France’s Finest

Napoleon Bonaparte and his new wife Josephine bought this house as their private residence shortly after their marriage. They lived here from 1799 until 1802. At that time Napoleon had not crowned himself as Emperor of France. In fact, officially he was little more than a captain in the French army. For this reason the house is not as opulent as are the palaces and official residences which French governments provided for their kings and their Emperor. However, after their divorce, Napoleon gave this house to Josephine as her permanent residence. Many of the furnishings have been returned to the house, and curators have attempted to evoke the style of the period. The first effort to restore the house was mounted by Napoleon III, the nephew of the famous Corsican. I had always wondered about the name of this building, understanding that “mal maison” literally means “bad house.” There are at least two theories about how the house got its name. The moniker may have come from the presence of Viking raiders in the area in the ninth century. Thus, the house became known as the “bad house.” One other possibility is that a building at this location was used as a hospital during an outbreak of the plague. Since so many died here, the place became known as the “bad house.” Either way, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit here. Tomorrow we will leave the Viking Rinda to board a high speed train that will take us to Lyon for the second leg of our journey through France’s Finest.En savoir plus