Snapshots of a first visit in Paris, with Melinda

Melinda - On the bridge of Austerlitz. In the distance, Notre-Dame and Saint Louis Island beautiful houses

Monday 27th May - 12:51 PM, Wednesday 29th May - 6:57 PM - First time in Paris for Melinda from Miami (USA) ! 
What better choice than to start a first stay in Paris doing a visit by running (with Paris Running Tour)? A good way of unwinding legs after a long travel by plane and a first discovery of Paris getting directly into the life of the city.

And why not begin again two days later to discover new paths through Paris?
We thus ran by following two routes which mainly crossed the disctrict of "Le Marais", the Left bank, the island of "La Cité" and the center of Paris around the Seine.

Here is the route (numbers indicate where the photos of this article were taken):

We took numerous photos during our running:

1) "La rue des Barres" (Street of Bars). This name comes because formerly, in the 10th century, on the location of the street, a wall, a fence of wooden bars, constituted a wall protecting Paris:

Melinda - "Rue des Barres"

2) "L'Hôtel de Sully" (The Hotel of Sully). The Duke of Sully, Minister of Finance of king Henri IV, lived in this noble mansion at the end of his life. By crossing the Hotel of Sully, we passed directly from the street Saint Antoine to the "place des Vosges".

Melinda - "Hôtel de Sully"

3) The "bassin de l'Arsenal". Having crossed the place of the Bastille, we met the Basin of the Arsenal, port and canal connecting the river Seine with the Saint Martin canal and which, formerly, was a ditch which filled the moats of the castle of the Bastille.

Melinda - "Port de l'Arsenal"

4) "Pont d'Austerlitz" (Bridge of Austerlitz). See the picture at the beginning of the article.

5) "Cour du Commerce Saint André". Another place which is situated on the plan of the former surrounding wall of Paris, the wall of king Philippe Auguste. This passage, opened in 1776, allows to reach the Café Procope (1686), one of the oldest cafés in the world.

Melinda - "Cour du Commerce Saint André"

Second tour :

6) "Le Tribunal de Commerce de Paris" (Commercial court). This building presents the peculiarity to have a dome placed not in the center, but on the side, in a way that the dome is visible from the Boulevard Sevastopol. The dome closes the perspective of the Boulevard by the South.

Melinda - On the bridge Notre Dame. We can see, on the island of "La Cité", successively,
the Hôtel-Dieu (Hospital), the "Tribunal du Commerce de Paris" and the Conciergerie.

7) On the "Pont Neuf" ("New" Bridge). 

Melinda - Pont Neuf. On left, the "Institut de France", the Eiffel tower and, on right,the "Musée d'Orsay"

8) Colonnade of the Louvre. Summit of the French classicism, the Colonnade of the Louvre was realized at the request of king Louis XIV. The Colonnade of the Louvre served as model to numerous famous buildings, in particular, the Capitol of the United States in Washington, Metropolitan Museum of art in New York and San Francisco War Memorial Opera House.

Melinda - The "Colonnade du Louvre"

9) Alexandre III bridge. The widest bridge in Paris. Built with the "Grand" and "Petit Palais" for the World Fair of 1900. The bridge offers a direct link between the "Invalides" and the Champs-Elysées.

Melinda - the Alexandre III bridge - In the distance, the "Invalides"

10) The Champs Elysées.

Melinda - Champs Elysées, at the end, the "Arc de Triomphe" and far off, the "Grande Arche" of "la Défense"

11) The equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, place of the Pyramids. She is situated not far from the Gate Saint Honoré, where Joan of Arc tried to cross Charles V's surrounding wall to reconquer Paris, occupied at the time by the English. She was hurt by an arrow in the thigh there.

Melinda - Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, of Frémiet and inaugurated in 1874

12) The Puget courtyard in the Louvre.

