Monet's house, garden and village
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2010
1
65
135
Trip End
Feb 27, 2011
Giverny, Normandy, France
Sunday, June 13, 2010
What I found was truly remarkable, not only is it almost exactly the same as it was then, but you could also choose to buy a house right next to Monet's house for normal French rural prices ...
Time has stood still here, and that is a gift.
Monet said that his greatest work was his garden, and I have to agree ... it is simply stunning ... walking around it is like walking around inside one of his paintings.
In fact many of his paintings can easily be recogised as you walk around, especially the lilly pond and Japanese bridge.
His house is also amazing, whole rooms painted and awash with pastle colours ... a yellow dining room, and blue kitchen ... stunning.
I have had the priviledge to live in large houses and gardens before, so I know what is involved in creating and maintaining such a luxury, but I must say that I am truly inspired by what he created ... and I fully intend to follow suit sometime in the future, once I settle down.
I took careful note of how he created the garden ... what is key is that he has a stream running through it, so there is a constant supply of fresh water, which therefore supports especially the trees.
The village is also intact, with the local pub where he used to drink, the church, streets, etc ... all as they were back then.
Magali and I spent a lovely day just wandering around the gardens, house and viilage, taking it all in.
I especially liked to hillside ( picture labelled "almost a painting" ) ... the feel of the place was simply amazing, and it transported me into some sort of pastoral high.
The drive out to Giverny from Paris only took just over an hour, so it is easily accessable, and still so picture perfect it is incredible.
There were quite a few people there, and reasonably long queues, but you just need to put all that out of your mind and pretend you have the place to yourself.
I am already looking forward to 20 years time or so, somewhere on the planet, having a garden of my own, inspired by what I saw here today ...
I can think of no better pastime as I ease into old age ...
Age and a sense of time
Recently I have begun to realise that we can, to some extent, control our sense of age and time, something I am now actively working on.
What I mean by this is that our notion of the passing of time, and how fast the time passes, is fully goverened by the thought processes in our brain at the time, and therefore is completely relative.
The afternoon at Giverny slid by at a snails pace ... as I allowed my senses to be transported by the beauty, smells, colours and textures of what I was surrounded by.
Time seemed to stand still, or come to a complete stop at times.
Who doesn't remember the summer days when you were 9, 10 or 11 years old?
Didn't they stretch on for hours and hours without end ? ... filled with the delights of swimming in a river or lake, climbing a hill or tree, chasing birds with the dogs, riding your bikes with your mates ...
Just as your sense of time can change, so can your sense of age.
I now feel like I am again somewhere in my 20's ... why?
... because by stripping away my possessions, my sense of status, by removing my focus on being a Dad, a project manager, the owner of a big house in the suburbs ... I have re-wound the clock to when I last had nothing ... back in my 20's ...
It is a incredible thing, and I had no idea, until now, that it can be done, you can start again.
You can refresh and re-invigorate yourself, and lose 20 years ... in a matter of months!
Now some of you may laugh, but I can tell you that I feel young again.
I have even had people who have met me on my travels say that they thought I was in my 30's ... now I am not sure if they were just taking the piss or not, but I believe that your mental state pervades your body and projects an aura, so to speak, of age, or youth ...
If I could stand next to the "me" from 6 months ago and the "me" now, side by side, I am quite sure that the contrast between us would be dramatic and marked ... I am happier, fitter, etc ... and I feel young again.
I am not sure if my "recipe" is what is required to create this rejuvination affect, but I am going to keep working on this.
I will let my friends and family be the judge if the process has worked in 2 years time, or so, when I complete the change process, and have created a new me, in the image I want.
More than anything else though, I want a new platform of energy ... from which to build the next phase of my life, and a feeling of youth and energy is what is needed to create a new work ... I am glad to have unexpectadly uncovered this youth change process ...
