Wednesday 9 September 2009

Day Out at Compiègne - Part I

Street scene from Compiègne (edited)With another gloriously sunny day arriving out of the blue yesterday, we took the opportunity to visit the medieval town of Compiègne.
We spent the morning wandering around the narrow market streets with their tiny boutiques and countless restaurants and bistros and would like to share with you a few of the photos from the morning. Please click on them to enjoy the larger versions.
After a short walk from the almost invisible underground car park, the first thing we came across was the magnificent Town Hall.

Town Hall Compiègne
Bordering a beautiful square...

Town Hall Compiègne
....this building is packed with fine detail from the doorway right up to the top of the steeple...

Bell Tower, Town Hall, Compiègne
...where these three chaps ring their bells every 15 minutes.

Open and closed shutters on a building at Compiègne
On a hot day like this, it's difficult to know what to do with the shutters - leave them open to fully enjoy the sunshine or close them to keep your apartment nice and cool? Here, opinion seems to be mixed!

Deserted streets at Compiègne
The narrow streets were pretty much deserted which meant that we could really take our time and enjoy our walk through history!

Half-timbered building at Compiègne
There are still an enormous amount of half-timbered buildings.

A solid-looking doorway at Compiègne
And some solid looking doorways!

Art deco auction room at Compiègne
We even came across some art deco.

Restaurants and Bistros at CompiègneAs mid-day rang out, the restaurants and bistros quickly filled up with diners eager to take advantage of the terraces.
There was quite a choice of restaurants, so what did we choose?

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the lovely photos, I shall note the name of the town for my next visit!! So pleased you are still enjoying lovely weather, I am so over winter here and look forward to my share of the sun...hopefully very soon!!
    Linda

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  2. Je ne connais pas bien les spécialités de Compègne et google n'est pas très en forme aujourd'hui (où est-ce mon cerveau??)
    Donc j'attends de savoir quels ont été vos choix culinaires!

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