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So here it is...the blog I promised, I may have to stop half way and recommence later as Rachel will be joining me in Maisons Laffitte soon. Helena is leaving this weekend so we are all having a lovely spinach lasagne together before she goes. I never seem to post pictures of the girls so here is one of all of us from Dass' birthday (left)...cute hey?

Later on we weren't so ladylike...haha

I don't know what it is that happens when you mix au pairs with alcohol (or maybe it's girls in general) but we seem to have the most hilarious night's and always have a story or ten to tell. I think this was the night of "Parlez-vous amour?" Luckily most of these girls are planning to come back so

the stories won't end here!

Anyway I promised to write about Giverny so here it is...I have to be a little more brief or my blog post will be longer than my arm but you'll get the idea - you HAVE to visit Giverny if you are in Paris for longer than a weekend. Giverny if you don't already know is the home of Monet's house and garden (and the famous Lily Pond). I expected it to be beautiful but what I actually saw was 'incroyable.' I have never seen so much GREEN, and i'm from Devon so that seriously says a lot about how much green there was. After a comfortable, quick (40 mins ish) and cheap (19 euros return) trip on the train we arrived. At first there was an issue with buses (you can catch a bus for 3 euros) as there seemed to be hundreds of people and very few buses. So being sensible we waited for a taxi which ended up costing us the same amount, even slightly less I think and chatted to an American couple from Boston. When in the taxi I was glued to the window trying to take photos and take everything in whilst rushing past. It really reminded me of the South of France.

Once arriving at Giverny and it being the bank holiday weekend we realised we were going to have to join the back of the pretty-damn-long-queue. Eventually we only

waited for around an hour which in about 30 degree weather wasn't too bad! I think I applied suncream three times over just in the queue, we were getting pretty"bronzed" as my American friends would say. I think we paid about 3 euros to get in on a student tariff and then we were let free into the most beautiful garden I think I've ever seen. The just sheer amount of flowers was overwhelming. Every kind and colour you can imagine were in this garden. The paths were made of cream stone pebbles and wound their way through the shrubbery like the yellow brick road. From the centre of the garden you could see Monet's house through a set of green archways which was inside equally as beautiful as the garden. Monet clearly had an eclectic taste though..! You weren't allowed to take pictures within the house but let's just say this...it was colourful to say the least, every room was a different shade of yellow, blue, green etc. It really should have been an eye sore but it was just so...strangely appealing!

After a walk around the gardens we followed the signs to the "water feature." It's a strange little walk because you actually have to go underground (down some steps and underneath the earth) to reach the lily pond itself. I am no huge art fan I won't lie but as soon as I saw the lily pond I saw Monet's painting. No wonder he found so much inspiration from this particular place. It was breathtaking. The only downside was that there were a lot of people there, I couldn't even get a full picture of the lily pond and the bridge without a bunch of tourists in the background. I say the word tourists with such negativity when in actual fact I should remember that I am technically still a tourist myself. It's funny though...when you live abroad you start to watch tourists and hear tourists and as a result try your bloody hardest not to act like a tourist. I have to admit that sometimes I even speak French around particularly awful English and American tourists so they don't suss out that I speak English, shameful I know but honestly sometimes it's just...painful haha. Anyway, after a long day out we were absolutely exhausted, we danced in the rain (literally), had a terribly uncomfortable train ride home (all the tourists didn't buy tickets...you see my issues with them) but eventually made pizza and got into bed to fall asleep to a thunderstorm. What a day, would recommend Giverny to you all, happy travelling!