Shorten the commute between dreaming of your next vacation and being on it.  Visit Giverny, a quaint village in the upper Normandy, which was where Claude Monet lived and worked for many years.  His home and gardens are breathtaking.  Normandy features Mont St-Michel with its abbey and monastery, built on top of a 264' rock formation at the edge of the sea (more than 400 years to build).