Very happy new year 2016!
Big thanks to the 300 runners who came to discover Paris with us in 2015! We wish you all a very happy 2016! Happy running!
In the Latin Quarter with Erin et James
Erin and James – “Pont des Arts” (Bridge of Arts) 10:17 AM – Last June, we visited the Latin Quarter with Erin and James from Texas. At the end of the route, we passed by the “Pont des Arts”. But where are the famous love padlocks? Too heavy for the bridge, Paris replaced them temporarily by panels painted by artists (while waiting for the definitive transparent panels). Look at the photo above. The Arms of Paris were represented in a funny way, a banana for the boat and a bone for the mast! A journalist of the Swiss Television accompanied us and realized this report: A beautiful stroll in Paris. We actually studied the pediment of the Pantheon. Here is the photo taken in the video: Erin and James – The Panthéon “AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE” “TO GREAT MEN THE GRATEFUL HOMELAND” is displayed on the Pantheon, monument to the glory of the great Men of French history. The crypt welcomes a large number of famous persons, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Jean Moulin… Many men but only four women: Marie Curie, Sophie Berthelot (wife of the chemist), Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, both last ones entered the Pantheon last May. One day, maybe we shall see another inscription: ” TO GREAT WOMEN AND GREAT MEN… “ Let us look closer at the pediment (in the report, we present the French Cock): The Panthéon – On the left of the Nation, the civil society, on the right, the military representation (even if the high-ranking military figures rest in the Invalides like Napoléon or Foch) After the Pantheon, we continue our route in the Latin Quarter (Cf. meaning of the name Latin Quarter), after the beautiful “place de la Contrescarpe”, we join the Arenas of Lutèce going through a pretty flowered staircase (in harmony with the running wear!) : Erin – “Rue Monge” (Monge street) In the video, we evoke Montaigne’s foot which gives luck: Erin – “Rue des Ecoles” (Street of the Schools) The story is funny. The students actually come to caress the foot of the philosopher Montaigne and formulate a wish (success in the examinations thanks to the knowledge of Montaigne?). Before the current bronze statue, was a marble statue. This statue was created in 1933 by Paul Landowski. Here is the photo of its inauguration: “Rue des Ecoles” – Statue of Montaigne – 1933 Made with a nice white marble, the statue attracted graffitis, paint, ink, lipstick… The right foot touched permanently and unceremoniously, was broken numerous times. The statue had to be so often restored that Paris preferred to replace it by an exact copy but with a more robust material, bronze! Robust, well, look at the patina of the shoe… For another story about a bronze then marble statue, look this at this article where we speak about the Statue of Louis XIII “place des Vosges”. Merci Erin ! Merci James ! And thank you Michel from the Swiss Television! The route of the tour:
A new Running Tour in Paris with Cori
8:05 AM – Do you remember Cori? We ran together in April 2012. It rained that time, which had not prevented us from making an attractive run in Paris. In this month of April 2015, the weather is beautiful and we can enjoy the sun. Although we pass again by the “Pont des Arts” (Bridge of Arts), we choose a very different route. Compare both views of the “Pont des Arts” in April, 2012 and April, 2015: Cori – “Pont des Arts” – April 2012 and April 2015 Look at the sides of the “Pont des Arts”. We have already spoken a lot about the famous Padlocks of Love. In 2012, they are already present and begin to be many but not still in the point to make bend and fall the railings which carry them. In 2015, the railings fell and were replaced many times: the padlocks placed on the railings, themselves covered by other padlocks, finished to be too heavy. Paris decided to act: at first, the padlocks will be replaced in May by panels painted by artists then, in September, by transparent Plexiglas panels. Now, this April, it is temporary wooden panels which line the bridge (graffitis did not delay covering them). For our new circuit in Paris, we favored parks and gardens. What a pleasure to run under the sun there. We discover: The “Jardin du Luxembourg” and its magnificent “Fontaine Medicis” (Medici Fountain) Cori – “La Fontaine Medicis” “Les Arènes de Lutèce” (Arenas of Lutetia), with soccer players, gladiators having left for quite a long time 🙂 Cori – “Les Arènes de Lutèce” “La Grande Serre du Jardin des Plantes” (the Great Greenhouse of the Garden of the Plantes) (go there, a real jungle in Paris!): Cori – “La grande serre du Jardin des Plantes” Merci Cori ! The route of the tour:
The oldest monument of Paris with Laura, Marni, Peter, Marshall and Jason
