Fontaine de La Croix Paris

As folies go, Paris has its fair share of them, and for folie-hunters the corner of Rue de L’Arbre Sec and Rue Saint Honoré is riddled with folie after folie, easily missed in the hubbub of simply getting from A to B.

First up is this street relic of a roundabout (pictured), which for me each time I see it conjures up the odour of Paris’s early medieval pestilence and its associated sounds.

Then there’s an obscure drinking-water fountain, Fontaine de La Croix du Trahoir; and although Paris takes pride in its free-to-access public drinking water fountains, this is one more for ogling at for the erudite features of a dog-like human head from which the water pours.

Finally, there’s the decorative relief on the building itself which takes on the form of hand-moulded stalactites shown to be dripping from the first window level of the building’s edifice. Across the street is where you’ll find access to an equally bizarre space, continuing a journey into Paris’s odd nooks and crannies.