Angels, Macarons and Shops

Today we have continued our architectural tour of  Paris in the 3rd and 4th arondissements. We have found Angels in stone and in wrought iron, Angels with lions and Angels with lyres, on walls and porticoes and on Notre Dame, feeding squirrels and holding shields. We have walked streets and lanes and discovered byways and parks we would never have found but for our angel hunt. Join us on our adventure. We have walked miles!

Notre Dame Cathedral from the rose bed.

These and another pair can be found on the pediment of the Hotel Soubrise. The little pile of wood that one Angel sits on, a fascine, is for making parapets.  They date from 1708.

These two from 1914 are raising the coat of arms of Saintonge. The pair across the arch represent Bretagne. They are each a boy and girl pair which seems quite unusual.

 These two lovely little boy Angels date from 1660 and were sculpted by Thomas Regnaudin, whose work can also be found in the fountains of Versailles.
Here is a sweet little figure feeding a squirrel and next a chubby little chap with curly hair representing Love.

On the way around we passed a spectacular macaron shop and, truly, we did pass and didn’t go in!

Going through such little streets we came across lots of artisan shops – among them a music shop, a repairs shop and a prestidigitation store.

Lastly, near our hotel we found a basement allotment!

 
The following, while not conventionally beautiful, touched us both with the terrible story it tells and the appositeness in the political wind blowing through some parts of Western  democracy.