Melinda - Puget Courtyard, situated with the Marly Courtyard on both sides of the passage
which connects the Louvre Pyramid to the street of Rivoli

13) Stravinsky fountain. This fountain, fountain Stravinsky or fountain of automatons, was created by the couple of artist Nikki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely in 1983 and evokes the work of the composer Stravinsky.

Melinda - the "Fontaine Stravinsky", on the right George Pompidou Center

Interesting and beautiful discoveries, isn't it?
Merci Melinda !

The route of the tours:

London came to run with Paris ! ................................... With Hope from City Jogging Tours of London

Hope de City Jogging Tour of London with Paris Running Tour - Louvre Pyramid

10:35 AM - Hope from London (United Kingdom) is the creator of City Jogging Tours of London, one of the first "Sightjogging Tours" in the world.

What is better than a visit of Paris while running to share our running tour guides experiences?

We thus left Montmartre to make a beautiful stroll...

Hope - Montmartre, in the background, the whole of Paris!

...by coming down to the South and by way of nice Parisian covered passages...

Hope - Passage Jouffroy - Galerie Vivienne

...by being amazed by the famous padlocks on the "Pont des Arts", more and more numerous...

Hope - "Pont des Arts" - In the distance, the Orsay Museum and the Eiffel tower

...by making a break in the garden of the Tuileries...

Hope - Tuileries Garden

...by crossing the "Champs- Elysées"...

Hope - Champs Elysées - Far off, the Arc of Triumph

...to greet Winston Churchill...

Hope - Winston Churchill, near the "Petit Palais"

... And finally join the Eiffel Tower and the Ecole Militaire (Military school).

City Jogging Tours of London and Paris Running Tour

If you pass by London, go run a Jogging Tour with Hope and her team! A wonderful stroll in London!
One day, Paris will be happy to go running with London...
Merci Hope !

The route of the tour:

Running under the bridge Saint-Michel with Antje

Antje - Under Saint-Michel bridge - In the background, "Notre-Dame de Paris"

7h57 - Antje comes from another great and beautiful European capital, Berlin. She already ran several times the Berlin marathon, one of the fastest world marathons (the last four world records were realized in Berlin). 
Antje knows well Paris and that is with pleasure and while running that we rediscovered its most beautiful "paths". A beautiful route of more than 14 km also passing under bridges of Paris as we can see on the photo above.

Our running led us of the Eiffel Tower up to Notre-Dame, then up to the Arc of Triumph. This Friday was making the "bridge" between two holidays, May 8th&9th and the weekend so Paris was very quiet, even the Eiffel Tower seemed deserted (at least at 8 am in the morning).

Antje - "Champs de Mars" and Eiffel tower

Notice the scaffolds which leave the ground towards the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. These temporary elements are of use to the renovation of the first floor. The objective of this modernization project is to make this floor a more attractive place => Click here.

Back from Notre-Dame, this time, it is ON the "Pont Neuf", the New Bridge, that we ran:

Antje - "Pont Neuf" - In the background, the "Pont des Arts" (bridge of the Arts)

As its name does not indicate it, the "Pont Neuf", literally "New Bridge", is the oldest bridge of Paris. As you can read it on the photo, the bridge was built at the end of the 16th century.
Yes, "neuf" means "new" (and not "9"). Is the oldest bridge the new bridge?
Indeed, at the time of its construction, this bridge was very modern: all in stone, without houses on its edges (at last, we could know that we were really on a bridge while crossing it, impossible with houses!), and with sidewalks!
These sidewalks were really new because very rare in Paris at that time... The "Pont Neuf", already at that time, a beautiful place to stroll, to appreciate the sight and Paris!

Farther, we pursued our route along the historic axis of Paris (see here), the Louvre, the Louvre Pyramid and the garden of the Tuileries :

Antje - "Cour carrée du Louvre"

Antje - Small break near the Louvre Pyramid

Antje - In the garden of the Tuileries

We then continued our road along the Champs-Elysées to go uphill towards the Arc of Triumph. Uphill? Yes indeed, do you know that the Arc of Triumph is put on what we called formerly the "colline du Roule" (The hill of the Roule). In 1768, this hill was leveled to have a more regular slope towards the Gate of Neuilly. The top of the hill was then 5 meters higher.
Paris as flat as Berlin? Hem, not completely...
So remember, when you will take the departure of the Paris marathon and will start with the Champs-Elysées, do not run too fast: if it is so easy, it is because you are in descent!

