Experiencing REAL Castle life in the Rain, Montreux

 We had a lovely day in Montreux, even in the rain! We had a leisurely morning with a pot of coffee delivered to the room. They brought croissants and a rose with the coffee. By the time we got ready, then tried to find Restaurant le 45, it was close to noon.
Again, we worked on using our Spanish and limited French to communicate. We had a WONDERFUL young man who was delighted to give us French lessons during our lunch experience. Meals in French speaking Switzerland are like Paris. It is meant to be a leisurely experience. NO one has out their cell phone, I think that is seen as very gauche and is frowned upon. I had a lamb Sou Vide (pronounced sue vie) I knew about that cooking method because Steve and I had steak prepared that way at the Cedar Crest Winery in Manton. Rebecca had a poached chicken in mushroom sauce/gravy. I recognized mushroom sauce because it had morelle for mushroom, Brookings!
By then the waiter and us were friends. He told us to get a train to Milan then Florence tomorrow. He also recommended the scallops at our hotel restaurant. I thanked him in French: Merci pour le experience. There are a lot of cognates:) and similar pronouns to Spanish. So, thank you for the experience.

View from Restaurant Le 45

I then proceeded to walk off my lunch along Le (the) Promenade on my way to the Chateau de Chillon along the same promenade, about 45 minutes walk. ((Rebecca was going to the Queen (music group from the 70s)

For Polly, flowers along the promenade

There were topiaries along the promenade as well, celebrating gymnastic event.

Thanks to Barb, I had a wonderful discovery experience in the 12th century castle. Beautiful, thick stone walls and cobble stone walkways. In the basement, they had a food larder, they also had a prison. One famous prisoner, the subject of Lord Byron poem, was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Bonivard

He was kept there, chained, for 6 years before rescued. I can't understand how anyone can survive six years in a dark, dank, below water line, dungeon. Interesting reading, with pictures. 

Other interesting things were that middle age era everyone bathed, as it was seen helpful to your health, with soap! The long standing understanding was that they did not bathe, thus were subject to disease, etc. Their streets, etc., were filthy with sewage running down the street, but apparently not their persons. On that unappetizing note, their latrines in the castle dumped right into the lake. Ugh. 

I toured all the rooms; about three hours worth. Some interesting cultural notes about touring the castle. No warning signs anywhere about "watch your step" etc. Children ran all around with no one reigning them in; indulgent, let children play, attitude. Thanks, Barb, for the heads up! 

We ended the day with a fabulous, scallop, dinner. 

fireplace in the castle

class windows, circa 14th century. They also imported/invented paper, the press and wheel barrows. 

This was up at top of castle, the openings were to look for attacking groups, across the water. The narrower openings were to shoot out at them with crossbows. A crossbow was such a lethal weapon, the church forbade them as "too lethal" 

Beautiful wall paintings, original, in the chapel