Secret Paris (Jonglez Guide Style)

Even for those who think they know Paris well, the city hides an extraordinary number of unusual, easily accessible secrets. This guide gathers them together: firefighters who make their own wine, a tree growing inside a church, an inverted phallus above a well known entrance, and an atomic bomb shelter buried beneath Gare de l'Est.

Elsewhere it traces forgotten details across the city, unsuspected remnants of former brothels, the patron saint watching over motorists, royal monograms concealed in the Louvre's courtyard, and a prehistoric carousel. There's a sundial designed by Dalí, bullet holes still marking a government ministry, a priest's private garden of religious plants, and a curious monument to Freemasonry at the Champ de Mars. A solid gold sphere sits inside parliament, a Chinese temple hides in a car park, and a wartime blockhouse remains tucked away in the Bois de Boulogne.

The guide also leads readers through more contemplative discoveries: deciphering alchemical symbols on Notre Dame, spotting lyre shaped turtles at the Opéra Comique, climbing the grand staircase of the old medical school, finding a sublime hidden library, tracking down the star shaped octahedron marking André Breton's grave, and admiring ceramic work long since forgotten by most passers by.

A guide built entirely around the idea that Paris, however familiar, always has more hiding in plain sight.

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