Chateau de Pierrefonds
Rebecca found a castle a bit outside of Paris that looked lovely and less touristy and we were excited for a little French countryside.
Chateau de Pierrefonds was about 20 minutes by metro to Gare du Nord (main train station), a 50 minute train ride to Compiegne, and then a 20 minute Uber out to the castle town. It truly did not disappoint.
It was so quiet and nice to explore the castle on our own time without people everywhere. We could have walked up any staircase that was roped off and explored but I’m sure we would have gotten lost. A medieval castle is so cool.
When we were done, we walked the grounds and back down to the little town at the foot of the castle. Everything was super pretty. It was about 1:30 so we had to make a decision on where to have lunch quickly since a lot of these restaurants are closed from 2pm to 5/6/7pm. The French eat dinner late!
We chose a cute little spot on the River and ate some yummy food with these funny aperol spritzes that had a different presentation….
The menu was surprisingly interesting for a little touristy spot on the lake. We ordered a goat cheese and ricotta “tiramisu” that came with pesto and crunch bread. It was amazing but super heavy. We also ordered their version of a poke bowl. Super odd and the rice was dry but of course I loved the sugary sauce :)
We were both so full after the appetizers and really didn’t need or want more food butttt we had ordered a Provençal burger that had hash browns instead of buns and topped with eggplant and red peppers and cheese. This burger was SO good. I don’t know how they made the hash browns so perfect and crispy but we were both laughing as we stuffed our already full bellies with more food.
We had originally planned on dessert but we’re way too full to eat anymore. We took a short walk around the lake but then got a bit nervous that we were walking a trail without knowing where it ended so we turned back. After walking the small town, we decided to head back to Compienge and explore a bit there.
Have you ever taken an Uber and realized it was a one way situation?
Well, we tried calling an Uber but none were around despite it being only 15-20 minutes from Compiègne. We popped into the tourism office and asked the girl there about calling a cab. She said that the same ride that cost us $15 on the way to Pierrefonds would cost more like $30-45 on the way back. Ugh. We checked Uber again. Still nothing. Giving up, we asked her to call a cab. She called 4 different places and they all said they could not do the job! Finally she found one who said he could come in about an hour and a half. Bummer. At least the weather was nice.
We sat outside in the sun and kept trying for an Uber. Finally when I had given up hope, Rebecca found us an Uber! Shout out to Niokane who saved us $20 and an hour wait. A quick walk through Compiegne and we headed back to the train and back to Paris.
