The Giverny Scheme (French Love Story 34)

Mizuki

My life in Paris in May ended up being dominated by Joseph and Alain and before I knew it, June had arrived.

A week after the disastrous festival with Alain—it was the first Saturday of June.

I was in Giverny with my friend Mizuki, who lives in Paris.

Mizuki is also a Japanese woman in her late 20s whom I met and became friends with on social media.

She is a Japanese-style beauty who looks like Ringo Sheena with her straight black hair, but the gap between that look and the fact that she is actually a carnivore-type girl was interesting.

She is currently attending a language school in Paris, but because she was already fluent in English, she complained that it was actually working against her, making it "harder to learn French."

In terms of romance, she just reported to me that "I intended to get a French boyfriend, but ended up dating a Japanese man by chance, and it turned out he was a moral harasser, so I finally broke up with him recently."

We shared the commonality of "intending to date a Frenchman but somehow ending up with a Japanese man", and I hit it off completely with Mizuki over love talk.

Of course, our current goal is the same: "to get a wonderful French boyfriend."

Giverny

Giverny is a village 70km northwest of Paris, known as the village where Monet spent his later years.

Since the garden that served as the model for my beloved Monet's "Water Lilies" is there, it was a place I had wanted to visit for a long time.

I heard that the roses are in full bloom and beautiful in Giverny at this time of year, so we had promised each other, "If the weather is nice, let's go on this day."

We took a 45-minute train from Paris's Saint-Lazare station to a station called Vernon, transferred to a bus for about 20 minutes, and arrived in Giverny.

Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet

First, we headed to our destination, the Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet (Monet's House and Gardens).

Upon entering the garden, we were greeted by a riot of colorful flowers, starting with the roses.

“C'est magnifique!!”

Like true French language learners, we both made a point of saying the word for "wonderful" in French.

We cheered at the beautiful scenery, the likes of which we had never seen in Japan.

Even though we hadn't reached the "Water Lilies" garden yet, we were already taking so many photos just here.

Monet's garden was larger than expected, with a path running through the middle, and the water lily garden seemed to be on the other side.

“We're finally at the garden.”

Excited, we quickened our pace.

When we arrived in front of the pond, it was truly the world of "Water Lilies" itself.

“Wow...”

I was so captivated by the beautiful scenery, which looked as if it had stepped right out of a painting, that I completely forgot to express my thoughts in French.

It was as if time had stood still in that very spot.

However, it reminded me of the "Water Lilies" room at the Musée de l'Orangerie, and the memory of my first date with Alain last month came flooding back.

“Sigh, seeing this makes me think of that date at the Orangerie. We had such a great atmosphere back then, and I was so happy.”

“I see. It hasn't even been three weeks since that day, has it? But, what's done is done, and we've broken up, so it can't be helped.”

Mizuki-chan, who had heard the "entire story from my meeting Alain to our breakup," gently comforted me.

...Yes, what's over is over.

I have to forget about that and enjoy the situation I'm in right now.

“Alright, I’m going to overwrite my memories of Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ with a fun day of sightseeing in Giverny with Mizuki today!!”

“That’s right! Let’s enjoy it to the fullest!!”

…As expected, friends are the best thing to have.

After finishing our tour of the gardens, we went inside Monet’s house next.

It was a very lovely space, and I was able to get a glimpse into Monet’s private life, which made the existence of the great painter feel a little more personal.

I had imagined there would be Monet’s paintings, but I was surprised to find a large collection of ukiyo-e prints by Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Kitagawa Utamaro among others.

“Come to think of it, Monet was heavily influenced by Japonisme, wasn’t he?”

Mizuki, who is knowledgeable about art, said to me.

As she turned back to look at me, she seemed to overlap with the beautiful women depicted in the ukiyo-e prints displayed there.

Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet (Monet’s House and Gardens), we entered the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny (Museum of Impressionism Giverny) to view works by Impressionists, centered on Monet.

After that, we also went to L’église Sainte-Radegonde - La Tombe de Monet (Church of Saint-Radegonde and Monet’s Grave) to pay our respects at Monet’s grave.

We were very satisfied that we were able to visit all the Monet-related sites within the scheduled time.

Interacting with the locals

On the way, while I was taking pictures of a restaurant with beautiful flowers in the flowerbeds, an elderly man drinking tea on the terrace asked me, “Pouvez-vous parler le français?” (Can you speak French?)

When I replied, “Un peu.” (A little), he kindly told me, “The garden at this restaurant is very beautiful, so why don’t you ask the staff if you can go in?”

“That’s amazing. Just by speaking a little, you get such helpful information.”

Mizuki, who says that English tends to slip out whenever she tries to speak French, was impressed.

Whenever I have the opportunity to interact with locals like this, I truly feel, ‘Ah, I’m glad I studied French.’

I thanked the old man and immediately spoke to the restaurant staff to get permission to tour the gardens.

There, at the entrance, roses were planted in a traditional, orderly garden style, but as you moved further back, you could see that the roses were planted in a deliberately casual manner.

Each area expressed the beauty of roses in a different way, and both were magnificent sights.

There were also several people with canvases painting, which added a very charming atmosphere.

Terrasse

We decided to take a break at that restaurant as a way of showing our appreciation.

While drinking matching lemonades, we engaged in some girl talk.

"Mizuki-chan, thank you for today. It was so much fun!!"

Mizuki-chan looked at me with a worried expression, peering into my face.

"Are you feeling a little better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was always worried about Alain from the moment we started dating, so it's good that we broke up."

I told her what I honestly felt.

Relieved, Mizuki-chan smiled mischievously.

"Well, for a broken heart, you need a new boyfriend, right? What kind of person do you want next?"

To that question, I answered without hesitation.

"A Frenchman who is fluent in Japanese!! Do you know anyone you can introduce me to?"

Mizuki-chan laughed at my overly simple answer.

"If such a person existed, I'd want to date him myself.

How about this? I'm going to an Échange meeting next time, so why don't you come with me, Reiko-chan?"

Maybe a French person with a high level of Japanese will come?

An 'Exchange Meeting'... ...a gathering where people of various nationalities meet to teach each other their languages.

I remembered that when I lived in Tours, Imet Raphael,and we even started dating at one of those meetings.

It's not guaranteed that there will be a French person fluent in Japanese, but the probability is not zero.

At the very least, it would be better than someone like Joseph or Alain who has never studied Japanese.

I wanted to take a new step forward, so I decided to accept the invitation.

I'm going!!

Then it's decided.

We toasted with lemonade.

And so, with our expectations for the new plan growing, we left the village of Giverny.

At that exchange meeting, I would experience yet another unexpected encounter...