"...everyone has two countries -- his own and France."

 

This quote has been attributed to both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who certainly spent their time in France. From all I can tell, it's likely a paraphrase maybe from one or the other. John F. Kennedy also used it. 

Anyway, the photo is the Eglise Sainte-Radegonde in Giverny, where we have been lately. Giverny is less than an hour via train west from Paris on the way to Rouen and the entry to Normandy. It's the location of artist Claude Monet's home and garden, the inspiration for much of his Impressionist work and, thus, our reason for going to small-town France. And yet more education of a more practical nature.

We have been through three Paris train stations (there are about six) going to various places. This one was through Gare St. Lazare, which is by far the easiest to negotiate. Not only is it a connection point for several Metro lines but also an easy step outside if you're in the mood for lunch in a vibrant neighborhood. Going through here was the easy part of our trip.

I have to say here that Denise has some mobility issues, primarily from being born with scoliosis. She manages with daily yoga and exercise and is religious about it. She is far more flexible than my oldass self and all this keeps her issues at bay as much as possible. But, depending on the day (combined with knee issues), walking any distance can be a major issue or no issue. I have mentioned earlier the situation with the Paris Metro system, where frequent stairs are common. Sometimes she leaves me in her dust. Other times we stare at them as if climbing Everest. We don't know from day to day, so availability of taxi or public transport is a major priority. While I can walk long distances, she sometimes cannot.

...so we get to Giverny on the train and walk a brief distance to a shuttle bus that takes us to the parking lot near the Monet operation. There we see a cab that takes us on a ten-minute drive to our hotel -- a lovely place I would recommend to anyone. But the drive is pretty much out in the sticks. I am already concerned about walking distances but they're a tomorrow concern, right? The hotel makes dinner reservations for us and the clerk leaves us with the name of the restaurant.

We have no idea where this place is and it's not found on a GPS search and the map shows a loooongass hike to anywhere but a residential area via the roads we just used in the cab. But we head out anyway, going up and down streets and getting more and more hangry (it's now like 8:30pm) until eventually we wander into downtown Giverny and find a lovely restaurant in an old hotel and the food is magnificent. Very French country. We take the walk back to the hotel and figure we're good, especially since the earlier cab driver said just to call her the next morning.

We have tickets to the Monet operation at 11:30am so we call the cab and she says she can't get to us because of "traffic." What? The hotel calls someone else and they eventually arrive and we spend a really nice nearly three hours doing the Monet thing and having a little lunch. We ask the cafe to call us a cab and we get pushback saying the cab won't drive us 100 meters (about 120 yards) back to the hotel. No dude -- we have been driven here and it's waaaay more than 100 meters. More like a few miles and there are major hills. Eventually they relent and a cab shows to drive us the same route back to the hotel. It's the same two miles or so -- up and down several difficult hills. We take a brief break and then head out to supper at another place near Monet. Yet again, the first cab doesn't show so we call a second and we're only slightly late for the 7pm reservation.

Another pause -- I will deal with the dinner separately on Facebook with photos. We have learned to have issues with "tasting menus" for a couple of reasons to be discussed later.

....so dinner takes three hours and we're done at 10pm. We ask the desk to call a cab and they try about five numbers and no one even answers so we're seemingly a few miles from the hotel with no ride. We had earlier noticed a nearby younger couple also staying at our hotel, so I approach them and ask for a ride when they're done. But no -- they have walked. So we're  left with nothing but to take this long trek back to the hotel and hope we can get there by midnight or some shit. So we head out.

The restaurant and our hotel are on the same street. But we thought them miles apart, based on the taxi rides. We're walking along awhile past the Monet estate and not much farther and, God help me sweet Jesus, there is the same place we'd had dinner the night before. None of any of this is very far apart. But downtown Giverny is blocked from car traffic, so taxis had to drive around it. None of this is indicated on GPS or otherwise. In a straight line, we have walked much farther to groceries. No big deal.

Boy. Did we feel dumb.

Such are the daily lessons we get out here. It's a reason we love it so, despite occasional frustration and embarrassment. I don't mind being a fool if I've learned something.

Lord knows I'm good at it.