A young revolutionary, grown in exile, scion of a fallen dynasty, nephew of a Great Conqueror but disavowed by his own relatives. This was the life of Charles Louis–Napoléon Bonaparte until he was condemned to life in prison because of another failed coup d’état. Yet when informed of the sentence his only answer was : “Perpetuity … How long is that in France exactly ?”. In this one sentence, we can measure the strength of character of this young man. A man that knew he wouldn't stay in Prison. And just six years later he escaped in the most daring prison escape ever attempted. Sounds like a novel doesn’t it ? Yet it really happened. And if you thought of the Count on Monte-Christo, you wouldn’t be wrong, since Dumas corresponded with Louis-Napoléon when he was in prison and probably got his inspiration for his book from him ! What we propose in this exclusive tour is to discover this man and his legacy. As one person so rightly put it “He was the most important person on Earth for twenty years, and then he was entirely forgotten”. For what’s striking with Napoléon III is that his impact can be felt everywhere. He truly is “the Father of Modernity”, and yet because politicians decided to make him the scapegoat of French history, barely anyone nowadays knows that he existed at all, despite the fact that they enjoy the sight of the city that he entirely rebuilt : Paris. Bigger than life, more intriguing than his famous Uncle, a visionary, a sphinx. All those words were used to describe Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. A man that went from a Prince in Exile to First President of the Republic, from a simple political refugee in the United-States to Emperor of the French. His life reads like an incredible adventure but it gets even more interesting as we learn his impact on our world : as a visionary, he pushed the world ever forward, sometimes by literally rebuilding it from the ground up (he’s the man behind modern Paris, or the Suez and Panama canals). Other times, his influence was long lasting in a more subtle way … Like for example his support for modern vaccination techniques or his support in building modern french giants of industry (Veolia, Société Générale …) and of engineering (Eiffel started his career under Napoléon III !). Like his Uncle, he also was a military leader, leading France to triumph in the Crimean War (avenging his Uncle’s defeat to Russia decades prior), he helped to unify Italy and tried to conquer Mexico (the infamous “cinqo de mayo” that entered into legend). But like all great stories, his had to end in tragedy. The end of his reign is a sort of “nexus of World History”, the exact moment where our world was born : 1870 and the Franco-Prussian War. The birth of Germany, the roots of the First World War, the rise of Socialism, and the Cold War are all rooted in Napoléon III’s reign. But this exclusive tour goes beyond those stories as we also relive the siege of Paris, a unique event in world History that led Parisians to invent digitally encrypted information that could be stored on microscopic film to pass information in and out of the city whilst on the other side of the line the Germans are creating the first AA guns in History … The story of Napoléon III’s rise and fall is one of the greatest stories that you can learn from and for too long was it forgotten. But not anymore ! If you want to experience Paris like never before and truly understand how our world came to be, you have to join us as we bring back to light one of the greatest world leaders ever, and who was unjustly forgotten : Napoléon III, the First President of France, and its Last Monarch … ! RECOMMENDATION : It is recommended to do this tour before visiting the Louvre museum ! PRIVATE TOUR On the Private Tour the experience can last up from 2h30 to 3h as we dive deeper into the material and can also arrange a stop at a pastry/macaron shop for a pause and chat (the cost on location is not covered by Ode to Paris).