a brick fortress

With Michael here and a full tank in the Panda, I was ready to do some more exploring of Northern France. This time, I decided to head a bit northwest. Friday afternoon, we drove to the Château fort de Rambures, where we took a guided tour (in French and English!) of the first castle made of brick. The young guide, who kept apologizing for his French-English, was passionate about the middle ages and like many guides I've come across this year, made sure to clarify myths that are propagated by Hollywood. (When he found out we were American at the end of the tour, he apologized for that, but I assured him no offense was taken). For example, he said that they never poured boiling oil on invaders; it was simply too expensive. He did explain la poisse, or pitch, and I was proud that I'd already learned about it and the expression avoir de la poisse. I learned the English for mâchicoulis (machicolation: an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath) and promised the guide I'd look up the word for la herse - the gate that drops down at the castle entrance. Since we don't have medieval castles in the States, Michael and I were stumped. A look in the dictionary turned up portcullis. A quick visit to the website and I sent our new friend the vocabulary word he was looking for.