Napoleon has conquered my brain. Friday, I finished up my final paper about symbols and propaganda of his empire. Saturday, I went to Josephine's (his first wife) house, Château de Malmaison. The rest of the weekend and all of yesterday was spent rereading Napoleon's biography and cramming for the final. I took the exam this afternoon, so now I can officially clear Napoleon out of my head.
Here are pictures from the garden of Malmaison and some random Napoleonic trivia* that I am now promptly going to forget:
Malmaison is a suburb not too far outside of Paris, but the château is truly in the middle of nowhere and difficult to find. Basically, I walked through the deserted suburb for about an hour because I don't share Napoleon's skill for map-reading, and the bus to get to the house was a myth.
I did eventually get to the forest of trees that led to this beautiful, quiet house.
Josephine bought the Château de Malmaison while Napoleon was on his campaign in Egypt. She had it landscaped in an "English style" and became greatly interested in roses.
The gardens are huge. Her backyard is a mini forest.
Napoleon fact #1: He had no religion because at the age of 9 a priest told him that his hero, Caesar, was burning in hell.
Napoleon fact #2: Josephine was aware of fashion of the time. However, after his marriage to Marie-Louise, Napoleon decided that he knew more than his new wife about women's fashion and he chose her outfits...this did not go well.
Napoleon fact #3: Napoleon fraternized with soldiers under his command by pulling their noses and slapping their faces.
Napoleon fact #4: Napoleon preferred to be called Bonaparte. He only went by Napoleon I because of protocol.
There were live small green birds in a round cage in the lobby.
Napoleon fact #5: After abdicating after his brief Hundred Days reign, Napoleon was taken to Plymouth. He was only there for a couple of weeks, but tourist would take boats out to watch Napoleon, in full uniform, parade around the port.
Napoleon fact #6: Napoleon chose the bee as a symbol for his empire to break with the Bourbon monarchy. Bees served as a link between Napoleon and the old Frankish sovereigns (ancient rulers of France/Europe), who placed golden cicadas in their tombs as a sign of immortality and rebirth. He also had lots of eagles.
*Napoleonic facts taken from a hilarious biased biography of Napoleon by Paul Johnson
