Compiegne

Compiègne is certainly anyway worth a visit. Was there last month with excellent weather and it’s a nice place not only for visiting the palace but also for strolling around. However weather in November can be very uninviting and if so likely you prefere staying indoors visiting the palace for instance. But if the weather is good you can certainly go and combine it for instance with a busride to Pierrefonds.

I never heard of this town, but now I want to go. Can't make it on this trip to France . . . surely the next one. Napoleon, Louis XIV, WWI Armistice . . .what's not to like?

I cannot say anything about the town in Nov as to the crowds and the 100 anniverary of the Armistice. But I was in Compiegne in the summer of 1999, saw the whole area connected with the Armistice, the replacement rail car, the rhetoric on the ground ("The criminal pride of the German Empire...."). There is a museum on the events in this immediate area too.

Compiegne was also a round up point for shipping off the Jews, like Drancy near Paris. This memorial/reminder to the Holocaust is within walking distance from the Armistice related area., don't recall that it was much of a walk to see this memorial. I've seen the film connected with the round ups at Drancy...grim, especially since you know what their fate is but not on Compiegne.

Look closely in the (remake) Armistice rail car. You will notice that the US is neither represented by an US Army officer nor a civilian rep., ie there is no US rep to the event on 11 Nov. 1918.

Bottom line is if you have a chance to go Compiegne, do it. Take the train from Gare du Nord if coming from Paris