has the most Monets around, that’s their bragging rights.  Another stop that day was to see what this guy was thinking..... (I am funny, aren’t I?  I think I am)

Yes, we went to the Rodin museum and yes this is the Thinker for those who do not know.  (Dwayne does not think I am funny). He wanted me to knock on the Gates of Hell to see if anyone answered, no one did, phew.  We spent my birthday wandering around Paris and having a drink sitting on a  boat on the river Seine, tough life.

A few more spectacular meals and then we were off to Tours for the next part of our adventure.