Further up the Oise, and a possible day-trip from Compiègne, is NOYON , another of Picardy's cathedral towns. Its quiet provinciality belies a long, illustrious history, first as a Roman prefecture, then as seat of a bishopric from 531. Here, in 768, Charlemagne was crowned king of Neustria, largest of the Frankish kingdoms; in 987, Hugues Capet was crowned king of France; and, to cap it all, John Calvin was born here in 1509.

Rowing along the Oise on his ... [More]