Souvenirs of recent strolls with Paris Running Tours
Among all the beautiful encounters that Paris offers us, here is a small selection of photos taken during some of our Paris Running Tours at the end of June: splendid views of the Seine, amazing fountains, famous monuments, surprising contemporary works of art, unique banks (Paris being the only city with two rows of booksellers along its river), streets with little known secrets, magnificent royal bridges, impressive churches and cathedrals… All this makes our visitors… and our guides very happy! 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:
Reminiscences of the French Revolution with Cara
Cara – Bridge of “la Concorde” 10h01 – Cara comes from California (USA) where she has already run half marathons. Having seen recently the marathon of Rome, city where she lives, Cara now wishes to make a full marathon. The marathon of Rome? The marathon of Paris? Both? While running, we evoked the French Revolution. We crossed by important places of the Revolution such as Place de la Concorde, which saw the guillotine work very numerous times, and the bridge of the same name: “So that the patriots may walk every day on the fragments of the execrable fortress!”, the bridge of La Concorde was built by using stones of the Bastille. The prison of the Bastille, destroyed on July 14th, 1789, was effectively one of the symbols of the Monarchy. Cara – Quai Voltaire The ideas of the “Enlightenment” fed the Revolution. The philosopher Voltaire contributed to it widely. We crossed the building where he lived and died. He is situated Quai Voltaire, name given to the quay in 1791 in homage to the great man. A little later, by pursuing our running, we stopped a small moment in front of the Café Procope, the oldest literary Café of the world, created in 1686. Cara – Café Procope In the 18th century, the Café participated in the birth of the “Enlightenment” ideas. Voltaire, Diderot, d’Alembert and Benjamin Franklin, in particular, frequented regularly the Café Procope. Benjamin Franklin would have partially prepared there the constitution of the United States. During the Revolution, Danton, Marat and Robespierre often met there. The young Napoleon Bonaparte even left one of his famous hats. The Supper of the Philosophers – Voltaire, d’Alembert, Condorcet, Diderot, La Harpe, le père Adam and the abbot Maury Café Procope XVIIIth century Nowadays, we can still see the Voltaire’s table as well as one cocked hat of lieutenant Bonaparte. Merci Cara ! The route of the tour:
Along the Seine with Angela
Angela – Quay Malaquais 7:32 AM – With Angela of Santiago (Chile), we ran early during this beautiful morning of May. At that time, streets are still quiet, with very few pedestrians, deserted quays and the tourist places still little frequented. We had the city only for us. The morning, Paris belongs to the runners! If you run the morning on the quays bordering the Seine, you will see surely large green boxes (as on the photo above). They are the boxes of secondhand booksellers, called the “bouquinistes” (here a video – in French). You will see them opening from 11 am.The “bouquinistes” of Paris sell old books, secondhand or contemporaries but also of the exhausted editions, prints and etchings. From the XVIth century, on the quays of Paris, we could meet small peddlers of books ; from 1620, twenty four approved secondhand booksellers. For a royalty, they are entitled to hold portable shops on the bridge and the neighboring quays. In 1859, the itinerant secondhand booksellers became concessionary of the city of Paris which enabled them to pose boxes at fixed place on the parapets. The Seine is the only river which runs between rows of books (more than 300 000)! Merci Angela! “Bouquinistes” during the day – Quay Malaquais The route of the tour :