Marni, Marshall, Laura, Jason et Peter – Jardin du Palais Royal 7:00 AM – Marni, Marshall, Laura, Jason and Peter are runners-friends coming from the United States. Paris is still a little bit chilly in this early spring. Magnolias begin to bloom, as here in the garden of the “Palais Royal” (Royal Palace). Our sports visit begins in the garden of the Tuileries to arrive quickly at “place de la Concorde”, in front of the oldest monument of Paris, the Obelisk of Luxor: Jason, Marni, Laura, Marshall and Peter – “Place de la Concorde” – Obelisk of Luxor The Obelisk which we can see in the center of the “place de la Concorde” is more than 3000 years old. It comes from Egypt. The Pharaoh Ramses II had made two obelisks in the entrance of the Luxor temple, temple placed in the center of the old city of Thebes. The obelisk of “la Concorde” is one of them. In 1830, the viceroy of Egypt Mehemet-Ali offers to France the obelisks of Luxor. Then begins, for the first obelisk, an adventure which will last more than 6 years: the preparation of the operation, the cutting down of the obelisk, its transport towards Paris and its erection “place de la Concorde” in 1836, with all the troubles such an expedition can generate (heat, diseases, expectation of the Nile flood, navigation and transport difficulties, etc.) Cutting down of the Obelisk in 1831 (the other obelisk is situated to the left by looking at the temple) Erection of the Obelisk in 1836 “place de la Concorde” (The king Louis-Philippe and 200 000 Parisians attend the “show”) The other part of the “present”, the second Obelisk, remained in Luxor, France not wishing to launch again such an operation! Our visit continues along the Seine, the left bank then the right bank again. We cross the river Seine running on the “Pont des Arts”, the famous footbridge: Marshall, Laura, Marni, Jason and Peter – “Pont des Arts” In the background of the photo above, we can admire the “Galerie du bord de l’eau” of the Louvre. Did you know that in this long corridor, king Henri IV organized fox hunting for his son, future Louis XIII? We finish our running by returning by the garden of the Tuileries, very quiet in this morning of March: Merci Peter, Marni, Marshall, Jason and Laura ! The route of the tour :
Two early morning runs to discover Paris, with Agnes
Agnes – Pont au Change – La Conciergerie Thursday 3 July 5:55 AM, Saturday 5 July 7:33 AM – Agnes lives in Los Angeles. Among the numerous visits which she foresaw to know Paris, Agnes included two Paris Running Tours, two morning visits to fully enjoy the capital. Indeed, it is a good means to understand the city landscape, discover numerous sites, to know its history and its architecture but also to apprehend its places, streets and squares in a sport way. First morning: A few minutes after the sunrise, a start not far from the Opera. Let us go to see the Eiffel Tower. Place of Concorde, we begin to see the tower far off: Agnes – Place de la Concorde – Behind the Obelisk, far off, the Eiffel Tower (notice the preparations for the National Day, on July 14th, with the stands which are going to welcome the government for the parade) Let us get closer. Place of the Alma, the Eiffel Tower is more and more visible: Agnes – Place de l’Alma with the Flame of Liberty, an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty’s flame and underneath, the famous tunnel of Alma In the background, the Eiffel tower Now, let us go to the Esplanade of the Trocadéro, one of the best locations to see the Eiffel Tower: Agnes – “Esplanade du Trocadéro” – The Eiffel tower, very close! Look at the landscape visible since the Esplanade, with in the background, on the left, Notre Dame, the Pantheon and the dome of the Invalides: Let us go towards Notre Dame. After a few kilometers of running, we can see the Cathedral, closer this time, since the bridge of the Carrousel: Agnes – Bridge if the Carrousel – Far off, on the Island of “La Cité”, the Saint-chapel and Notre Dame Second morning: Small rain this morning. Today, we are going to admire Notre Dame and the Pantheon. Let us cross the Bridge of the Arts (with a small “Hello” to the Eiffel Tower, far off): Agnes – “Pont des Arts” – Far off, the Eiffel tower We join the Pantheon and greet the great man recently arrived: Agnes – The Panthéon The Pantheon in restoration, as we can see it with these scaffolds on the photo, welcomes the exhibition of the artist JR. We follow our route to finally find the Cathedral “Notre Dame de Paris”: Agnes – Notre Dame – Notice on the ground, the marks which testify of the presence of a street (which existed until the middle of 19th century. Under the feet of Agnes, the mark of a church, Sainte Genevieve des Ardens) Before finishing our run, we cross another church, the Church Saint Eustache (built from 1532 till 1633): Agnes – Church Saint Eustache Funny detail, before the construction of the current church, stood a chapel (built at the beginning of the XIIIth century). This chapel was dedicated to Saint Agnès! Merci Agnes ! The routes of the tours:
14 miles visiting Paris while running to prepare the New-York marathon, with Jess
