Tag: Napoleon

Finding Napoleon beyond France

Napoleon left some cannons behind when the French fled Moscow. This cannon is in the Kremlin. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Enamored with the French Revolution on my visit to Paris, I pay scant attention to Napoleon during my time there. Stopping by at Les Invalides, I focus more on a car show on its grounds than to the tomb of…

The Ups and Downs of Mont Saint-Michel

First sighting of Mont Saint-Michele. Photo credit: V. Laino

I both love and loathe my experience at Mont Saint-Michel. I’m enamored of its history—how the Archangel Michael appeared to a priest some 700 years ago and told him to build this church in the water, how the priest equivocated…

The Kremlin: Napoleon Was Here

The Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin, Moscow. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini

I’m not sure what I expected to see within the walls of the Kremlin, the centuries-old fortress that is the seat of the Russian government. That old cannons from Russia’s own War of 1812 were there surprised me as these…