Show me the...

Monet!

As stated previously, I've been waiting to use this title on my last France trip post.  Totally worth it.  

Alternate titles were way suckier:  "Monet makes the world go round", "The Full Monet", or "How many more damn posts is she going to write about one f&%ing trip???"

These pictures probably don't need much explanation.  Dan and I spent our last day in France driving on tiny winding roads in Giverny, passing these shockingly yellow fields:

I know Monet is kind of a one-trick pony with his messy-close-up-but-pretty-far-away works.  I know that his prints of his paintings of lilypads hang in every dentist waiting room in the country because they just have to be soothing.    Still, I always thought it would be neat to visit the place he gathered his inspiration for his works.  I actually thought his gardens were almost as dreamy.

Camera use was strictly forbidden in the house, but I was okay with it because it wasn't quite as magical as the outside.  It was cute, though.  He was really into pastels, as you could probably guess from his saccharine paintings.  Like his entire dining room was a butter yellow, right down to the curtains and chairs.  His bedroom was lavender.  There was a mint green studio.  It was like an Easter basket in there.

Again, not much to explain.  Just slashes of color everywhere and wannabe Monets kneeling down to sketch, like these cute kids on a field trip.

We got to check out the lilypads and this bridge that launched a thousand paintings:

 Kind of made me want my beret and easel myself.

Anyway, fast forward a couple hours, we drove back to Paris and had one last taste of food we couldn't pronounce, while the rest of the evening was all about taking a final quickie tour of Paris at night.

We capped off our trip with one last view of the hourly Eiffel Tower light show. 

Bling blizzle.

Thanks for virtually stowing away in our suitcases!