Easter Weekend.

Well this weekend it dawned on me that my time in France is quickly coming to an end. I decided that instead of being sad about that, I'll use that as motivation to explore more.

As an Au Pair, my host family has provided me with so many things, one of which is an annual Navigo Pass. This allows me to travel throughout Paris but also on all public transportation within the Île-de-France. This is quite an extensive region that contains many great destinations, such as Versailles. I decided to take advantage of my unlimited travel throughout the region and explore more smaller French towns.

Saturday.

I decided to explore Meaux, a town 40 km northeast of Paris. The SNCF train from Paris-Gare de l'Est took about 40 minutes to arrive in Meaux. I made a plan to leave the city center to see La Musée de la Grande Guerre. I walked to the museum (30 minutes) and on my journey I got to see a little bit of the city. I realized it's not a particularly rich town, at least not compared to some of the other metropolitan areas of Paris, but it was still beautiful. The architecture in France is such a striking difference to that of the US that I can't help being impressed.

The Museum was not what I was expecting. It was a huge, modern, spaceship-looking building nestled in the countryside of the town. I had a bit of trouble finding the entrance, to be honest. But I entered the park and walked toward a huge monument (later realizing it to be the American Monument.) This monument was apparently a gift to France and it was erected in the exact place where the German troops (trying to threaten Paris) were stopped. I eventually found my way in. It explains a bit about France before the war and how life changed for the citizens but then goes into a great room with war vehicles and replications of the trenches. Off of this room are side rooms that describe different aspects of the war such as life in the trenches, propaganda and the role of the allies.

I decided to take the bus back into town, to save time and give me a chance to sit down. There's a bus stop right outside the museum which was extremely fortunate and also a bus coming in six minutes. I took the bus back to town and, not knowing where to go, headed towards a tall steeple. On my way I passed the entrance to a Garden. It was being used for a wedding photoshoot so I just walked along the back of the garden to enjoy a view of the garden, museum and cathedral. I explored the church and popped into the Maison du Brie de Meaux, the house of Brie. After this I hopped on the train and headed home; lucky for me because seconds later it started to rain. Perfect timing.

Sunday.

Today was a bit more planned out. A friend and I decided to finally make our dreams a reality and visit the Claude Monet house and gardens. Monet is a prominent impressionist who found inspiration from the gardens outside his house. Unfortunately, Giverny is in Normandy (not Île-de-France) so we had to pay for our train tickets. They were 20‎€ round trip, which I suppose isn't extremely expensive but I was not a fan of paying for transportation for a day trip. After the hour train ride from Gare Saint Lazare to Vernon-Giverny, we had to catch the bus to Giverny (5‎€ for a one-way bus ticket.) After a tourist-filled bus ride we headed to a 30-minute line waiting for tickets. For students it's 5.50‎€ for the garden/house and an extra 4.5‎€ for the impressionist museum. We bought the ticket for the museum although I wish we hadn't.

We spent an hour walking through the gardens trying to identify flowers and fighting claustrophobia (seriously so many people) then waited in another line to see his house. I was immediately and consistently surprised by how such an amazing artist could be such a lousy interior designer. The ugliest house I've ever been in; hands down. The only room I even remotely cared for was the kitchen, which was actually really well done. Copper pans and blue tiles. Chic. Elegant. Gorgeous.

We had lunch at a nearby, self-serve cafe and headed to the impressionism museum. It was a small room of only an exhibition. The exhibition was cool but I was expecting more. It explained the link between art and music during that time and I even bought a book in the gift shop that draws parallels between the music of Debussy and the style of Impressionism.

Since it was nice out we decided to walk back to Vernon (an hour walk) so we could see the town and get some fresh air. We passed the Vieux Moulin (the old mill) which is apparently the last mill located on The Seine.

Since it was Easter Sunday, not much was open and we were immensely tired from our journey that we didn't explore much of the city other than the exteriors of the churches, castles, towers and buildings. I was happy with the trip and even happier to sleep after such a full and exhausting day.