Malmaison, 1

The name really does mean "bad house" or "house of evil"--from the time in the 8th and 9th centuries when the place was a sometime hang-out for plundering Danes and other Northmen ("Vikings"). Things got better when the French king Charles the Simple [probably not what his courtiers called him], simply gave Viking king Rollo much of what is now Normandy, with the understanding that Rollo would defend the Seine (and Paris and the rest of France ) against further Viking incursions. The rest is history, especially the bits about 1066, "once more dear friends unto the breach," Saving Private Ryan, and all that. But I digress.

As First Consul in the late 1790s, Napoleon's star had risen, and he and new wife Josephine needed a summer get-away from Paris. So he acquired Malmaison, had it brought up to date, and they were there together for some good times. Briefly. Long story short is that, after the divorce, it became hers. She died in 1814, when things also were going poorly for her former husband. After Waterloo, Napoleon returned to Malmaison briefly to consider his next moves, but ended up at St. Helena, way out in the ocean, a guest of the not entirely hospitality-minded British. Malmaison came to the state years later, and it is now a museum of Napoleon and Josephine; mostly Napoleon. We thought we'd seen enough of Napoleon at Fountainebleau, but there is plenty here, too.

It was a nice day's excursion--and we have done most of the rest of Paris' day excursions--but we can't recommend Malmaison except to the most dedicated Napoleon fans. Nonetheless...

Turn here for Malmaison

We're walking the Josephine and Napoleon Trail

Helpful map...the full estate was not small

Malmaison...under the wrap and scaffolding one comes to expect over
any historic building

Central bit

Approaching the chateau

Entry tent...much of the house seemed in the 
"campaign" sort of mode

Entry

Game room, with Napoleonic-sized billiard table; Josephine loved
billiards and played regularly after dinner; seriously

An antechamber with portraits of assorted Egyptian rulers; N had
just done his Egyptian campaign

Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes, by Anne
Louis Girodet; that Ossian? I ask; the chateau is decorated
with Napoleonic things, not exactly as N and Josephine
decorated it; with notable exceptions; much of the furniture
came from their Tuileries palace

Music room

Dining

Council room; for small meetings

The ever-present Napoleonic eagle

Library

And beyond, N's study; the cabinet on the far left conceals a secret

escape door; the desk--the real thing--was constructed so that documents

(e.g., maps of Germany, Austria, Russia...) could be quickly hidden from

prying eyes

Emperor's drawing room

The Josephine Room

Emperor's bed chamber

N as First Consul; standing before Malmaison

The Battle of the Pyramids, Louis-Francois Lejeune, 1804

David [that David] made five nearly identical versions of 
Napoleon Crossing the Alps; this is the original, at Malmaison;
muy famoso