A little bit of Paris in one minute – A tribute to the Louvre
A tribute to the Louvre. Memories of great running tours at the Louvre and around. If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who will take you on the best sight running routes in Paris and who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Come and discover the Parisian Street Art with us
At Paris Running Tours, we love all aspects of Paris and there are many, History, Art, Culture, new trends, street furniture, new events, etc. We like to share all this with our visitors. One of the things we like to introduce you to is the Street Art (or “Street-Art”) that flourishes everywhere in Paris. New works of art regularly appear in the different districts of Paris, as above, with this recent work by Seth in this old district of Paris, Seth who often paints children as here. Thank you to our runners from Switzerland, on this Sunday, October 7, 2018, Christine, Morgane, Marie-Eve and Nathalie! Thank you Christine for introducing us to “the whole team”. We were very happy to meet you again for a tour. Here are some other examples of Parisian “Street Art”: You will certainly remember that for a certain period of time (~2008-2015), the “Pont des Arts” had become the “Love locks bridge”. Find the changes of the Bridge in this article, old article now. Before moving definitively to transparent panels to replace the grids, Paris allowed street artists to cover the bridge with artistic works. We like the one in the following photo which represents the Paris Coat of Arms in an original way: Next Sunday, October 14, 2018, it will be the race of the 20 km de Paris. The theme of this year’s race: “Street Art”! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who will take you on the best running routes in Paris and who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Follow us on the run, discover the beautiful sites of Paris
Thanks to Kendra and Michael, Anne and Valentine, Craig, Andrew and Gina, Elizabeth and David (happy to see you again), James and Angela! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Meet Kristine again for a new visit of Paris and go deeper with Pauline on a walking tour.
It is always a pleasure to meet runners who come to do tours with us again. This was the case this August with Kristine with whom we had already made two visits of Paris, ~8 km in 2014 (remember: “Place des Victoires” with Kristine) and ~20 km in 2017. This time, we did a 9 km tour following new running routes in Paris. Paris Running tours makes you discover new places each time (it is the advantage to know Paris by heart ). For example, we stopped in front of what was the home of the artist Serge Gainsbourg. Some “graffiti artists” regularly come to pay their tribute to the singer-poet, here, above, with a fresco representing him with Jane Birkin. New running routes in Paris, new buildings or curiosities to discover, for example, here in the Marais, with this old horse butcher’s converted into a fashion store and which keeps its old facade: As we passed Saint Germain des Près, in front of the Faculty of Medicine on rue des Saints-Pères, we stopped to observe the various medallions on the façade. They represent every imaginable method of healing, from the most esoteric to the most scientific, for example, below, exorcism! Two days later, Kristine asked us to do a walking tour. She wished that Pauline, whom she accompanied, could enjoy a cultural stroll in Paris with Paris Running Tours. Pauline knew Paris at the time of existentialism. Since, in Paris many creations have appeared, such as Daniel Buren’s “Deux Plateaux” or Jean-Michel Othoniel’s “Kiosque des Noctambules”: The beautiful running routes in Paris as well as the walking tour, done with Kristine and Pauline: Thank you so much Kristine! Thank you so much Pauline! Looking forward to meeting you one day, we will always have plenty of beautiful places in Paris to make you discover… If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you (if you wish a walking tour, specify it in comment in the reservation form):
Paris Running Tours is 10 years old! With Evan, Jennifer and Ava
