Monet's Gardens and Normandie

A street in Pont-l'Évêque. The whole region is actually this cute. 

Today we made a side stop on our way to Normandie in Giverny to visit Monet's gardens and home. The gardens were exceptionally beautiful as expected, with an unbelievable variety of flowers, especially dahlias. Giverny was a funky town, half of it was a total tourist trap, and the other half was residential, but the whole place was covered in flowers and was very charming. We got ice cream on the way out of town and continued on our way to Normandie.

We got to Vieux Bourg around three in the afternoon, and our cottage was absolutely perfect! It was a tiny little one-room, half-timbered place. In front of it there was a small apple and pear orchard. We went to a restaurant that we tried last year and it was just as wonderful this time around. (La popote en cocotte). There was no wifi, so we were grateful for our fi phone, but also fortunate that we know the area and had a few ideas of things we wanted to do. Right around the corner of the cottage was the Forêt de Saint Gatien des Bois (St. Gatien Forest), literally, 200 feet from the cottage. We went on several hikes there during our time, and at one point we stumbled upon a group of wild boars, at least ten of them, probably more. They moved out pretty quickly once they realized we were there, but it was a little eerie, especially because wild boars are known for being quite dangerous, and they had babies with them. So I guess you could say we chased wild boars.




We also drank lots of apple cider (locally made, bought it at the farm) and ate great food, including a meal of mussels a la mariniere by the seaside in Honfleur! All in all, Normandie was a blast.