Napoleon Overload

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

Edinburgh: Castles, Kilts, Fog, Vikings, Llamas, and Cemeteries

April 21-24

Edinburgh was probably my favorite city that we visited, perhaps because I didn't have to use public transportation and could see everything just by walking (though we did constantly have to circumnavigate around the castle multiple times a day because, of course, it was right in the center of everything...good thing I like castles!).  The unicorns, ghosts in the underground vaults, and potatoes served in the diners played a huge factor into it, too, though. 

The playground even had a castle!

The first day was blue skies and sun. In the afternoon, it felt warmer than London.

UNICORNS!! The national animal of Scotland! 

We ate nachos at a Frankenstein-themed restaurant. 

The next day, the buildings were hidden in a thick layer of fog. It was gorgeous. 

This is the cemetery that J.K. Rowling saw from her spot at the Elephant House Café, where she started writing Harry Potter. 

The most famous gravestone in the cemetery belongs to a dog. People leave sticks on top for his ghost to play with. 

Edinburgh wins for best museum. There was such an odd assortment and everything was interactive. It felt a bit like a children's museum, but it wasn't labelled as one. All museums should be modeled on this principle, where hands-on is not just for kids. After so much travel, lack of sleep, and constant bombardment with history and cultural facts, I enjoyed and retained the most information from this museum.

Yes, that is a hippo hanging from the ceiling, with all the other sea creatures. 

I found out that the scientific name for a llama is "llama glama." 

Dolly the sheep! 

The medieval feeling of the city appealed to me, and Scotland seems best experienced in the fog. 

This church has a stained glass angel playing the bagpipes inside. 

Locals spit on this heart. They also know not to jump when the cannon is shot off every afternoon at one o'clock. 

In the evening, we took the most chilling ghost tour in the UK, to the underground vaults. This is the only picture I took, but we were led through an underground labyrinth. Each tiny room was only lit by a few candles placed in the center. The dim lighting and shadowy corners made the place seem truly haunted. Our guide was dressed in a cape, and she told us the three main ghosts seen below: a little boy, a cheerful shoemaker, and a crazy man who wants everyone to get out of the tunnels. I didn't see any, but I'm happy that I'm not the person who is sent down there in the dark to light the candles.