LeHavre to Giverny

[Mexfolkart]

Is it doable to go to Giverny for the day when docked in LeHavre and is it lovely in May? Sherry

[Hlitner]

Yes to both questions. Your best bet would be to rent a car and drive yourself which also gives you flexibility to visit other places in the region.

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Is it doable to go to Giverny for the day when docked in LeHavre and is it lovely in May? Sherry

 

The only day you should NOT go:

 

the Friday after Ascension Day: May 14, 2010.

 

That's the only day you should book with your ship the excursion!!!

 

We tried to get to Giverny in 2009 on the Friday after Ascension Day - we should queue up for 1 1/2 hours to get to the gardens. Half Europe was there.

 

But normally you can also

 

take the train from Le Havre to Rouen and to Vernon.

 

From here there is a shuttle bus which connects you to Giverny.

 

Depending to the ship's time frame in the port you can also do it.

 

Here you have some impressions from our tour and what we were able to see:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/05/le-havre-france-private-tour-car-rental.html

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

The only day you should NOT go:

 

the Friday after Ascension Day: May 14, 2010.

 

That's the only day you should book with your ship the excursion!!!

 

We tried to get to Giverny in 2009 on the Friday after Ascension Day - we should queue up for 1 1/2 hours to get to the gardens. Half Europe was there.

 

But normally you can also

 

take the train from Le Havre to Rouen and to Vernon.

 

From here there is a shuttle bus which connects you to Giverny.

 

Depending to the ship's time frame in the port you can also do it.

 

Here you have some impressions from our tour and what we were able to see:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/05/le-havre-france-private-tour-car-rental.html

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

 

Heinrich, Sure sounds like you had an interesting day. We were much more fortunate with Giverny. A few years ago we were in France in early October and just doing a driving trip along the the east coast of France. We decided to stop at Giverny on our way back to Paris and happened to get there on an absolutely gorgeous crisp fall day. There was only about a dozen people at Monet's home and we were able to stroll through the garden in absolute silence which is the way Monet would have wanted any visitor to see this place.

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Heinrich, Sure sounds like you had an interesting day. We were much more fortunate with Giverny. A few years ago we were in France in early October and just doing a driving trip along the the east coast of France. We decided to stop at Giverny on our way back to Paris and happened to get there on an absolutely gorgeous crisp fall day. There was only about a dozen people at Monet's home and we were able to stroll through the garden in absolute silence which is the way Monet would have wanted any visitor to see this place.

 

Hank

 

I was in October there as well.

 

Exactly like the painting which I saw before in Boston in the museum. Just beautiful.

 

I need 5 minutes to get into the entrance building.

 

So I told everybody let's go...

 

but then it was a bad surprise once we arrived.

 

I spoke with someone from the Tourist Office who told me:

 

the only day of the year where it is so full is the Friday after Ascension Day.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[Mexfolkart]

Thank you SO much for the info on the Fri after Ascension Day, May 14!

What is the deal with everyone being out that day? We were planning to do Versailles or Bruges on May 14..maybe not!

Sherry

[Hlitner]

Leave it to the French to look for any excuse for a long weekend. In fact, if they want a long weekend and there is no holiday they can just schedule a strike :) Ascension Day becomes a great excuse for a 4 day weekend so that Friday is just like an extended holiday. Funny thing is that in the USA where there are many religious folks the Fri after Ascension day is just another day. But, in France where they are proud of being secular (the churches are often empty) they love to celebrate religious holidays. It helps explain why productivity is low in France and some other European countries.

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Leave it to the French to look for any excuse for a long weekend. In fact, if they want a long weekend and there is no holiday they can just schedule a strike :) Ascension Day becomes a great excuse for a 4 day weekend so that Friday is just like an extended holiday. Funny thing is that in the USA where there are many religious folks the Fri after Ascension day is just another day. But, in France where they are proud of being secular (the churches are often empty) they love to celebrate religious holidays. It helps explain why productivity is low in France and some other European countries.

 

Hank

 

Is there a special reason why Thanksgiving in the US is always Thursday???

 

Maybe to build the bridge to the following weekend and to lower the productivity???

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

Heinrich, Your point is well taken. In the USA most of our holidays have been moved to Mondays to allow for 3 day weekends and avoid the 4 day weekend problem when a holiday falls on Tues or Thurs not to mention Wed. But Thanksgiving is an exception having become a Thursday holiday back when Lincoln was our President (1860s). And you are right that our productivity suffers that week and just about every week between Thanksgiving and New Years (it drives some business executives nuts). But there have been interesting studies done on productivity. For example, in the USA the average worker works 1966 hours per year and gets 10.2 days of vacation. In France the workers average 1656 hours per year and get 25 -30 days of vacation. This is a real burden in our country since most Americans never experience a 4 week holiday until they retire (many of my friends never take more than 1 week of vacation a year). This has nothing to with CC but it is interesting to those of us who have spent a lifetime dealing with economics (my personal skill was in health economics). You might find this article interesting. http://www.gaebler.com/Productivity-and-Vacation-Comparisons-by-Country.htm

 

We have personally been a big supporter of the European holiday "vacation" tradition and love long vacations :)

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Heinrich, Your point is well taken. In the USA most of our holidays have been moved to Mondays to allow for 3 day weekends and avoid the 4 day weekend problem when a holiday falls on Tues or Thurs not to mention Wed. But Thanksgiving is an exception having become a Thursday holiday back when Lincoln was our President (1860s). And you are right that our productivity suffers that week and just about every week between Thanksgiving and New Years (it drives some business executives nuts). But there have been interesting studies done on productivity. For example, in the USA the average worker works 1966 hours per year and gets 10.2 days of vacation. In France the workers average 1656 hours per year and get 25 -30 days of vacation. This is a real burden in our country since most Americans never experience a 4 week holiday until they retire (many of my friends never take more than 1 week of vacation a year). This has nothing to with CC but it is interesting to those of us who have spent a lifetime dealing with economics (my personal skill was in health economics). You might find this article interesting. http://www.gaebler.com/Productivity-and-Vacation-Comparisons-by-Country.htm

 

We have personally been a big supporter of the European holiday "vacation" tradition and love long vacations :)

 

Hank

 

There is exactly one holiday which is fixed more or less European wide on a Thursday:

 

Ascension Day.

 

In less countries or sometimes only regional Catholic you have Corpus Christi also fixed on a Thursday.

 

All other holidays normally fixed to a specific day - and the companies are lucky if they are on a weekend day like May 01 (our Labour Day).

 

Only very few countries have a "compensation" for public holidays on weekends: Bank holidays.

 

Back to Giverny or other plannings:

 

We exactly had the advantage this year:

 

1 vacation day and 3 night crusing from Ascension Day to the Sunday...

 

but this was under disadvantage as well:

 

everybody was on the road in whole Europe and it was hard to get to places like Giverny.

 

In Versailles you might have the same problem as there is a single-point-spot.

 

But in Bruges: the City might be more full and will allocated to various spots.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[redhead16]

yes it is about 1 1/2 hours in travel time and may is nice

we are trying to find tour to go there

have you found a guide