Curiosities of Paris

Dominique Lesbros, Simon Beaver

"This absorbing compendium is an essential addition to the library of the armchair traveler and flaneur alike. Lavishly illustrated with 800 color photographs, this fact-packed treasury leads readers through the streets of Paris and, by pointing out unique locations and architectural oddities, as well as utilitarian objects whose functions have long been obscured with the passage of time, reveals a previously unnoticed city. Organized by subject--fountains and wells; centuries-old shop signs; vestiges of wars and ancient Egypt; hotels of legend; civic measurement devices; traces of rites and superstitions; remarkable trees; sundials and meridians; equestrian Paris; romantic ruins; unusual tombs, stairways, and passageways; religious relics; mosaics; public barometers and thermometers; and hundreds more urban elements and anachronisms--this delightful guide deepens the reader's...