More than just that statue of Louis XIII makes my favorite mini-park in the heart of Paris royal. As you can read if you enlarge the left-hand photo above, this site once housed one of the loveliest residences of France’s kings. Until, that is, Catherine de Medici tore it down in 1583 to install a horse market. Then Henry IV decided on a royal square – these days more likely known as a real estate development scheme – of which three sides would be sold to the highest bidders of, no doubt, the ‘right’ background. The fourth side, natch, was reserved for royalty. It was renamed Place des Vosges in 1800 – when royalty was still out of vogue, before Napoleon ended France’s first republic by deciding he was an emperor –  because, wait for it, they were the first department to pay their taxes! 🙂