Unexpected trip back home.

We hadn't expected to be back in the UK quite so soon but No 1 son was admitted to hospital for some intravenous treatment. He was in for one night and decided that, after the worst night of his life, he was better off outside and returning the next day for more treatment.
We arrived hot off the Eurostar in time to pick him up outside the hospital, take him home, feed him up and watch the colour return to his face. He had been in the Geriatric ward.

He is fine now and planning a trip to Paris.

But the bonus was that I got to see my garden in mid-May. Plants that I had never seen in flower were blooming. My roses had survived periods of drought with only sporadic emergency attention and were flush with pale blooms. Lavenders were just poised to show their colours. Aaaah ! Gorgeous.

And all's well that ends well.

More friends !

After the Lalique exhibition , which was just gorgeous, our next outing was to Giverny. Coachloads of people turn up but the garden is so arranged with no open vistas, that they disappear after a while.
The water garden used to be separated from the main garden by a railway line but this is now a road and an underpass gives access.
Every season produces eye-watering displays. We arrived just as the lilacs and tulips were waning and the irises and roses were blooming. The nasturtium alley in October stops you in your tracks.

Our next day out was to Auvers-sur-Oise, where van Gogh painted like crazy just before he shot himself.
This is THE wheatfield - minus crows.

We stopped off here for a swift half.
Absinthe was not a good thing.

After being caught in a deluge, we sheltered in here to dry out and decide what to do. Good job Steve checked the opening hours of the van Gogh museum !
This café commemorates Kirk van Douglas, who was giving Vicky the eye all the time we were there.

No, I don't understand it either...

During Dave and Vicky's visit, a contemporary Art exhibition was being installed in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
What is all this about , then? Cardboard cutouts of a man in a suit, who is masked by sheets of paper, holding a pair of red stilettoes and being held back by a musketeer? What are the references here? The statue is of a 17th century French queen. Any offers?


Now, this reference is plain. We are in Joan of Arc territory. Jeanne d'Arc, whose surname is "Brûlée-par-les-Anglais". I have lost count of the times I have been reminded of this particular crime.

Monet, Monet, Monet!

Just a little taster of another outing with more visitors.

Click on those photos, mes amis.