AN oak railway-carriage in a clearing in the forest near the French town of Compiègne bears silent testimony to two of the most important diplomatic moments of 20th-century Europe.
On a cold, wet morning at this spot on Nov. 11, 1918, Marshal Ferdinand Foch signed an armistice with the Germans on behalf of the Allied Forces, ending World War I. Twenty-two years later, in a twisted act of vengeance, Adolf Hitler forced the French to sign their capitulation to the Nazis in the same Pullman.
The car was taken to Berlin and burned in 1945 by the Germans. A few years later, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits donated another car from the same train, which was furnished as it was in 1918 and installed in its place.
The site is now an offbeat place of pilgrimage, mostly for history buffs and schoolchildren. And the Compiègne area is a little-traveled destination for a day trip just an hour northeast of Paris, offering a blend of culture (two chateaus), nature (a 36,000-acre forest and several small, manmade lakes), charm (timbered houses, cobblestoned pedestrian streets and offbeat museums), and decent food and lodging.
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