Château de Vincennes

Before coming to France, my mental image of the word "château" was a stately manor, probably in the country, surrounded by grape vines and a rigidly symmetrical garden with precisely trimmed hedges. I assume I absorbed this correlation along with the untold number of French wines that bear such a scene on their labels. 

Something like this:

Lia at Château de Sceaux

It wasn't until I began exploring the sights of l'Île-de-France and learning a little of the French language that I discovered that château can also mean, quite literally, castle. 

As in a giant war fortress with a moat and dungeon. 

Like this:

let's step back for a shoddily constructed panoramic view:

Château de Vincennes is a very castley château. Handily located at the eastern terminus of Metro Line 1, it lies outside the Périphérique, but technically within Paris, because the surrounding Parc de Vincennes is a part of the city. Like many large houses on the outskirts of Paris, it was founded, in the 1100s, as a hunting lodge for the royalty. In the 1300s, things got fortified- walls were erected and the keep was built. It is, wikipedia tells me, "the tallest Medieval fortified structure in Europe." 

Keep(hah!) in mind that the above photo is just the donjon, or keep, of the Château- the oldest and most protected part of the complex. Below is a map of the entire layout. The keep is the the square area on the bottom. It is surrounded by a moat, as are the exterior walls. The doorways on the right and left traverse the surrounding moat and are the only ways to access the grounds. The chapel is the caterpillar-looking thing above the keep.

http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/page/affichelieu.php?idLang=en&idLieu=1621

The site from which I stole this image has a wealth of information and photos. Check it out.

 While the whole complex is cool, the keep is definitely the star of the tour.  

 the moat and bridge

above: looking up from the bridge

below: the bridge from the gatehouse to the keep

The surrounding lower area, between the moat walls and the keep tower, housed servants and workers.

Inside the tower are the royal living quarters.

There are a lot of large fireplaces.

Amazingly, many of the decorative elements are still intact. With bright new paint and the original wood wall panels, it must have looked very regal indeed.

Many of the walls were adorned with paintings and graffiti, mostly done by prisoners.

here's one with Lia looking scary

After touring the royal living area, you can descend into the lower level of the tower.

The most protected room housed the well and was also used for food storage.

Château de Vincennes hosted many prisoners over the years, the most famous being the Marquis de Sade. Here is one of his letters, displayed in the room in which he wrote it during his seven years of captivity.

Upon finishing our tour of the keep, we found the chapel beautiful and closed to visitors. 

Here's the exterior. The interior? My guess is high ceilings, stained glass, crosses and saints.

We had lunch and crossed "Visit a Castle" off the to-do list.