Seen in the 17th

Although I've given up on the idea of walking all the streets of Paris (or even all the streets on my Streetwise Paris map) before we part, that hasn't kept me from carrying the map with me and highlighting each achievement as I go.  And it continues to give me a construct for weekend wanderings.  If my husband is up for a walk, why not take on roads uncharted?

Last weekend we set off, map in hand, to explore hitherto unknown to us parts of the 17th arrondissement.  And along the way, we saw quite a few interesting sights.

A lady walking her dog while riding a bike.  You may have to look closely to see how this works.  I was struggling to get my camera out of my bag as she pedalled off into the distance.  Just above her right foot, notice the white horizontal piece of pipe.  The dog was connected by a very short leash to the pipe and that pup had to keep up a pretty good pace.

A confusing street sign.   Montenotte was a victory for Napoleon against the Austrians in 1796.  General Lanrezac led French forces during la guerre de quatorze (what we Americans call the First World War and after all we didn't get into it until 1917).  The name of the street was changed in 1927 but I guess no one had the heart to get rid of that beautiful mosaic sign.

A monument to the firefighters of Paris by Chinese artist Wang Du (who lives and works in Paris) .  Since there were fire trucks of every size parked in the vicinity, my husband suggested trying to capture their reflections in the monument -- a great idea which, unfortunately,  I was unable to execute.

An adorable little sign from time gone by.  I've since learned that while groom translates as bell boy, this sign actually refers to a hydraulic device that ensures that the door closes, not to an actual person.