Jess – “Pont des Arts” (Bridge of the Arts) and view on the Island of the City (“île de la Cité”) 7h11 – Jess, marathon runner of New York (USA), in business trip in Paris, had two objectives by making a running tour: discover Paris and make a long run to prepare the New York marathon. We thus made a running of 14 miles (23 km) in Paris, distance which allows a beautiful visit of the city and the discovery of its numerous aspects. At first, a short pause to remember the objective, 26.2 miles (42.195 km) in New York: Jess – Avenue de New-York Then, from the avenue of New York, a small ascent (light preparation of the hilly New York marathon route) to join the Esplanade of the Trocadéro, the most beautiful view on the Eiffel Tower: Jess – “Esplanade du Trocadéro” We then leave the Eiffel Tower by the “Champ de Mars”: Jess – “Champ de Mars” Formerly used for military maneuvers, the Champ de Mars is now an ideal training ground for the runners: firm and supple hard-packed surface, buckle of 2 km, garden always opened (without railings), enlightened paths… Perfect circuit for the early morning runners! Much more east of Paris, it is on the sandy soil of the Lutetia arenas that we ran: Jess – “Arènes de Lutèce” Nowadays, we meet “pétanque” players or amateur soccer players there… About 2 000 years ago, there, we could see gladiators fighting, wild animals and also theater plays. Paris, at the time, was Roman and was called Lutetia. Of course, we did not miss numerous majors places of Paris, for example, the “Pont des Arts” (as we can see in the first photo of this article with its beautiful view on the Island of the City) or the Louvre Pyramid: Jess – The Louvre pyramid Since this sports stroll in Paris, Jess ran the marathon of New York with a beautiful performance. Paris Running Tour hopes to have contributed to this a little… 😉 Merci Jess ! The route of the tour :
Parisian perspectives with Karine
Karine – Le Pont Neuf (the New bridge) 7:00 AM – Karine, runner from Quebec, chose to make a Paris Running Tour to prepare the half marathon of Montreal, very close, and also, of course, to take advantage of the sports visit to discover the charm of a Parisian circuit. What beautiful perspectives offered by the morning sun! Look at the photo above with the light beginning to enlighten the “Pont Neuf” (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris (See this article). We left early on this Sunday. At the start of the running, it was still dark. The silhouette of the Eiffel Tower appears in the dawn… Karine – Alexandre III bridge … as the Louvre, while the morning comes: Karine – The Museum of the Louvre seen from the left bank Still running towards the rising sun, we reached the Latin Quarter to meet the Sorbonne University: Karine – “Rue Saint Jacques” – The University of the Sorbonne (and its observatory) The Sorbonne goes follows the “rue Saint Jacques”, former Roman way. The building which we see is the third version of the Sorbonne and dates of the 1880s. The Sorbonne University was established in the XIIIth century by Robert de Sorbon. It is in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Latin Quarter? Hispanic district? No, no! In the Middle Ages, the students already came from the whole world to study there (among them, Dante, Erasmus). To speak together, a single shared language: the Latin! The passers-by eventually called the district Latin Quarter. A little later, we cross the “Pont des Arts” (bridge of the Arts), considered as one of the most romantic of Paris (remember the Padlocks…) What amazing perspectives on this bridge! Karine – Pont des Arts – Click to enlarge this panorama On the North side, the Louvre and the entrance of the “Cour Carrée” (Squared Courtyard), on the South side, the Institute of France, on the West side, the Orsay museum and the “Grand Palais” far off and lastly on the East side, the Island of “La Cité”, which cuts the river Seine with the point formed by the “Square du Vert Galant”. Later by leaving the Louvre, we discover the perspective onto the Opera of Paris, the Garnier Opera. The architect Charles Garnier had refused to see trees along the Avenue of the Opera so that the perspective onto his Opera is not spoiled. Karine – “Avenue de l’Opéra” On our way back, we cross the “Place de la Concorde”, look at both photos below, perspective onto the North and perspective onto the South: Karine – “Place de la Concorde” The church of “La Madeleine” and the National Assembly seem to be reflected. This was intentional. In 1806, Napoleon the 1st adopted the project of creation of a new facade for the former Palace of Duchess Louise of Bourbon, become “Assemblée Nationale” (National Assembly). This new Colonnade (link in French) of the facade reminds by its columns the facade of the Madeleine which faces it. A new axis is given to the facade forming an angle to the original axis of the Bourbon palace and finally, columns are raised by the steps of an impressive staircase so that the Bridge of “La Concorde” does not mask the sight on the bottom of the colonnade. Paris, always in the search for the harmony! Merci Karine ! The route of the tour :