A New “Travel Tuesday” Series!
Like my new house? I wish!
As #QuarantineLife continues for all of us, I am tackling my severe #Wanderlust by launching a weekly series that takes us around the world vicariously!
“Travel Tuesday” is meant to celebrate all that is inspiring about our world – and as soon as we can head out again, I will be one of the first!
Let’s begin with a trip to Vincennes Castle in Paris – a place that anyone would want to call home – like Louis XIV did!
Welcome To The Chateau!
The Château de Vincennes is called a “witness to France’s history” for a reason – it’s a massive 14th and 17th century French royal fortress in the town of Vincennes, just east of Paris…in fact, it’s not far at all – just five subway stops from The Bastille!
Like other more famous châteaux, it had its origins in a hunting lodge, constructed for Louis VII about 1150 in the forest of Vincennes. A business associate from Paris told me about it, so of course I had to see it myself.
The entrance to the Castle is just steps from the Metro station, and in order to enter, you must of course cross this:
The Moat!
Yes, a very expansive Moat surrounds the Castle, and here are some more details on the shape and size of the Castle. It forms a rectangle whose perimeter is more than a kilometer in length. It has six towers and three gates, each originally 13 meters high, and is surrounded by a deep stone lined moat. Once inside, you pay a nominal fee and are allowed to explore all open areas of the Castle – with lots of signs to help you:
As you can see, the weather was dramatic the morning I was there in mid-May, making everything stand out even more spectacularly, like the Holy Chapel, which was founded by Charles V in 1379:
The Holy Chapel…
The interior of the chapel are gorgeous, and how about this: the relics of the Crown of Thorns were temporarily housed there while the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris was being readied to receive them. A fragment that remained behind received its own chapel!
In the courtyard is a well, no longer used, and then I saw the most impressive part of the castle:
Castle Keep!
This was truly an incredible tour, as I got to go inside “Castle Keep”…at 50m high, it’s the tallest in France…here is some more info to bring you up to speed:
Once inside, I headed up the steps to see the famous bell tower:
I happened to be staring up at the bell tower as it was “announcing the time”:
Finally, I climbed a tall narrow staircase to see the area where the soldiers kept watch for invaders:
Of course, no one was “storming the castle” on this day – and after a busy day at my castle, I worked up quite an appetite, so it was off to lunch, like the time my wife Alex and I made the trek to Chez L’Ami Jean for their legendary rice pudding!
This classic bistro serves incredibly inventive food, and if you want to see more, you can click on my story here:
These are just a few of the stories I will be sharing every week on my “Travel Tuesday” series – a mix of great places I have been, or a preview of unique places around the world I can’t wait to go to…like the time my wife and I were in Barcelona:
From the iconic Sagrada Famiglia to the Boqueria food market and so much more, Barcelona is a magical city – with stunning architecture and design:
You can click here to see more of this magical city:
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Let me know what you think of my castle!
Categories: Exotic Travel, Memoirs, Paris, Pop Culture, Real Estate, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
I love that you’re doing a Travel Tuesday series! This one is fantastic. The bell tower and the keep were my favorites. I wonder if they kept alligators in the moat.
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Thank you! I have many to come – many will be new adventures as the world slowly opens back up! Always appreciate your support and comments!
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Yahoo! I’ll be there.
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This brings back many good memories from when my sixth-graders studied the Middle Ages in sixth grade. The highlight of the unit was when the kids constructed their castles. Our whole classroom was covered with creative castles.
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It sounds like you really engaged your students in a creative, thought-provoking manner, which is the best way to teach! Bravo to you and thanks for sharing that!
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Just wow..that is impressive, John I loved Paris but didn’t get to see the castle it was a whistlestop a one-nighter on the way home but we visited some lovely bistros and rock and rolled the night away to some LP’s played on an old gramophone..it was magic as is Paris…
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My wife and I love that town and cannot wait to get back there! Thanks for commenting carol and hope everyone is safe there!
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So far so good, John…I hope you guys are staying safe and well this virus is nothing if not persistent 🙂
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Carol, we are in the worst of it…Los Angeles country, but we are living a #quarantinelife and will make it through
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I love your castle!! It might be expensive to heat though. These are my kind of places. We’ll travel through your blog for the next little while.
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HA! Indeed! Yes, it’s all looking back on some favorite trips for now, but some new stuff coming soon – things I did but didn’t post prior to the shutdown!
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I think I remember this on your blog, but it was good to see it again. And it is so close to the city too. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes Pete…I will be mixing previous posts that have been updated, along with some material I haven’t shared yet…until I can travel again!
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quite the hunting lodge! I am going to really enjoy this series – helps to scratch that travel itch
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Yes, until we can travel again I m doing updated stories and some material I haven’t shared before! Thanks for reading!
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Wow! I’d never heard of this castle so close to Paris. Maybe I’ll get a chance to visit someday. Thanks for the tour!
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All you do is grab the metro and it takes you literally to the doorstep win 20 minutes!
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Hopefully next time! We made it to Paris once a long time ago, but there was so much we didn’t see.
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It’s the most magical city in the world….
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