So my first shot was of the Avenue de Wagram, looking roughly north-east. The next was to the left, looking up the Avenue Mac-Mahon, running roughly NNW. So I'd expect to be following a counter-clockwse path, oui?

No. For this shot I moved to the right, because this is clearly looking just to the left of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris or if you prefer, the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, which sits on the sumit of the summit of the butte Montmartre roughly north-east of the Arc, up in the 18th arrondissement. That's one of the highest points in Paris at 130m, and of course the church's dome is 83m, so... it stands out. Maybe less so in a 12mm photo at a range of... 4 klicks? That can't be right, it looks a lot further. Oh, wait, that's right, 12mm focal length. The distance is right.

Anyway, that makes the road that we're looking up the Avenue Hoche; 760 metres long and again according to the French Wikipedia 36m wide just like the two previous ones. It was named after the French revolutionary general Lazare Hoche (1768-1797). Note well those dates. In Game Of Thrones, Littlefinger said that chaos was a ladder and it was never more true with that guy. A mere rifleman (equivalent) at the age of 16 in 1784 in the King's army, by 1789 he had joined the revolutionary National Guard. He was commissioned in 1792. By 1793 he was under suspicion of treason and unemployed, but within months he rose through the ranks to become general of a division. Months, mind you. The following year he was arrested for treason... until the wheel of treason stopped on Robespierre's square and the latter recived a well-earned haircut that was a tad too close to be stylish. Hoche was thus freed and went back to commanding armies successfully, playing politics less successfully and died, at the age of (if you did the maths before you already know this), 29. Oh, and he got married and had a child in there too.

That's a heck of a lot to pack into one life, one which spanned fewer than 30 years.

I wonder how many people traverse the Avenue Hoche without knowing anything about the name behind it. I didn't before I researched this shot.

To the left we can see part of the familiar Avenue de Wagram; to the right the Avenue de Friedland which we will come to know later.