Merci Antje !

The route of the tour:

On the "Pont des Arts" with Manoella

Manoella - "Pont des Arts" ("bridge of the Arts"), EST side, 
in the background, the "île de la Cité" ("Island of the City")

Manoella - "Pont des Arts", WEST side, in the background, the Orsay museum and the Eiffel tower

7:06 AM - Manoella, who lives in São Paulo (Brazil), came to stay some time in Paris. She will participate in a major event, the Paris Marathon! It will be her first marathon, we can appreciate this choice, what better than Paris? ;)  

No unnecessary risks in 7 days of the marathon (April 7th, 2013 ), we ran quietly and took advantage of a route around the Latin Quarter, on the "Ile de la Cité" and also right bank: Louvre, Palais Royal, Pompidou Center, the "Marais".

Early on Sunday morning, very few people on the route, see how the Louvre is quiet :

Manoella - Pyramid of the Louvre

The winter does not want to go and it is by the temperature of -2°C (28.4°F) that we ran . March 31st!
Well, this cold gave a beautiful particular luminosity to the city, we admired Notre-Dame nicely "colored" :

Manoella - Far off "Notre Dame de Paris"

Manoella, we wish you a magnificent first marathon in Paris!

Merci Manoella !

The route of the tour :

Grande Arche - Arc de Triomphe return trip with Maggie

Maggie (in front of the Arc of Triumph) - Champs-Elysées

6:51 AM - Maggie, who lives near Houston, runs very regularly. Early on Sunday, we ran on the West part of the Paris historical axis (map here), from "La Défense" up to the Arc of Triumph.

We thus left "La Défense" to cross its esplanade, the city of Neuilly, the avenue of the "Grande Armée" and join the Arc of Triumph on the "Place de l'Étoile" (place of the Star). 

We went around the "Arc de Triomphe", admired the other part of the historical axis: Champs-Elysées, far off, the obelisk of "La Concorde" then, at the end, the Louvre (on the photo above, by enlarging it, we can see the Obelisk and the buildings of the Louvre far off).

Maggie - The "Arc de Triomphe"

On returning to "La Défense", we were able to appreciate some of the numerous works of art arranged on the Esplanade, as "the pond of Takis" created by Vassilakis Panayotis Takis:

Maggie - The "Bassin" of Takis (1988) - The "Grande Arche" of "la Défense"

or "Le Moretti" ("Cheminée Moretti") of Raymond Moretti :

"Cheminée Moretti" (1995)

"La Défense" is the biggest business center in Europe. On this Sunday morning, the esplanade of "La Défense" was deserted, contrary to the working periods when the paving stone of "La Défense" is full of businesswomen and businessmen who join or leave their offices.

La Défense (Click on the picture for a larger view)

By the way, do you know why this business area is called "La Défense"?
In 1883, the Statue of the defense of Paris was placed on a traffic circle of Courbevoie, one of the cities where is situated the business center. The statue evokes the resistance and the bravery of the Paris defenders during the 1870 French-Prussian war.
See below "La Défense" in the debuts of the business center developments (begun with the CNIT):

On the left, "La Défense" in 1962 with the statue in the center and the CNIT recently created (1958) 

On the right, the Statue of "La Défense" still visible on the esplanade and drilling the paving stone.

A little run of 10 km through space and time! ;)

Merci Maggie !

The route of the tour:

In front of the garden of the Elysée with Meredith and John

Meredith and John in front of the gardens of the Élysée Palace, residence of the President of the Republic.
To see the main entrance, on the other side, you can click here

9:07 AM - Meredith and John come from the East coast of the United States (Washington, New York) and are in Paris for a cultural and very sports visit.
This Monday, March 4th, we combined a tourist stroll and and "recovery jogging". Indeed, Meredith ran the day before, the Paris half marathon by establishing a new personal record on the distance. Bravo Meredith!

