The one with Le Chateau de Vincennes

We had a really fun week with basically no class (as usual) and lots of fun Paris things like shopping. I bought 2 beautiful new dresses and a spring jacket that I plan on wearing constantly for the next 2 months. In other words, I really want winter to be over and to have constant Spring. We also went out a few times, tried out a new club, and even finished watching season 1 of Glee. It's been a very relaxing week.

Then on Friday we decided to do something touristy before our big trip so we went to Le Chateau de Vincennes. I didn't actually know where we were going; it was Hugh's idea and he said it was a big forest... go figure. He's really into forests or something. But I'm all about being outdoors on any day that it isn't raining so I figured a few hours in a giant park/forest could be great. What I wasn't expecting was a giant castle built by King Charles V. It was an entire fortress with a huge mote surrounding the mini-city and then another mote surrounding the actual castle. Charles V even built a church inside the walls that models Saint Chapelle. In later year, there were another 2 palaces constructed inside the city walls, 1 for the king and one for the queen. Must be nice to have your own palace on top of your castle. Anyway, later the castle was turned into a prison and lots of famous French people were kept their and many of them left paintings and carvings in the walls. It was really quite a sight as it's the only castle inside Paris and we didn't even know it existed! Luckily we are under 26 so we got to see everything for free like most attractions in Paris.

Then today we basically prepared for the big trip. We did lots of research and created itineraries for each city. We even marked on maps where each location was so we don't waste time while we're there trying to figure out the directions. It's gonna be a blast. Bon voyage!