The city sprawls in a series of connected spiderwebs. There are not many east-west and north-south roads here. I've counted as many as twelve streets coming off one roundabout. You would need a detailed compass to accurately give the direction of any one of those streets. Local cabbies must use maps to find little-known streets, such as our own rue Jacques Callot. And the city "blocks" are not symmetrical. Each one has one side longer than the others. For some the block becomes a virtual triangle or as with the block just around the corner, a literal triangle, with the buildings coming to three sharp points. And once off the main streets, with their loose guidelines of lanes, the side streets are barely wide enough for a car. It's impressive to see a big city bus rumbling down a narrow cobblestone street and turn a corner at some acute angle while bicycles and motor scooters whiz by in a nonchalant disregard for their own safety. From what I've seen, it's like this throughout Paris. A vibrating tumultuous world of spiders riding the thin threads of their webs.
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