Monet was born on this day in 1840 in Paris.
In an interview in 1900 he credited two years in Algeria for giving him an appreciation of light and color that was just as important to his work as his time in Paris. Note that he also spent a lot of time on the west end of the railroad line past Giverny, in Le Havre.
http://www.intermonet.com/biograph/autobigb.htm
If you're doing the day trip from Paris to Giverny why not turn it into a couple days and include Rouen, or a few days and include Le Havre?
https://giverny.org/transpor/sncfgb.htm
Some great Monet quotes at this Denver Art Museum exhibition page:
https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/blog/20-quotes-claude-monet