More than 30000 participants at the 2013 Paris Half-marathon! The start.
With a close look, you will see 2 Paris Running Tour guides in the foreground, orange and (Paris Running Tour) green T-shirts

That is thus, quietly, that we crossed Paris and took advantage of the beautiful morning, second brightened up morning after a very cold and dark winter.

Meredith and John - Garden of the Tuileries - On the historical axis: far off the Obelisk of the place de la Concorde and the Arc of Triumph at the end of Champs-Elysées

On the photo above, we see clearly the "pyramidion" (pyramid cover cap) at the top of the Obelisk, its gold cover shines as in the time of antique Egypt.
Did you also know that the Obelisk of "Place de la Concorde" represented the gnomon (the needle) of a gigantic sundial? Had you noticed these marks on the ground?

A gigantic sundial (1999) "place de la Concorde" - Click on the picture to see the details!
The hour calculation is not as simple (duration of the day, etc.)

By continuing our running, we returned on the historic axis, with in its beginning, the Louvre:

Meredith and John - The pyramid of the Louvre

It is in this way that we admired the oldest monument of Paris, the obelisk of Concorde (13è century BC) and one of the most modern, the Louvre Pyramid (inaugurated in 1989)!

Merci Meredith, merci John!

The route of the tour:

A sports and cultural tour of Paris with Ingrid at Christmas

Ingrid - Gallery Vivienne

8:32 AM - Ingrid lives in Uberaba, Brazil. To begin her stay in Paris, Ingrid chose to make a Paris Running Tour. On Sunday morning, two days before Christmas, Paris is quite decorated for the holidays. As we can see above, the beautiful Gallery Vivienne (1823) also respects the tradition.

Our run, in this very quiet Paris of a Sunday morning before Christmas, allowed us to see a highly varied Paris: passages (Gallery Vivienne, passage of the "Grand Cerf", passage of Bourg-L'abbé), the Paris of Napoleon the 1st with the Arc of the Carousel, the modern Paris with the Pompidou Center or the very old Paris with Nicolas Flamel's house.

Ingrid - House of Nicolas Flamel

Nicolas Flamel's house, which dates 1407, is the oldest of Paris (older than those of the street François Miron). Nicolas Flamel was a rich "Bourgeois" who, with his wife Pernelle, made build houses to welcome the poor people. This one, street of Montmorency, is the last existing one. An inscription indicates the prayers that the inhabitants of the place had to make : "We, ploughmen and women living at the porch of this house, which was made in 1407, are requested to say every day an 'Our Father' and an 'Ave Maria' praying God that His grace forgive poor and dead sinners Amen".
It is at present an inn.

Some strides farther, it is the modern Paris which we discover.

Ingrid - Centre Pompidou - "The Zinedine Zidane's headbutt" Piece of Adel Abdessemed

Effectively, we find the Pompidou Center, one of the biggest world Contemporary Arts Centers. It welcomes at present a temporary exhibition of the artist Adel Abdessemed. We can see on the square a (provocative?) sculpture representing the headbutt given by the famous football player Zinedine Zidane to an opponent having a little moved words...

Ingrid - Arc du Carrousel

We have already spoken about the Arc of the Carrousel during a tour with Kristy. 
Had you noticed the quadriga at the top of the Arc? 
In fact, the sculpture is a copy.
Napoleon 1st had taken the original statue to the Venetians who themselves had stolen it during the sack of Constantinople in 1204 (The quadriga were ordered by Emperor Constantin in 330).
With Napoleon's fall, the original horses were returned to Venice where you can admire them place Saint Marc. 

To finish, here is a small postcard with other beautiful places seen during our visit:

Merry christmas to all!
Merci Ingrid !

The route of the tour: