On the second day of our garden tour, we went to the most famous garden in France — Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny. We were met there by the head gardener, James Priest. This garden inspired Monet’s paintings. Now, Monet’s paintings inspire the current design of the garden.

The woman to the left of James Priest was our guide for the day, Claire Joyes, author of several books on Monet. Claire Joyes said, “This is a delightful moment in the year because everything is waking up.”

I loved the riot of colors in the flower beds below the house. Rick liked the underlying formal structure that disappeared under the plantings.

Of course, we saw the famous Japanese Bridge. Here’s a photo of the wisteria growing on the bridge.

We ate lunch at the location of the Hotel Baudy, the lodging place for many Impressionist painters, including Mary Cassatt, when they made the pilgrimage to Giverny.

After lunch, we toured the gardens in front of the Impressionists Museum in Giverny, Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny. These gardens are organized by color. Here’s a shot of the white garden.

Our final stop in Giverny was Le Hameau, The Hamlet, a historic property next door to Claude Monet’s house. It housed Impressionist painters, visitors, teachers and students in the decades before and after 1900. One of Rick’s favorite gardens of the whole trip was this little gem with its simple benches and pollarded trees.

There are more photos from our day at Giverny on my Flickr page: Joy’s Photostream.

I’m posting these photos as part of Saturday Snapshot, a group of bloggers posting photos on the weekend. Check out today’s list at West Metro Mommy Reads.