Hills: none
Today because I fell yesterday and took off a layer of skin on my palm, I decided to ride the short group instead of my usual long group ride. The short ride is always, of course, shorter than the long ride, and usually has fewer hills. Consequently, the folks who opt to participate in the short ride are the folks who are less skilled and less experienced. Today, in addition to volunteering to ride with the short group because of my hand, I also volunteered to be the sweep. The sweep is always at the end of the single-file line of bikers and makes sure everybody is doing well. I chose today because the day was to be an easy day, with only a couple of hours of riding, all of it flat along the Oise River. I assumed there wouldn't be much work involved in being sweep, and there wasn't. Except for a few very small hills, where some riders had to get off and walk, all I had to do was slow down my usual pace and keep an eye out. It's much more difficult to be sweep in hilly country, so I chose well, and I have only one more day on the trip where I need to sweep, as we all share this chore.
This morning, while we still were in Compiegne, we visited the castle of Compiegne. I wasn't aware that Compiegne, in addition to Versailles and Fontainbleu, was once the center of French government, as well as a site for royal hunting. (It is said that Louis XIV said, "In Versailles I feel like a King; in Fontainbleu I feel like a prince, and in Compiegne I feel like a peasant.")
But the chateau is hardly a peasant's home. It was first built under Charlemagne, rebuilt by king Louis XV and remodeled by Louis XVI. However, Louis XVI never got to live in it, because the French Revolution began around the time the remodel was finished. After the revolution, Napoleon I took over and had it remodeled yet again, erasing some signs of the monarchy. So the castle, while beautiful, is a mix of architectural styles. 
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