:: wei chian ::

Not to make its history long in my post which is not my objective , it’s sort of an opening to attract you guys to know more about the city. Compiègne, merited 3 out of 3 stars by my guidebook, is indeed a worth visit city . It takes merely one hour I guess from Paris and half an hour from Creil by train, the city has its points of interest, such as the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), built in 1530 with magnificent Gothic façade, its churches, Eglise Saint-Antoine and Eglise Saint-Jacques, and not forgetting its castle, Château de Compiègne.

Compiègne is not a really big city though, once arriving at the train station located beside Oise River, crossing the river and walking straight and you will arrive at its superb Gothic Town Hall . The main attraction of this Town Hall is its 3 statues standing high on the roof, we call them 3 Picantins (from left: Langlois, Lansquenet and Flandrin, see photo above). 3 of them are holding a mallet (sort of hammer), ringing the bells located beneath them every hour. It’s cute and creative huh ? Inside the belfry locates one of the oldest communal bells in France – la Bancloque. On its façade, a king riding on a horse is Louis XII (photo below). Standing in front of Hôtel de Ville is the national heroine, Jeanne d’Arc.


Saturday it’s also a market day for Compiègnois. I’ve never seen such discipline before in France, they actually line up to buy stuffs and it’s same at every stall . I wonder how can they be so discipline, the Compiègnois really amaze me .

After walking around at the downtown and visiting its churches without entering it, it’s time to have a bite of sandwich. You see, 2 hours for wandering around the city, taking photos here and there, visiting FREE admission museum, time passed really fast, it’s already afternoon and I hadn’t visited its castle yet. Biting a sandwich while walking the castle’s vast garden, it was really an enjoyable one under sunny day in autumn season. As planned, I didn’t have the intention to visit inside the castle because according to the guidebook, in this season some interesting chambers of the castle are closed , besides it’s not a free admission . So I was not going to waste my money on its gallery, but rather to go to another very interesting place, a place where I hesitated a while yet I had the sudden impulse to visit without considering its distance from Compiègne.

I accidentally spotted this place from my guidebook and it attracts me a lot by viewing its photo . After knowing from the tourism office that there is a bicycle rental not far but actually far from the castle, I walked there for about 15 minutes. I was already at the entrance of Compiègne preserved forest, about 15000 hectares of beeches and oak trees . I rented a mountain bike at 2pm and grabbed a free forest map from the renter and hop, c’est parti . According to the bic owner, it takes about one hour by cycling slowly on green line – Line 2 to arrive at the destination I wanted to go. So since I wanted to arrive there as soon as possible, I cycled at medium speed .

The municipal had built those cycling track in the forest , so basically I would not get lost by following the right track. There are lots of signal boards along the tracks, but I didn’t use them much because I found them useless , not that I am arrogant, but it doesn’t indicate the direction I wanted to go. Neglecting it and following exactly as shown on the map, I arrived at another charming village after 45 minutes on bike, called Saint Jean-aux-Bois. It’s a picturesque village where you can see its gothic church, surrounded by medieval houses, a nice one . By the time I arrived there, there was a hunting taking place inside the forest. Remember that I mentioned the hunting parade in Senlis during the Patrimony Day? It looked exactly the same as the hunting parade, except this time it was a real one , hunters wearing a black hunter suit riding on horse, some caring a trumpet on their shoulder waiting at the border of the village, some were inside the forest with the hunting dogs, etc. So you can hear the sound of trumpet being blown inside the forest and shouted for something. I couldn’t hear exactly what the hunter shouted, perhaps it’s a sign to warn nearby joggers or villagers not to approach them while the hunt was still taking place .

Well, Saint Jean-aux-Bois is not really the place I wanted to go though, it’s another one, a massive one . I nearly got lost while I was actually approaching the hunting place. Then I cycled back to the entrance of the village and looked carefully at the sign board, I spotted a small sign indicating the way. Imagine you were cycling inside the forest alone without a compass, so it’s rather thrilling and exciting , because you don’t know when you will get lost and keep wondering am I on the right track. No one is in the forest, except from time to time you will spot some joggers and some family gathering. If you are lucky enough, you could spot wild animals like deer, reindeer, loitering inside the forest .

This time I was pretty sure that I was taking the right track from the village since the track way looks exactly as drawn on map. Always at medium speed and sometimes speeding, after another 30 minutes finally I arrived at the destination – Pierrefonds. What’s so special in Pierrefonds? Look at the photo and you will know . Its castle, called Château de Pierrefonds, is a gripping architecture !

The castle was built in 12th century, built by King Charles VI and given to his brother Louis d’Orléans. Late in 16th century, the castle was dismantled by King Louis XIII . In 1813, Napoléon I bought the ruin with mere 3000F and his nephew, Napoléon III, restored it by entrusting the reconstruction to Viollet-le-Duc, a famous architect. At first it was only a rebuilt of picturesque ruin, by reconstructing the towers around the fortress, but then in 1861 Viollet-le-Duc undertook another reflection, by appropriating the medieval architecture with nowadays necessity, he rebuilt the castle at his own imagination of a well medieval castle that it should have to be. His actions were criticized by specialists of military architecture , he abandoned his inspiration for the ornamental sculpture. So now what you see is actually based on the architect’s imagination of a well-fortified castle it should have to be in the 15th century. That’s why at first sight, I am attracted by the exterior view of the castle. It’s really a nice and perfect monument .

Unfortunately by the time I arrived there, it’s late and the visit of the castle requires at least one hour to see all its chambers and emperor’s apartments. Besides I had to return the bicycle before 6pm since I didn’t want to rent the bicycle for half day and I didn’t plan to stay a night in Pierrefonds as well. So after admiring and taking lots of photos of the castle, it’s time to cycle back to Compiègne by following the orange line – Line 1, because it’s shorter than the green line.

Actually I was a bit reluctant to cycle back since I was already tired after cycling for one hour and 15 minutes . Then I had to cycle back for another one hour by crossing the forest again. The sun was going to set too if I didn’t get back on time. So I just could cycle at low speed, following the orange line. After a while I cycled through a place where I recognized its environment, then a sudden shock and panic arose in my mind, damn I was actually cycling on the green line ! I didn’t pay much attention on the map and moreover at the beginning of the track, both lines share the same track. I was exhausted and I stopped a side and asked an old man in the forest to confirm my whereabouts . Ha, don’t worry that old man wasn’t a ghost and I was pretty sure of it (most Asians will think about it when speaking of an old man suddenly appearing in the forest ).

When it’s confirmed that I was on the wrong track , I doubted a while whether I should return back to the orange line or just keep going. So as I was already on the direction to the small village, I thought I should keep cycling and it’s safer if I got lost, I could stay a night at the village. Along the track with low speed, I followed exactly as printed on map. When I saw a road, I decided to change my mind that rather following stupidly the green line, I should take the road which guides me directly to Compiègne without cycling inside the forest which I think it’s not safe . Albeit cycling beside road is very dangerous and moreover cars speeding at high speed on forest road, I had no other better option under such circumstance. I had to get there on time in order to take train back to Montataire.

Cycling and cycling, I became weaker and weaker , low speed became super low speed, the sky became darker and I kept reminding myself that I would treat myself two sandwiches and a buffet at Chinese restaurant if I managed to arrive in Compiègne on time . You may think it’s funny why I thought of such motivation, well actually I have no idea why I was thinking of food at that time, strange huh? Perhaps I was famished and exhausted, so food was my motivation to cycle to the end .

Of course I arrived in Compiègne on time and the first thing I told the renter, it’s bloody exhausting (in French) ! I learn a lesson that although cycling is good, I have to consider its distance and timing and stamina as well . So next time when I go cycling, I should bring a sandwich or even two inside my bag. Ha …