In Paris, under the pink morning light with Amy
Amy – Pont du Carrousel (Bridge of the Carrousel) 7:03 AM – Amy, from Florida, chose to make an early morning Paris Running Tour in this beautiful day of March 9th. The light was magnificent, giving a beautiful pink aspect to the landscape. At this hour, on Sunday morning, nobody in streets, very few cars, Paris for us alone and some other morning runners. Look at the first picture above, from the “Pont du Carousel”, look at the pink gradation which goes with the sunrise and shines on the river Seine and the buildings of the Louvre. Admire the sight from the “Pont de la Concorde”, on the east side: Amy – Pont de la Concorde – In the background, from left to right : the Tuileries, the Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame, the Institute of France and the “Musée d’Orsay” then, on the west side : Amy – Pont de la Concorde – In the background, a big iron tower ;), the new banks and the “Pont Alexandre III” On Sunday morning, we can even stop in the middle of the road in front of the Champs-Elysées to take a photo without being afraid of cars: Amy – “Place de la Concorde” – The Champs-Elysées, in the background, the “Arc de Triomphe” and far, the “Grande Arche” of “la Défense” While going back to the east, we stop at the entrance of the garden of the Tuileries, to make a small salute to the “Statue of the Fame” which sounds the triumph of the sun in Paris! Amy – Garden of the Tuileries with in the background, from left to right, the copy of the Statue of the Fame, the “Grand Palais”, the Obelisk of Louxor in the center of the “place de la Concorde” A perfect weather, a beautiful light, ideal to run in Paris! Merci Amy ! The route of the tour:
Snapshots of a first visit in Paris, with Melinda
Melinda – On the bridge of Austerlitz. In the distance, Notre-Dame and Saint Louis Island beautiful houses Monday 27th May – 12:51 PM, Wednesday 29th May – 6:57 PM – First time in Paris for Melinda from Miami (USA) ! What better choice than to start a first stay in Paris doing a visit by running (with Paris Running Tour)? A good way of unwinding legs after a long travel by plane and a first discovery of Paris getting directly into the life of the city. And why not begin again two days later to discover new paths through Paris? We thus ran by following two routes which mainly crossed the disctrict of “Le Marais”, the Left bank, the island of “La Cité” and the center of Paris around the Seine. Here is the route (numbers indicate where the photos of this article were taken): We took numerous photos during our running: 1) “La rue des Barres” (Street of Bars). This name comes because formerly, in the 10th century, on the location of the street, a wall, a fence of wooden bars, constituted a wall protecting Paris: Melinda – “Rue des Barres” 2) “L’Hôtel de Sully” (The Hotel of Sully). The Duke of Sully, Minister of Finance of king Henri IV, lived in this noble mansion at the end of his life. By crossing the Hotel of Sully, we passed directly from the street Saint Antoine to the “place des Vosges”. Melinda – “Hôtel de Sully” 3) The “bassin de l’Arsenal”. Having crossed the place of the Bastille, we met the Basin of the Arsenal, port and canal connecting the river Seine with the Saint Martin canal and which, formerly, was a ditch which filled the moats of the castle of the Bastille. Melinda – “Port de l’Arsenal” 4) “Pont d’Austerlitz” (Bridge of Austerlitz). See the picture at the beginning of the article. 5) “Cour du Commerce Saint André”. Another place which is situated on the plan of the former surrounding wall of Paris, the wall of king Philippe Auguste. This passage, opened in 1776, allows to reach the Café Procope (1686), one of the oldest cafés in the world. Melinda – “Cour du Commerce Saint André” Second tour : 6) “Le Tribunal de Commerce de Paris” (Commercial court). This building presents the peculiarity to have a dome placed not in the center, but on the side, in a way that the dome is visible from the Boulevard Sevastopol. The dome closes the perspective of the Boulevard by the South. Melinda – On the bridge Notre Dame. We can see, on the island of “La Cité”, successively, the Hôtel-Dieu (Hospital), the “Tribunal du Commerce de Paris” and the Conciergerie. 7) On the “Pont Neuf” (“New” Bridge). Melinda – Pont Neuf. On left, the “Institut de France”, the Eiffel tower and, on right,the “Musée d’Orsay” 8) Colonnade of the Louvre. Summit of the French classicism, the Colonnade of the Louvre was realized at the request of king Louis XIV. The Colonnade of the Louvre served as model to numerous famous buildings, in particular, the Capitol of the United States in Washington, Metropolitan Museum of art in New York and San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Melinda – The “Colonnade du Louvre” 9) Alexandre III bridge. The widest bridge in Paris. Built with the “Grand” and “Petit Palais” for the World Fair of 1900. The bridge offers a direct link between the “Invalides” and the Champs-Elysées. Melinda – the Alexandre III bridge – In the distance, the “Invalides” 10) The Champs Elysées. Melinda – Champs Elysées, at the end, the “Arc de Triomphe” and far off, the “Grande Arche” of “la Défense” 11) The equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, place of the Pyramids. She is situated not far from the Gate Saint Honoré, where Joan of Arc tried to cross Charles V’s surrounding wall to reconquer Paris, occupied at the time by the English. She was hurt by an arrow in the thigh there. Melinda – Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, of Frémiet and inaugurated in 1874 12) The Puget courtyard in the Louvre. Melinda – Puget Courtyard, situated with the Marly Courtyard on both sides of the passage which connects the Louvre Pyramid to the street of Rivoli 13) Stravinsky fountain. This fountain, fountain Stravinsky or fountain of automatons, was created by the couple of artist Nikki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely in 1983 and evokes the work of the composer Stravinsky. Melinda – the “Fontaine Stravinsky”, on the right George Pompidou Center Interesting and beautiful discoveries, isn’t it? Merci Melinda ! The route of the tours:
