Chateau de Vincennes and Parc Floral

My trip to Ottawa made us all feel a little homesick and miss our friends.  Thank goodness there are some Canadians in Paris to take care of us.  My friend, Lori, who is one year ahead of me in this whole Paris/OECD adventure and her friend, Amy who is visiting, invited us on a few exciting outings this last week.  Our first outing was to Chateau de Vincennes and Parc Floral de Paris.

Parc Floral de Paris is spelled out in large letters.  Lillian is on top of the S and Sylvia is inside of it.

Metro line 1 is completely automated, so if you sit in the front of the train, you have a very cool view of the tracks and of where you are going.  No driver!

Chateau de Vincennes is at the end of Metro line 1.  The Capetian monarchs established a hunting lodge in the forest of Vincennes in the 12th century. The chateau grew into an impressive fortress over the years and housed monarchs until Louis XIV finally settled in Versailles in 1682.   After our picinic, we explored the fortress.

Everyone is checking out the empty moat.  It is a seriously wide and deep moat and there is a drawbridge.

My girls think the older kids are fabulous.  Sylvia took a shine to Margaret (who is giving her a ride).  The older kids were very helpful and kind to the girls.  Lori's kids are mythic in my girls minds and any opportunity to spend time with them is greeted with great excitement.

"The keep, or donjon, is an architectural feat and the expression of remarkable political determination: it was build quickly and at great cost."  The large moat and tall walls kept the royal family safe in the donjon.  You can walk through all of the donjon and up onto the ramparts.  There were even some modern art installations inside.

Nice kids

The chapel is modelled on Sainte-Chapelle on Ile de la Cité in Paris.  Charles the V began building it, work was continued under Charles VI, and work was completed long afterwards under Henry II (1547-1559)

The windows are amazing. We were shocked to learn that all of the original windows had been blown out in an incredibly fierce storm in 1999.  Exact replicas of the original windows were put in in 2002.

Through this arch and across the street and we were in the Parc Floral de Paris

The gardens were beautiful and the girls and I look forward to going back to explore some more.

Although some were skeptical, with determination we found gelato.  A good end to a good day.

This photo is from a few weeks ago.  Here is another Candian friend, Laeka helping us enjoy some gelato.  Laeka has been renting a place in Paris this summer and we will be sad when she returns to Canada.   Laeka introduced us to Amorino gelato.  They make your gelato look like a flower and it is delicious!

Canadian friends, Thank you!