Around the Louvre with Janaina and Gustavo

Gustavo and Janaina - The Island of the "Cité" seen from the "Quai du Louvre"

7:13 AM - Gustavo and Janaina live in Salvador (Brazil). To visit Paris by running, we chose a beautiful stroll around the Louvre.

We left the Grands Boulevards and went through the "passage des Panoramas" (see the previous post), the "Palais Royal", and then we joined the Louvre, by crossing the Street of Rivoli:

Janaina and Gustavo - The Louvre, entrance to the "passage Richelieu"

The Passage Richelieu connects the street of Rivoli with the Louvre Pyramid and allows to see the beautiful sculptures of the Puget and Marly courtyards (remember the article which speaks about the horses of Marly) :

Gustavo and Janaina - The Louvre, Puget courtyard

After this small break in front of the passage Richelieu windows, we continued our running at the foot of the Pyramid, the magnificent glass pyramid which respects the central space of the Louvre and allows to see the Louvre in its totality:

Gustavo and Janaina - The Louvre and the Pyramid

What was there before the Pyramid? A stand of trees where cars could park. At the foot of the trees, impossible to see all the facades:

The Louvre before 1983

In the same direction, towards the garden of the Tuileries, we had a photo break to take advantage of the view on the Eiffel Tower, the "Musée d'Orsay" and also some statues of Maillol. Look for them in the bushes by enlarging the photo:

Gustavo and Janaina - The Louvre ("Pavillon de Flore"), "Musée d'Orsay", Eiffel tower and Tuileries

We then left the garden of the Tuileries by way of the small tunnel which goes out of the garden by going towards the river Seine. We crossed the Seine by the footbridge Léopold Sédar Senghor and going up the staircases of the bridge, where we enjoyed a beautiful point of view on Notre-Dame:

Gustavo and Janaina - Léopold Sédar Senghor footbridge

On the other side of the bridge, we saw the beautiful Palace of the Legion of Honor, cleaned recently (we had spoken about its replica in San Francisco here):

Janaina and Gustavo - "Palais de la Légion d'Honneur"

Evoking the various places to run, we spoke about the immense and long beautiful beaches of Brazil. In Paris, we also have the opportunity to have some beaches ;) 
At least from mid-July to mid-August, the banks of the "Right bank", in particular, welcome the operation "Paris-Plages":

Gustavo and Janaina - On the "Pont Neuf". Behind, the beautiful "Paris-Plages"sand before the opening

A little farther, near the Louvre, is the Louvre Oratory, with the Statue of the "Amiral de Coligny", whose tragic end reminds us sad moments of the French History:

Gustavo and Janaina - "Oratoire du Louvre"

On our road, we passed by the beautiful "Véro Dodat" gallery and we were amazed by the height of a famous Parisian shoemaker's shoes (see below, near the passage, the Christian Louboutin's first shop):

Gustavo and Janaina - "Galerie Véro Dodat" and a shop of eccentric shoes

 Merci Janaina, merci Gustavo !

The route of the tour:

Running in the Parisian Passages with Michelle and Susan

Susan and Michelle - The river Seine near the Tuileries garden, in front of the Orsay Museum

9:03 AM - Susan and Michelle are two New-York road-runners (NY - USA). Michelle prepares at present the Marathon of Chicago. After a first visit of Paris last year, their choice was for a little bit different route.

We started near the Seine on the left bank. Look on the photo above, the new "emmarchement" in front of the Orsay Museum, "emmarchement" which is a part of the new banks of the Seine (very much enjoyed by runners).

Having crossed the pedestrian footbridge Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, run in the Garden of the Tuileries and admired the place Vendôme, we were able to cross our first covered passage, the long passage Choiseul:

Michelle, Susan - Passage Choiseul

Not far from there, it is with pleasure that we met the beautiful "salle Favart", National Theater of the "Opéra Comique" :

Michelle and Susan - Opéra Comique

It is the third "Salle Favart" built in 1898, both previous ones having burned.

Second covered passage on our route, the Passage of the Panoramas, the oldest passage of Paris (we had already spoken about it here) :

Susan, Michelle - "Passage des Panoramas"

Just in front of the "Passage des Panoramas" is the Passage Jouffroy where a curious medieval character welcomes you:

Susan and Michelle with a character of the Grévin Museum

It is about one of the numerous wax characters of the Grévin Museum, the Parisian counterpart of Madam Tussauds of London. The entrance of the museum is situated in the Grand boulevards and the exit in the Passage Jouffroy.

A little later, we found an old acquaintance, the Statue of Liberty (well, a Parisian younger sister...):

Susan, Michelle - The Statue of Liberty in the museum of "Arts et Métiers"

To know more about the Parisian statues of Liberty, click here.

We continued our road and again crossed magnificent passages:

"Passage du Grand Cerf"

"Galerie Vero-Dodat"

"Galerie Vivienne"

These Parisian passages were approximately 150 in the middle of the 19th century, there are less than thirty nowadays. Our running allowed us to cross nine of them, among the most beautiful:

We ended the tour by crossing the beautiful garden of the "Palais Royal", isolated from the Parisian street by its long galleries of arcades,

Michelle, Susan - Garden of the "Palais Royal"

participated in the work of art constituted by the Columns of Buren ("Les deux plateaux" of the Artist Daniel Buren),

On the columns of Buren in the "Palais Royal"

and made a small break in front of the Louvre before crossing again the Seine to join the Left bank.

Susan and Michelle - The Louvre museum

Look on the Louvre Pyramid the sign of the Third Paradise, bound to The temporary exhibition of Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Merci Susan, merci Michelle !

The route of the tour :