Saturday, September 10, 2011

Two mornings in the discovery of Paris with Jason

Jason - Place de la Concorde
8:50 AM - Friday and Saturday - Jason, who lives in Brooklyn (NY - USA), chose to discover Paris by running two following mornings.

The first day, we explored the island of La Cité, the Louvre, the Palais-Royal, the place Vendôme, the place de la Concorde to return along the Seine. We finished our running in the Arenas of Lutetia; gladiators fought there when Paris was a part of the Roman Empire.  

The next day, we ran Left bank, crossed by the Pantheon, the garden of the Luxembourg, crossed the residence of the Prime Minister: Matignon, admired the Rodin museum since the street, and joined then the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower then returned by the boulevard Saint Germain.

Jason and a well-known tower in Paris

Our route brought us to cross the limits of Paris in the Middle Ages, the Louvre which was a fort intended to protect the western edge of the city and the surrounding wall of king Philippe Auguste some vestiges of which there are still in the current Paris, as the wall that we can see street Clovis (5th arrondissement):


In the 12th century, Paris represented a small portion of the present Paris, surrounded by Philippe Auguste's wall (in yellow on the image) and protected by the Louvre, a fort in the time (in blue): 
Click on the image to enlarge it

By getting closer, we can see some places where we can find the old and still visible wall nowadays: 
Click on the image to enlarge it

Merci Jason !

The routes of the tours:

Friday, September 2, 2011

Passing in front of the horses of Marly with Mary

Les Tuileries - Mary
8:00 AM - With Mary who lives near New York (USA), we chose the circuit of the most beautiful Parisian Palaces: the Ritz, the hotel Meurice, the Bristol, the George V, the Plaza Athénée... The Palaces tour also allowed us to run along one of the nicest routes of Paris, crossing by the "Ile de la Cité", the Louvre, the
Tuileries, Champs-Elysées...

On our road, we were able to admire the Horses of Marly* which are in the West entrance of the Tuileries:

Coysevox - La Renommée (The Fame) - Mercure (Mercury)

and at the Est entrance of the Champs-Elysées:
Coustou - Horses of Marly

Actually, these statues are copies, originals being in the Musée du Louvre in a gallery visible from the outside. We can see them through a window from the passage between the Louvre Pyramid and the street of Rivoli (passage we took during our running):

Le Louvre, cour Marly - Horses of Marly - Originals

Those who, children in the sixties, looked at the French television, know well one of these statues. In the time, the programs began only late in the afternoon and were preceded by a TV test card which showed the statue "La Renommée". The children in wait of emissions had all the leisure to admire it:


Merci Mary !

The route of the tour :
* Marly, where from come the statues, was one of the favorite residences of the king Louis XIV.
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