The drive south from Soissons to our next overnight stop at Dienville took us through Champagne (via Reims, Chalons en Champagne and the small town of Brienne Le Chateau in the Aube Department of Grand Est). We’ve decided to take our time this year, avoiding all toll roads and stopping whenever we feel like it.
I like to think we stopped at Brienne Le Chateau because of my interest in all things Napoleonic but it is more likely that we stopped so that Vanya could get to drink her first champagne of this tour. She wasn’t too happy with my driving straight past Reims and Chalons en Champagne (but, come on, she’s imbibed champagne in both those places during earlier visits).
Brienne Le Chateau is where in 1779, at the age of 9, Napoleon Bonaparte first attended military school. He lived there for 5 years until, in 1784, he transferred to the Ecole Militaire in Paris. Much later, in 1814, Brienne was also the scene of one of his last battles. The town simply had to be worth a visit and I wasn’t disappointed.
Much of the old military school was destroyed during the French Revolution but in 1969 a small museum, dedicated to Napoleon’s rise through the ranks, was established in what remains of the building. It is tiny but it’s a fascinating place to visit (full of interesting records and memorabilia) and a few of his battles (including Austerlitz, Borodino and of course Brienne) can be followed on computers in the museum. My visit to the museum was enhanced by a group of Napoleonic enthusiasts role playing outside the museum. He is wholly revered in this part of France and it is small wonder that for a time, between 1849 and 1880, Brienne Le Chateau was renamed Brienne Napoleon.
There’s not a great deal to see and do in Brienne but the museum is an absolute must and the Chateau Brienne (where Napoleon stayed during 1814) is perhaps also worth a visit. Take time out, too, to look at the Hotel de Ville (the Town Hall). It is quite unlike any others I have seen in France in that it doesn’t display the usual “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” strap line across the front of the building. Instead it displays a face of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (and, if that isn’t enough, there’s a statue of Napoleon as a boy outside the front of the building). Vive L’Empereur!
On to Dienville.