My wife, Kathy, and I took a cruise in June ’11 that stopped at Le Havre, France, from which we took a taxi to Giverny and Rouen to see where Monet painted.
Our first stop was his house, and after touring the gardens we walked through a tunnel into the water garden. It was there that Monet painted many of his famous scenes of water lilies and the surrounding foliage.
Kathy opened my eyes to the feelings behind the paintings. I was taken by the serenity and beauty of the scene. You get a sense of awe standing in the exact place that Monet was when he painted the pictures.
From Giverny we drove to Rouen to visit the cathedral that Monet painted many times. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has one of these paintings.
STEPHEN GOCH
Santa Paula, CA