Today, Wednesday, February 14th, 2018, is the birthday of Paris Running Tours! 10 years*! Paris Running Tours celebrated its 10th anniversary with a very nice family: a great run in Paris with Evan, Jennifer and their daughter Ava, used to accompany her parents during their daily sports outings in the beautiful landscapes of Michigan. Despite the freezing cold, we were able to do a nice 14 km tour of Paris, alternating running with the stroller and Ava’s little escapades to stretch her legs and enjoy the pleasure of running. It’s time to stretch our legs: *Paris Running Tours is 10 years old! It is with great pleasure that we made our 1454th running tour today, 10 years after the official creation of Paris Running Tours with the trademark registration at INPI (“Institut National de la Propriété Intellectuelle”) on February 12th, 2008. But how did it all start? Two passions, running and Paris I really started running in 1995, of course in Paris, my city and with the joy of creating a multitude of different routes for my training and enjoy all the beautiful aspects of this great city. When I was running, I wondered if it was not possible to introduce the city to sports tourists in this way. From time to time, I came across runners who were obviously looking for their way into the city. Yes, running tours in Paris, why not? But how to do that? At the end of the 1990s, the Internet was not as available as it is today, how can we make ourselves known then? Waiting outside with a placard? Not very effective… Work, family, competitions, the idea remained in a corner of my mind… until in 2010, I read a small article in a running magazine, praising the discovery of Paris by running. A Paris Running Tours company offered guided tours in Paris. A runner among my acquaintances, Francis Gérard, had created Paris Running Tours and started the visits in 2007, with the official creation of Paris Running Tours in February 2008. In spite of a busy job in a big company, I immediately offered myself as a guide for the early morning tours. Francis and I became friends with great ambitions for Paris Running Tours. The activity really got off to a good start in 2010. Thanks to our first site, we began to be known and have the pleasure of sharing our expertise of Paris with our visitors from all over the world: here, for example, in 2010, with Caroline (coming from Hamburg): Paris Running Tours was one of the first companies in the world to organize running tours, the first in Paris. Unfortunately Francis left us and to perpetuate this wonderful adventure, I took over the responsibility of Paris Running Tours. The team has grown, we are now four of us, all having another activity and being Paris Running Tours guides by passion. Since then, the idea has been taken up a lot, many Running Tours have been created and it is very pleasant to discover the cities of the whole world thanks to running guides. Paris Running Tours has remained independent, as it is neither a franchise nor part of a large agency, nor dependent on large groups. We are still a small team driven by our passion for Paris and running. It is always a great pleasure to share our expertise and experience (10 years!) with all our visitors. Thanks to all the runners who have placed their trust in us, thanks to Impossible to quote you all here, but each tour was and is exceptional, a new adventure, a beautiful encounter every time. Many of you have come back to see us over the years and we are delighted of that. Our tours are private tours with tailor-made tours, we come to pick you up at your hotel or residence: Thank you all for these wonderful years spent with you, thank you for your kind TripAdvisor feedback who show that you love our tours and who push us to continue sharing Paris with you for a long time. See you soon! Jean-Charles, main Paris Running Tours guide, with all the team If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you all. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Around the flooded Seine with Robin
During our Paris running tour with Robin from Ohio, we discovered a Paris that is still as beautiful as ever, but surprising, with an amazing new landscape, the flooded river Seine. This is not the first flood we are experiencing in Paris, remember the very recent flood of June 2016, which was only slightly higher than this one of January 2018. We talked about it during our visit of Paris with Molly and Saul. Small floods also appear from time to time, for example, here in 2013. Together With Robin, we discussed the various aspects of this flood, the 100-year floods, the unusual extent of the Seine and its effects on banks, boats and even gardens, such as the almost totally submerged “Jardin du Vert Galant” (see photo above). We also talked about our marathon experiences, Robin’s qualification for Boston, the Paris Marathon and the beauty of its route. Below, the famous unofficial indicator of the level of the Seine, the “Zouave du Pont de l’ Alma”, with the water up to mid-thigh. We had talked about it here (with the different levels of the Seine in relation to the statue…). Our visit took us to the heights, less threatened by the flooding of the Seine, for example, the “Montagne Sainte-Geneviève”, at the top of which stands the Pantheon: Facing the Pantheon, the Faculty of Law, which trains future jurists. Merci beaucoup Robin ! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Running, understanding, having fun!
