La Petite Sirène in Honfleur, Calvados (14)

The Ruelle de la Petite Sirène is named after a legend in which a fisherman from Honfleur dreams of meeting a female companion. Throwing his net into the sea he dozes off and is awakened by the sound of the waves. He draws in his net and finds a little mermaid smiling at him. He can't resist mooring his boat and taking her to his home via the alley which now bears her name. The miracle was that once the fisherman had shut the door the mermaid was transformed into a beautiful young girl. Here's the odd thing, though: the plaque here says that a representation of the mermaid is now sculpted into a wall, thus allowing lovers and newlyweds to affix a padlock to it as a symbol of their love. I know what they'd have thought of this idea in Paris, but I could find no sign of a sculpture, although some distance away, not far from the Musée Eugène Boudin, I found the sculpture photographed below.