What fun! Easy Jet liked our shot of that goat in the tree in Spain two Thursdays ago.! Thanks, guys.

NOTE: Read to the end to learn how you can see Monet’s gardens in New York, and a link to a video of Monet paintings.

Last week I showed you some of the reflections of people that we saw in places in Paris.  Today it is  photos of the reflections in a pool that launched a most famous series a paintings and a museum to hold them.

When you visit Giverny France it is easy to see why Claude Monet and other Impressionists painters saw the world the way that they saw it. When I am traveling, gardens are not usually high on my list–which is not to say I don’t enjoy the color and shapes they present. But a garden created as a work of art by one of my favorite artists is irresistible. As it is irresistible to take a picture of a willow tree drooping over a water lily pond.

Or frame a picture of lily pads with branches of the willow trees.

Or to see the sky upside down the way the painter does in some of his Lily Pond paintings.

And did you know that the Orangerie Museum, on the right bank of the Seine in Paris near the Tuilleries Gardens, was designed by Monet specifically to hold his Lily Pond series of paintings in this circular gallery?  And that he was losing his eyesight in his final days, which some experts believe accounts for his paintings moving more and more into the abstract. He painted what he saw, and it became increasingly blurry. The Orangerie holds many other fascinating paintings in addition to this special gallery, but I felt privileged to be in this breath-taking space designed by the artist himself.

I hope that you can see Giverny some time (an easy day trip north of Pairs). But if you can’t, here’s some exciting news. For a limited time (until October 21, 2012), you can see a reproduction of Monet’s gardens in  New York.  For two years, gardeners at the New York Botanical Gardens have been designing, gathering and growing the flowers, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees to recreate Monet’s garden in the U.S. The exhibit even includes a water lily pond. Please go to their website for a real treat, and perhaps even plan a trip to New York, if you can’t make it to Giverny, France. If you are a true Monet fan, an appreciator of flowers or just want to see more of Monet’s paintings, be sure to view this video from the New York Botanical Gardens website. Have small children? See this children’s book about Monet’s gardens in an article written by Mara Gorman.

These photos are part of Travel Photo Thursday, started and shepherded by Budget Traveler’s Sandbox.  You can see photos contributed by traveling photographers from around the world at Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. (All photos on this page are my property and I appreciate your not reproducing anything without permission. Thank you.)

Brette Sember is from the state of New York. Maybe her family will visit the Monet Gardens at the New York Botanical Gardens. Why am I thinking of Brette? In case you didn’t see it, she wrote the article below this one about a memoir of cooking and sailing in the Caribbean. Her piece includes a yummy lobster recipe.  Read on…..