I had an interesting day yesterday. I went to Giverny with Dominique, Catherine (a German teacher at PMF), and Catherine's German friend, Cornelia.
We started at Catherine's great, old house on the top of a hill in Caudebec en Caux, which is near the Brotonne bridge over the Seine. She has a fantastic view of the Seine and the farmland on the southern banks. Stupid me, i didn't take any pictures. Anyway, we went from there to Giverny, a good hour's drive.
It's still a little early in the year for the flowers at Giverny, but there were tons of
beautiful tulips, pansies, and assorted other flowers that i don't know the name of. We walked around the gardens and the lily pond, and then we went through Monet's house. The ground floor is decorated in the colors he chose: blue for the kitchen, yellow for the dining room, green and purple for a little parlor. There are Japanese paintings and prints on every wall; i had no idea he was so interested in Japanese art.
The gift shop was ridiculously expensive. Dominique and i basically walked around gasping. Catherine bought a postcard, and Cornelia bought a few small things.
On the way back to Caudebec, we stopped in Rouen to eat dinner. Catherine suggested an Afghani restaurant that she likes, but it was closed. So, we started wandering in the direction of a Lebanese place she recommended, but on the way we stumbled upon Restaurant Kaboul.
It turns out that the owner of Restaurant Kaboul, Qassim Azimi (click here for a French-language site with an interview), was a friend of Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance that fought the Soviets and the Taleban in Afghanistan (click here for a pro-Massoud biography). He brought out a couple of books of photographs for us to see and some pictures of him with Massoud when the latter came to Paris. He was a very interesting guy, and he made me want to learn more about his country. I would definitely recommend a stop at his restaurant for the history lesson, if not for the food (which was okay, but not great).
Definitely a satisfying day. Click here for pictures taken at Giverny, and here for a cool picture i took of Notre Dame de Rouen on the way back to the car after dinner.
