Cat of the Castle

And then it was New Year's Eve.

I decided to take the Hutchinsons to a place whose exterior I had seen but whose interior I had not: the Château de Vincennes, built in the 12th century. I found this place by chance during a short-lived bike riding stint which ended because of winter and will hopefully resume shortly. Back in November I ventured out to the edge of Paris to ride in the Bois de Vincennes, an enormous wooded space with a lake and numerous safe, traffic-free riding/biking/horse-riding paths. When I emerged from the metro station, I was met with the glorious sight of a giant white medieval castle. Despite how much I complained in my last blog about the frivolities of French nobility, I am a total sucker for ridiculously old (especially ruined) empty stone structures.

Before touring the site we decided to have lunch at one of the brasseries across the street and luckily wandered into Le Table de Troys, which advertised delights such as oysters and choucroute garnie (sausages and sauerkraut). We were not disappointed.

The boys ordered the "Royale", a giant platter of sauerkraut and potatoes topped with an assortment of salted ham, bacon and three different kinds of sausage.

It came with its very own fancy mustard dispenser.

I went with grilled saumon with béarnaise sauce, veggies and mashed potatoes.

Elena had this gigantic and gorgeous salade niçoise (lettuce, veggies, egg and hunks of tuna.

After having our fill we headed across the street to walk it off on the castle grounds.

The main entrance and its drawbridge

The dry and rather grassy moat

The keep

 I wonder if this is the corner where the royals sent their punished children to stand.

 Skybridge into the keep

As is standard in these parts, a later inhabitant of the castle decided he needed his very own private Sainte-Chapelle.

A view from the keep: Here you can see the old rear castle walls and the 17th century extension.

Give two kids medieval toilets to play with and we will pretend to use them.

On my way to the modern latrines, I was met by the familiar sound of meowing as it issued forth from the mouth of a hungry kitty. As we approached one another, I noticed two empty food dishes behind him and figured he must be the resident castle cat, and a well-fed one judging by his rotundity.

"FEEEEEEED ME!"

After my feline fix, we headed into the chapel to have a look. It was tall but not very large, mostly empty and very echoey.

Pretty stained glass behind the altar

Next we decided to head out the back door of the castle and into the Bois de Vincennes to film a new and long-awaited Smoking in the Park. On the way, I caught sight of this cute couple holding hands:

And now...

After that we went home and I promptly curled up into a ball on the couch. I had been coughing and sick already for a couple of weeks and this final outing in the cold air was the straw that broke the camel's back. In the meantime, Charlie was busy making cognac crème anglaise and setting alcohol on fire to pour over the plum pudding.

Miraculously, we did not burn down the entire apartment building. The decade concluded after dessert, all of us retiring by 10:00 PM and me whining and coughing up my lungs. It was totally worth it though.