Architectural bits and pieces

At the moment in Nice , there are a lot of roads dug up and diverted in order to put in the new tramway and I wish I had taken photos of the progress. I didn't think of that till I saw the shiny new rails being positioned.
I have been trying to find some photos of the original Tramway from 1900 but not had a great deal of success. There is a wikipedia article with one photo - I like to compare old photos with the modern urban scenery so I will have to look harder.

Nice has many impressive buildings -many are ornately decorated with carved stonework, plasterwork, mosaic and complex ironwork.

I've been trying to collect photos of some bits and pieces that appeal to me when i see them but its quite easy to just go from A to B without noticing the interesting details.

I liked this building- it reminded me of a Rapunzel tower so I suspect i might use it as an illustratioin refernce in the future.A lot of buildings here fit into very strange footprints this building is basically triangular with this turret end at the sharp end.

I liked this lion sculpture that was highlighted with a reflected rainbow. I wasn't sure what was creating the rainbow at first but it turned out to be a reflective streetsign that was catching the sun at just the right angle.

A different lion- this one has more of a foliate masklook to it.

There are lots of mythological or semi mythological statues and friezes. Some are related to the name of the building but others seem to be random decoration.

I liked this dancing drummer girl and lyre playing youth. I'm not sure who the woman/Goddess holding the birds is meant to be.

Quite an imposing statue of Athena, complete with winged Victory and shield and spear. It stands outside an Art Deco appartment block. There were some coiled snakes at here feet based on snakes found near the Acropolis in Athens but they didn't photograph well so I will need to go back and take photos of them another time.This is one of the lanterns outside the Opera House in Old Nice. I'm not a fan of opera but the building is stunning.

Some chestnut leaves and chestnuts immortalised in ironwork.

Some window bars decorated with elephants - really nice patina on this, and a change from plain 'utility' ones.
This is one of my favourites- I liked the idea of having heroic bats as decoration under the house eaves. I wonder if the original house owner asked for the bats specifically or if they were added by the architect.

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