The first phot is from atop a ferris wheel (which you can see in the second photo looking down the boulevard) near the Concorde. A pretty good view of Paris by night, even though its hard to capture it with a camera.
One other thing about Napoleon III, by the way. The war that ultimately brought down his regime was a war he started himself -- reluctantly. Louis Napoleon had looked at war early as a way to get personal glory, but he wasn't his uncle. When he joined the troops in the wars of Italian unification he reportedly got sick at the sight of the bloodshed and negotiated an early deal with the young Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. By 1870 a controversy about who would become the new King of Spain led to a disagreement between France and Prussia, as the French did not want someone related to the Prussian king given that post. The Prussian King agreed, and in a meeting at Ems they settled their differences. This did not suit the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who wanted a war to assure German unification. He had goaded Austria into a war in the mid 1860's, and knew a war with France could bring together the German states who at that time enjoyed self-rule. So, in an act that anticipated the PR of future foreign policy, he drafted a telegram that sounded like the Prussians had insulted the French. That wasn't the real tone of the agreement, but Bismarck wanted the French people to demand war. He knew that Napoleon III, being one of those leaders who followed public opinion and loved to be loved, would have no choice but to call for war against Prussia. He did. But though Louis Napoleon could have fought longer, he didn't have his heart in it, and agreed to a surrender early on. Paris held out until 1871, experimenting with the famous "Paris commune" between 1870 and 1871.