The Castle Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh

When you think of a medieval castle you think of something more...medieval than most of the castles that are present in France. Even this castle, Vincennes, though built in 1400 something, feels just barely medieval. Nevertheless, it's the best castle I've been in so far!

Of course, it's the only castle I've been in so far.

The courtyard is free, but to go in the cathedral and the Donjon (the keep), there's a small fee.

The cathedral is empty and looks like it's in the process of being restored. I believe this is the only castle in France that has been around since the 1400's, so it's been used for many things. At one time the cathedral was used as an armory by Napoleon I believe.

The stained glass windows inside are odd by present standards. Most of our stained glass depictions in churches tend to show the story of Jesus, or maybe of the apostles.

None of that mushy stuff in here.

This was the medieval message of repent or burn!! All the stained glass depicts various parts of revelations. Repent medieval peasants! The end is near! Like, 30 feet, sorry, I mean meters, away!!

Next we headed over to the 'ol Donjon. The keep is the last bastion of a castle. In this case, it was also where Henry V (I believe) resided. Oh, and it was a prison later on.

The full history of the castle is pretty interesting, and can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Vincennes

It's pretty nice and medieval inside. And small. It was hard to get pictures cause it was so small. I can't be certain, but I'm thinking every room was so small because of heating issues for castles back in the 1400s. Just a guess though.

We went to the top and saw Henry's study and money storage area. And then headed back down and out.

We wanted lunch before we took the subway back, and tried to find something on the way back to the subway.

We found a mexican place!! Of course, it was only 11:30, so they weren't open...even though their sign was on and their door was open and, like most French places, have no hours listed.
In fact, not 1 of the three restaurants we passed were open until noon.

No wonder there's so many people on the street with signs saying they are hungry...nothing's ever open!!

And the last picture of of the Opera at night when I went wandering in the rain to find Beth a little reading lamp.

(Sorry about this being late, Beth's working from home constantly now, very hard to get time to use the computer...)