Compiegne and no we can not pronounce it right either.

Learning French is fun and google thinks correct spelling for Compiegne is 'chomping' and that is not correct pronunciation either but we can do hello, thank you , "so long"/ good journey, (do not know bus stop), but can sort of figure out some words - not on a menu, but elsewhere emphasis on sort of.  French people have been unfailingly nice.

Compiegne is a famous city — old too.  So to start, in the 1300's King Charles V built a summer palace here as a hunting and summer retreat from Paris. Over time it became one of the major seats of government for France. Louis the XIV, in the 1700's apparently spent large amounts of time here hunting in the nearby forests. Louis XVI was the unfortunate husband of Marie Antoinette, who with his wife did not survive the French revolution. He as well as Marie spent a lot of time here - her bedroom is still displayed as she decorated it. Previous monarchs had spent time here too, just without a palace. Apparently some lessor accommodations were sufficient.

So to tour the Palace — in no particular order.

Me trying to figure out the map of the Palace.  That is why the photos are in no particular order.

This ball room was not one of the King's or even Marie Antoinette's additions or modifications.  This was added by the "man of the people" Napoleon.  He also used this as a dining room.

Queen Josephine's sitting room, you can figure out who sat where.  Patt says royalty sat in the chairs with backs, maids in waiting on the stools. 

Napoleon's bedroom.

Napoleon's library — not his actual but attempt to recreate.

 .

Marie Antionette's bedroom.

The royalty did like their jewels and there was a lot of it around, also a lot of huge woven carpet artistry hanging on walls that was quite stunning, not photographable by iPhone, as well as other art that does not photograph as it is in low light.

The palace. Only part is open as a museum.

This is the Church of St Jacques, Joan of Arc went here to pray just prior to being captured in 1430.  The church was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1198 and construction begun in 1235. So it is old.

Joan of Arc — not that anyone here recognized us pronouncing that — seriously it took the English speaking guy at the hotel quite a while to figure out we were referring to Jeanne d'Arc, one and a half syllables, short and snappy.  Back on message.  This is Joan's town.

Just prior to her last battle and being captured and all those subsequent unhappy endings she came here to pray as was her custom.

It is a magnificent church, not a cathedral, church and has incredible stained glass windows, many with Joan figures in them, probably not in 1430 when Joan made her last appearance here.

And it is no small town country church either. You got your high ceilings as benefits a building with flying buttresses and lots of stones laid atop one another.

from the front.

it could use a little upkeep but it is approaching 900 years old.

Not all was peace and love in Compiegne.  There was a dark side during WW II.  The City was designated by the Nazis as a collection point for Jews, communists, partisans, American POWs and other people destined for interrogation or transfer to a concentration camp. On the edge of town the French army built a training camp in the 1800s and this was taken over by the Nazis during WWII.  Those destined for transfer were marched to a rail line about two miles away through a forest.  

This is one of three of the original 20+ buildings in the camp. They are now a very good museum.  The walls are still rough looking with graffiti and paintings left on the walls when it was a French army facility and prison.

and at a separate but related location are two rail cars that Nazis used to carry Jews to the concentration camps.  There was a school group there when we visited.

It is startling to see one of these in person and they look exactly like they do in films and photographs. And they are high off the ground too. The films in the museum of them being loaded are not pretty.

On another note, also related to WWII,  if you saw a movie set in France with street scenes, it could have been filmed here, especially a spy film for something like that. 

and I did not tell you yet about French food here hoo hoo ha!

of the wine!