Armistice Compiègne
This is a recent ticket from July 5th 2013. It is for the Armistice Museum in the Compiègne forest. This was where the armistice was signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 – the armistice which ended the Great War. It (or rather they for there were two of them, so two tickets) are very ordinary. There’s not much class about them.
The armistice was signed in a railway carriage – er – not this one.
This one is identical to the original, which was destroyed by Hitler after he used it to humiliate the French in 1940.
This identical coach belonged to the Wagon Lits company.
It has been allocated the number of the original.
The carriage is the centrepiece of this museum, but there are other stunning items, not least the 100s of stereoscopic photos of First World War scenes.
But an item that caused me rueful amusement was this bit of trench craft made of readily available materials.
It’s an ingenious lamp from a hand grenade and bullets.
The life in tickets continues.