Flower Markets and Eglise de la Madeleine:

Place de la Madeleine, just to a side of Concorde, revolves around the Eglise de la Madeleine.  The edifice is impressive, colonnades guarding the entrance, but the real attraction of the area is the stores that surround the church.  It contains some of the big names in Parisian sweets, such as Ladurée and Fauchon, but also many high end shops.  (Ladurée’s claim to fame is its invention of the double-decker macaron, a French sweet made of cream sandwiched between two meringue cookies.  Macarons appear to be fanatically adored by everyone who has ever been to Paris, but I admit that I never got that wrapped up in the craze, though they are good.)

K.B.

Fauchon, a famous sweets store: