Our first port of call was Ajaccio, which is on the western coast of Corsica. Now Corsica I knew about and that Napoleon was born there - actually in Ajaccio itself, and in the house above. (The plaque says Napoelon est ne dans cette maison Le XV Auoust M DCCLXIX - Naopoleon was born in this house 15 August 1769). Closed on Mondays it turns out ;-(. Anyway we had a nice look round and found a lovely sandy beach for the boys to play on. We also saw this statue of Napoleon and his four brothers. My nephew William very kindly acted as the horse. Technically my second son should be sat on him not my fifth. (Napoleon also had two or three sisters).
I had with me for the trip Paul Johnson's recent biography of Napoleon, which I have almost completed. I can recommend it for its brevity, detail, insight, grasp of the subject and unwillingness to believe in myths. We all ought to know at least this much about Napoleon. He truly was a phenomenon.
The other thing that fascinated us in Corse was being able to see snow on the mountains even while we were quite warm among the palm trees.
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