{"id":3997,"date":"2011-11-07T13:36:40","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T13:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richardlittledale.wordpress.com\/?p=3997"},"modified":"2011-11-07T13:36:40","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T13:36:40","slug":"grubby-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2011\/11\/07\/grubby-saints\/","title":{"rendered":"Grubby saints"},"content":{"rendered":"
…and gritty holiness<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I was writing yesterday about Paris’ \u00a0skyline and its many spectacular places of worship. The hotel where I stayed on my brief visit was right next to one of those historic churches – St Roch on the Rue St Roch in the First Arrondisement. It is a vast soaring edifice, and still bears the scars of bullets on its facade from the Revolution. To stand on the pavement and look up at it is to get a dizzying perspective on these implacable saints and their view of the frenetic street below.<\/p>\n However, on climbing the wobbly stairs in my small hotel and ducking into the little room under the eaves – I gained a completely different view through my tiny window:<\/p>\n