Claude Monet's 1868 fall into the river Seine has been wrongly interpreted as an attempt to end it all. In fact, it was an experiment in extreme plein-air painting. Claude survived the fall, but the canvas of "The River Seine Coming Towards Me Really Quickly" was never recovered.
Many years later, Claude was travelling by train, spotted the picturesque village of Giverny from the window and decided instantly to live there. Luckily for Claude, his train was the 8.16 (Saturdays only) from Vernon to Gasny, which travels through some of the prettiest countryside in Upper Normandy. Had he been travelling from Hinckley to Birmingham New Street, he might have settled in Nuneaton.
Claude spent the rest of his days at Giverny, and today you can visit the gardens he created there. Claude's paintings now fetch astronomical prices, and "Falaises près de Dieppe" (Cliffs near Dieppe) has been stolen twice. In 1998, it was stolen by the museum curator, who was caught leaving the museum with a suspicious 4'x6' bulge under his jumper. It was stolen again in August 2007. It can't have been the curator this time because he's still in prison.
La Résidence - THE French Property People
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