At Paris Running Tours, we love to run in Paris with the runners of the entire world. RUNNING in Paris with our guides, it is not simply running, it is also discovering how Paris is designed, how Paris became this great capital, it is discovering many aspects of Paris and how the different sites and locations are linked to each other, in a word… it’s UNDERSTANDING the city. Running, understanding, learning while running, it’s HAVING FUN. The miles go fast, your mind kept alive, “listening” to the city. At Paris Running Tours, we do private tours, specially prepared for you. This time, we had the pleasure to welcome a team of thirty young and fast american runners with their coaches. RUNNING, DISCOVERY and FUN were there. Let’s speak their team leader, LeRoy (review published in TripAdvisor): “We brought our high school girls cross country team to France for training, ending our last day with a Paris Running Tour guided run. If you want to measure the quality of a program, stress it to the max, and we did. We were 33 runners, and yet Jean-Charles and Sylvain guided us seamlessly and safely through the City. […] Throughout the event, Jean-Charles and Sylvain pointed out minute details about Paris that we never would have seen from a tour bus. Most importantly, they did a great job keeping us interested. I would highly recommend these guys.” RUNNING UNDERSTANDING HAVING FUN Click on the pictures to enlarge them A big thank to LeRoy and the whole team! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
2013-2017 – A new great discovery of Paris with Colleen
At Paris Running Tours, we are very happy to have the opportunity to run with the runners of the entire world and proud to share our love for Paris with them. We are glad when they renew their confidence in us by running with us again. Of course, therefore, we create a different route from the one of last time. Colleen from Arizona, who ran with us in 2013 came back this year and it was with a great pleasure that we met her again. Meanwhile, Paris changed: Look the photo above. The famous “Love padlocks” left the “Pont des Arts”. The right Banks which in 2013 were only for cars, are now for pedestrians only, an ideal location for the runners and also a magnificent place to admire the Island of the river Seine in Paris: On these same banks, we also enjoyed the possibility to look into the past of the Paris of the 17th century, thanks to this marvelous invention, the Timescope, recently appeared in Paris (also “Place de la Bastille”): Passing by the “Invalides” again, we easily saw the rabbits of the “Hôtel des Invalides” frolic under the gaze of the Eiffel tower (less visible in 2013, it’s the progeny of couple of rabbits established here in 2010) : During our sport stroll, we also met other animals, wallabies, a whale, a stegosaurus, a mammoth. At the entrance of the “Jardin des Plantes”, two impressive lions welcomed us: The other lion, hidden by the trees in the photo above, is really surprising… look at the strange fantasy created by the sculptor (but what is sniffing this lion?) : Merci Colleen ! You come to or you are in Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Come and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
The routes we created for our visitors
Under the Eiffel tower with Rachel
Under the Eiffel Tower – Far off the Palais de Chaillot and the garden of Trocadéro 7:32 AM – Rachel, from Wales, is a regular runner with very good results… After the running tour in Paris, she arrived recently second woman of a half marathon. At present, she prepares for the next London Marathon. In this beginning of March, the sun is with us for an attractive tour of Paris by running. Look at the photo above, we are just under the Eiffel Tower. Early morning in March, the place is very quiet. Compare with the crowd that we can find on Easter Mondays for example or on a summer weekend there… Running early morning in Paris is a delight! Far off, on the other side of the Seine, we can recognize the majestic “Palais de Chaillot” which was built for the World Fair of 1937, last World Fair in Paris. The Palace of Chaillot replaced the Palace of Trocadéro built in the same place, that time for the World Fair of 1878: Aerial view of the “Palais du Trocadéro” – 1934 By the way, do you know what “Trocadéro” means? It is a fort which is situated in Cadiz in Spain and the place of a French victory; France came to help Spain to restore the absolute monarchy in 1823 (the king Louis XVIII reigns at that time in France). The Palace of the Trocadéro built in 1878 (and then the “Place du Trocadéro”) owes its name to a royalist victory! We went for running early, accompanied by the rising sun which lit for us the magnificent monuments of Paris: The Arc de Triomphe. We are in his shadow, the sun beginning to light the Champs-Elysées Palais Galliera Museum of the fashion with until, August 23rd, 2015, the exhibition dedicated to Jeanne Lanvin The Eiffel tower – We are at the “Palais de Chaillot”! The Alexandre III bridge with in the back the statue symbolizing the France of the Renaissance. At the top of the pylon, one of the four Fames: The Fame of the War. These four statues were covered with gold leaves in 1989. The Bridge of the Arts and in the back, the “Galerie du bord de l’eau” of the Louvre – The “Pont des Arts”, known these last years for all the padlocks which where put there by the loving tourists, is at present protected by wooden panels. These panels covered by graffitis spoil a little the beauty of the place. It should be temporary. The Palais Royal and its famous Columns of Buren (“Les deux plateaux”). The “Théâtre Ephémère” (short-lived theater) now disappeared. This wooden theater had welcomed temporarily the troop of the “Comédie Française” during the works of the “Palais Royal”. We can see again the garden of the “Palais Royal” through the columns. The Garden of the Tuileries – Our shadows are still very long! Merci Rachel ! We wish you a great London Marathon! The route of the tour: