A Castle and a Garden

Bon jour, mes amies,
The day began with my pot of strong tea, a lovely croissant, and the divine raw milk butter.  Add to that the occasional drizzle of rose honey on said croissant (buttered) for an experience of such sensuous luxury an inhabitant of Sybaris would faint at the excess.
The weather has turned.  I wore my sweater most of the day.  It did not rain, but the clouds occasionally threatened.  A cold wind blew strongly.  This is more of what I am used to in Europe.
I had a fairly low key day planned.  My first stop was the Chateau de Vincennes, easily reached by metro, but I although I'd seen it from the outside, I'd never gone in--until today.  Like a lot of French castles, Vincennes has been pulled about a bit, but the folks have done a good job of restoration and expansion of the exhibits.  Vincennes was the favored residence of King Charles V who expanded it and had the keep designed to his specifications.  You can enter the courtyard for free, but if you want to see the keep and the royal chapel, you need a ticket.  Now I happen to like climbing around castles even on cold, windy days, and I enjoyed my visit, but little besides bare rooms remain.  Some of the carving the king ordered survived, and placards explain what the king used the rooms for.
In one room a nice young man passed out ipad looking things and when the visitor pointed them at different parts of the room special animations showed what the room would have originally looked like.
Now this was very cool, and revealed the variety of rich colors used in the decoration.  Ceilings were painted, tapestries adored the walls, there was a bright woven rug, and even the furniture was painted.
The visitor can also go out on the walls so see how the king kept his eye on Paris.  I also visited the royal chapel, a gothic gem.
There's a nice gift shop.  These gift shops always have "historic" perfumes, and I always try them. Vincennes appeared to be dedicated to violette.  In fact there was violette everything from candy to soap to a liquor that were I not leaving in a few days would have tempted me sorely.   Think of kir royale de violette.
I metroed off to my next stop, but then I had a problem.  I needed a toilet, and as Europeans never seem to have to go, facilities are rare.  My stop was Cour St. Emilion, a former wine depot turned into a trendy shopping center.  Very nice stores.  No toilets.  The plan was for me to walk from Cour St. Emilion through Parc Bercy to the Bercy metro.  Sometimes, I hoped to myself, parks have toilets.   And fortunately Bercy did.  Free, too.  It was run down, and there was no toilet paper, but that's why I ALWAYS carry one of those small packs of tissue, a practice I cannot recommend too strongly to the traveler.
Relieved I proceeded through pretty Parc Bercy, but at the other end, I seemed to be trapped in some sort of development, and there was no sign of the metro.  My choices seemed to be retrace my steps--or go forward and cross a fun-looking footbridge over the Seine.  So I crossed the river and enjoyed the view.  I was back on the Left Bank but off map at the Biblioteque National.  I had no idea beyond that, but this is Paris, and I kept walking knowing a metro stop would appear as one did and on one of my home lines, too!
I've run out of sun screen, so my final chore was to go to Italie Deux, my handy shopping center to the parapharmacie downstairs near the grocery store and boulangerie.  I fancied trying some French sun screen, which fortunately was on sale, and I believe is the right size for carrying on the plane, too.
A demain.