Paris to Giverny, Compeigne and Coucy le Château

Copyright © noel.moore@gmail.com All comments and questions are welcome.

First things first. We picked up our car from near Gare de Montpanasse, and check out of the Luxemburg Gardens apartment. On the road again in France!

Tourists still flock to Monet's House and Garden and we had a brilliant day to view; so much better than the rainy day we had 5 years ago.

For me the Lilly ponds remain the highlight! As you wander around the garden you often have to wait your turn to take a photograph.

The House and Garden are owned by a Foundation and with the Euro 10 entrance fee plus shop sales, they must have a very substantial income!

Compeigne was new for us. Just to the north of Paris, it was in centuries past the site of Royal Lodges. It is also known as the place where Joan of Arch was captured. It has a striking Hotel de Ville, and a relaxed 'Centre de Ville'; we stopped for a coffee.

The Ville de l'Armistice is 6kM from the centre and located, as it was in 1918, in a forest. A stature of Marshall Foch, the French commander for the last couple of months of the War and leader of negotiations overlooks the clearing in the forest.

I reflected upon how victors write the history of events!

On the 8th November 1918 two trains entered the clearing in the forest; a place that had been built for use by large, train mounted artillery pieces. It was selected as the site for negotiations as it was secluded.

Two days of negotiations led to an agreement. The Germans had little choice; years of Naval blockades lead to civilians starving and solders poorly fed, the German spring push using the troops released from the Russian front had stalled and was being pushed back, and over a year after formally entering the war, the Amercian troops were now operational.

Citizens in Berlin were rioting and the Government was not functioning.

(Left). The table at which the Armistice was negotiated and signed.

The second part of the story is WW2. Hitler chose the same location and rail car to negotiate France's surrender. He sat in the same seat as Marshall Foch had in 1918, and after the signing the Germans destroyed the site, took the rail car on a propaganda tour and then burnt it. The rail car on site today is an identical sister car.

For Hitler it was personal! He had to humiliate others and re-write history.