Paris: some impressions

Still only here 24 hours. How can you hope to get below the surface. We have found ourselves on many tourist streets as the "must-sees" are covered one by one. These I could skip without a qualm. 

We are treated to graceful streets and architecture but more memorable are the side streets, away from the grand arc of the Seine and its monuments. 

Why does a road curve or widen here? Why are these houses set back from the sidewalk? What is the meaning if the placement of this church? The small questions that accumulate and blossom here on the Rive Gauche are more important and more lasting than the Paris that is polished for our consumption.