Visiting Pierrefonds and Compiegne: Fortress Towns in the Retz and Compiegne Forests North of Paris by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Pierrefonds and Compiègne (France):  Fortress Towns North of Paris by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On another cold, winter weekend in Paris, my husband Laurent and I drove north to the imposing fortress on the Oise River named Pierrefonds.

Pierrefonds is lit up dramatically at night, but there is not much to visit inside the Château.

The Château at Pierrefonds reminds me of Barbara Tuchman’s book entitled The Proud Tower.  The Tower in the book is medieval and watches over human wars and corruption and loses a few stones here and there, but remains strong due to its solid stone construction – what the French call “vielles pierres – “old stones.”

We drove through the Fôret de Retz and the Fôret de Compiègne for an hour to arrive at Pierrefonds to take photos.

There has always been a château on the Pierrefonds site since the 12^th century.  It is a fortress not a luxury château.  The main purpose of the Château at Pierrefonds is to serve as a barrier against invasion on the Oise River.

To finish the day off, we went to the town of Compiègne to do grocery shopping and visit the town where my husband Laurent did his engineering studies in computer science (hardware, software, and communications and electrical systems between the two).

Compiègne is famous as the place where Louis XVI met Marie-Antoinette in 1770.  She was very beautiful; Louis XVI was said to be “paralyzed with timidity” when he met his Austrian bride-to-be.

Both cities have a spooky air to them when you drive through the forests with hoar frost hanging off of them.

Both of these “vielles pierres” towns might not be on the agenda for a first or second trip to France, but maybe a third.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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