Named one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, the picturesque village of La Roche-Guyon was built around and for centuries depended on the Chateau de La Roche-Guyon, a 12th-century fortress. The village is bound between the meandering Seine River and a striking wall of white chalk. Mull over these fun facts. 1) In the 4th century the village was made up of homes, called troglodyte dwellings, built into the limestone cliffs. 2) The village used to control a river crossing. Cha-ching. 3) The castle was used as Field Marshal Rommel’s headquarters during World War II. 

A sucker for yet another chateau, Dan signed up for a tour which included the fine points of ‘setting a table’ through the ages and a stroll around a potager, a grand fruit and vegetable garden planted in the early 1700s and restored in 2004. His group lucked into an exhibition of the Monuments Men hosted by the castle. Now we want to re-watch the movie.

I sat this one out and instead strolled the tiny, immaculate village before returning to the vessel for a talk on the history behind impressionist painting, a topic I know zero about. This style paid little to no attention to the (written) rules of academic painting. Bottom line, in no special order these things colluded in creating this controversial period: Louis XIV, Japanese art, the French Revolution, failure to be selected for juried exhibitions, photography, paint tubes, train travel, American collectors, bad reviews, and the stubborn determination on the part of painters.

After a leisurely al fresco lunch on board we docked in Vernon, founded by Vikings in the 9th century. Its cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses are reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Dan and I spent little time here though; we just used it as a jumping off point to visit the gardens and estate of Claude Monet, founder of impressionism. Don’t let this choice of ours mislead you, other than what I learned at yesterday’s lecture, we know (almost) zero about art. Curiosity and an open mind were our guides. Our group drove to Giverny, the charming village that Monet called home from 1883 until his death in 1926. We explored his furnished-as-it-was-then home, with its pink façade and green shutters, which contains his precious collection of Japanese engravings and many reproductions of his paintings. We had a leisurely stroll around his two famous gardens: the Japanese garden and the formal floral garden. With the assistance of the guide’s commentary we began to understand how these landscapes inspired many of Monet’s paintings.

We had time to stroll through the village and visit Monet’s grave on the grounds of the small church. We took a moment to light another candle for Aunt Jerry. Just a couple monuments away from Monet’s is a unique monument created with the propeller from a British plane that crashed south of the village in 1944. It pays homage to the seven crew members, all English, who died in the crash and are buried here.

We continue to luck out with good weather, cloudy but warm enough for loads of flowers to be in bloom in Monet’s gardens. No rain! We also continue to talk about eating less, but that is a pipe dream so far.

Happy Anniversary Murphy and Josie!