North Gate - Hà Nội

This picture of me is unremarkable, except for the evidence of two massive cannonballs, which impacted on the structure above my right shoulder.
The French fired the shots from a warship in the nearby Red River - in 1882, but the walls are 2.5m thick and did not give way.
The North Gate was one of four gates guarding entry to the Imperial Citadel.
It didn’t stop the French defeating the defending army and becoming the occupying power until 1954, when the Vietnamese defeated them at Dien Bien Phu.