The visit to the Imperial City really brought home to me my lack of knowledge of Vietnamese history.
Hue was the old capital city until 1945 when the revolution led to the end of the Emperors.
But during the French occupation the Emperors were essentially puppets, and built palaces a bit like French chateaux.
… with adornments.
Then the Imperial City was part of a huge US bombing campaign during the Tet Offensive in 1968.
Bullet holes still visible.
Interestingly the guides in Hanoi (in the old communist north) seemed far more. Exercised by the French occupation than the US campaign.