experience: chateau gaillard

on our road trip north to country-living and beach-bumming in normandy, my friends and i stopped to explore the ancient ruins of château-gaillard, a historical sight totally open to the public. i climbed on things i probably shouldn't have and jumped off even more. the view was spectacular, and the experience of touching things that old... well, prety darn priceless.

château-gaillard is a ruined medieval castle, located above the town of les andelys, in the eure département of normandy, france. it is located some 95 km north-west of paris and 40 km from rouen... right on the way to my friend's country home!

it is worth mentioning that THIS THING WAS BUILT IN THE YEAR 1197. THAT'S A REAAAAALLLLY LOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME AGO.

a few facts:

--> king richard's brother, john, demanded that an extra toilet be built in the chapel of the castle. WELL... during battle, the troops of philip II of france captured the castle after a long siege in 1203, some 4 years after king richard's death. during the siege, philip ordered a group of his men to look for a weak point in the castle. the french had gained access to the outermost ward on the line of approach by undermining the tower. following this, they located the disposal chute for the toilet which john had requested [looovely, eh?] they climbed up it and into the chapel, which was locked from the outside and then broke a window in order to climb along the castle wall. after ambushing several unsuspecting guards and setting fire to the buildings, philip's men then lowered the drawbridge and allowed the rest of their army into the castle. the castle was overtaken because of john's extra toilet! [i will ignore the infinite opportunities to make a pun out of the fact that his name was john...]

--> gaillard served as the residence of the exiled david II of scotland in the 1330s.

--> having lost any strategic value, château-gaillard was dismantled under henry IV of france in the 1340s... after 400 years of existence. that means that the thing was considered old even SIX HUNDRED YEARS AGO, a few hundred years AFTER it was built! [america seems so stinking young when after studying french history...]

--> it made for one epic, twenty-first century afternoon. =]

^the view from the top

^posing like, er, posers

<--pretending to be in the 100 years war...
<--still pretending to be in the 100 years war...