A sports and cultural tour of Paris with Ingrid at Christmas
Ingrid – Gallery Vivienne 8:32 AM – Ingrid lives in Uberaba, Brazil. To begin her stay in Paris, Ingrid chose to make a Paris Running Tour. On Sunday morning, two days before Christmas, Paris is quite decorated for the holidays. As we can see above, the beautiful Gallery Vivienne (1823) also respects the tradition. Our run, in this very quiet Paris of a Sunday morning before Christmas, allowed us to see a highly varied Paris: passages (Gallery Vivienne, passage of the “Grand Cerf”, passage of Bourg-L’abbé), the Paris of Napoleon the 1st with the Arc of the Carousel, the modern Paris with the Pompidou Center or the very old Paris with Nicolas Flamel’s house. Ingrid – House of Nicolas Flamel Nicolas Flamel’s house, which dates 1407, is the oldest of Paris (older than those of the street François Miron). Nicolas Flamel was a rich “Bourgeois” who, with his wife Pernelle, made build houses to welcome the poor people. This one, street of Montmorency, is the last existing one. An inscription indicates the prayers that the inhabitants of the place had to make : “We, ploughmen and women living at the porch of this house, which was made in 1407, are requested to say every day an ‘Our Father’ and an ‘Ave Maria’ praying God that His grace forgive poor and dead sinners Amen“. It is at present an inn. Some strides farther, it is the modern Paris which we discover. Ingrid – Centre Pompidou – “The Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt” Piece of Adel Abdessemed Effectively, we find the Pompidou Center, one of the biggest world Contemporary Arts Centers. It welcomes at present a temporary exhibition of the artist Adel Abdessemed. We can see on the square a (provocative?) sculpture representing the headbutt given by the famous football player Zinedine Zidane to an opponent having a little moved words… Ingrid – Arc du Carrousel We have already spoken about the Arc of the Carrousel during a tour with Kristy. Had you noticed the quadriga at the top of the Arc? In fact, the sculpture is a copy. Napoleon 1st had taken the original statue to the Venetians who themselves had stolen it during the sack of Constantinople in 1204 (The quadriga were ordered by Emperor Constantin in 330). With Napoleon’s fall, the original horses were returned to Venice where you can admire them place Saint Marc. To finish, here is a small postcard with other beautiful places seen during our visit: Merry christmas to all! Merci Ingrid ! The route of the tour:
Discovery of Paris history by running with Felicity
Felicity – The Louvre and the garden of the Tuileries Click on the picture for a larger view 7:58 AM – With Felicity from Melbourne (Australia), we rediscovered the city at a good pace while admiring tracks left by the history on the scene, monuments and buildings of Paris. We crossed The Louvre which made us go back up to 16th century, period when the king François the 1st replaced the ancient fortress by a luxurious residence. Since, during the centuries, the Louvre grew rich of numerous extensions. Of the Louvre, we went through the Garden of the Tuileries, Italian-style garden, begun in the same period by Catherine de Medici. It is an ideal place to run. Look at these trees sized as balls on the photo above. Their shape is created by a probably old technique and still used, as we can see here: We then ran on the Alexandre III bridge, who sent us in 1900, year of its creation: Alexandre III bridge Click on the picture for a larger view Back in the past, at first in Notre-Dame, the construction of which begins in 1163, Notre Dame (and its new Christmas tree) Click on the picture for a larger view then in “Le Marais” district, where we found the most ancient houses of Paris, two medieval “buildings”, doubtless built in the XIVth century and having undergone some renovations (originally, they probably had to possess corbelled constructions as many houses of the Middle Ages): François Miron street Click on the picture for a larger view Merci Felicity ! The route of the tour :
On the Alexandre III bridge with Jackie
Jackie – Alexandre III bridge 7:54 AM – A very beautiful sun on Paris, this Sunday. The running of this morning allowed us to cross the Seine several times: with Jackie, of Kansas (USA), we passed over the river by five bridges, of which the bridge Alexandre III. Our race allowed us to visit Paris by a circuit starting place de la Concorde, by alternating the passages on the right bank and the left bank of the Seine. The Alexandre III bridge, as the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, close, was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 (Paris welcomed height Universal Exhibitions, the most famous was the one of 1889 with the creation of the Eiffel Tower). Even if czar Alexandre III did not still carry the French people in his heart, France, little vindictive, gave its name to the bridge. The bridge Alexandre III is the widest of Paris. Merci Jackie ! The bridge Alexandre III in 1900 (a very different landscape with the buildings of the Universal Exhibition) The route of the tour: