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:

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:

In front of the Commercial court of Paris with Dave

Dave - Bridge Notre Dame - In the background, on the left, the Commerce Court of Paris and on the right, the Conciergerie

Thursday 1st May - 8:03 AM, Monday 12th May - 8:01 AM - Dave comes from the beautiful city of Ottawa in Canada. 
Two mornings to discover Paris in a sports way. A dive through the different layers of history which offers Paris.
Paris is a city which was never destroyed contrary to Berlin (at the end of the war in 1945), Lisbon (earthquake of 1755) or London (fire of 1666), other leading cities. 
Paris can thus present as well Roman vestiges as buildings of the Middle Age either the numerous royal creations (among others!). Succession of architectural fashions, urbanistic traditions and most of the time a research for urban harmony.

See, for example, above, the Commercial court ("Tribunal de Commerce"), in front of which we stopped. Let us look at it just in front:

"Tribunal de Commerce" of Paris

Something bizarre, no? 
The dome is not in the center of the building but on the right side!
Architect's whim? No, will of urban harmony. The dome is so placed to close on the South side the perspective of the Boulevard Sevastopol (perspective ended in the North by the train station of "Gare de l'Est").
The Commercial court is finished in 1864 while the Boulevard is inaugurated in 1858.

Look at the precise alignment of the boulevard and the court:

"Tribunal de Commerce de Paris" and Boulevard Sébastopol

Let us pursue our running in the Middle Age Paris, with the magnificent Abbey of Cluny, now the National Museum of the Middle Age (and its Lady and the Unicorn famous tapestries):

Dave - "Abbaye de Cluny"

and the two old houses of the street François Miron:

Dave - "Rue François Miron"

Look at the wooden beams of the facade. These facades are rare in Paris. In fact, some old Parisian Middle age houses are hidden by renovations of facade.
In 1967, The timber framings which we see here were cleared of the plaster which recovered them.
Look at the buildings at the beginning of the 20th century:

Indeed, in 1607, protective measures against the fires were decreed, in particular the obligation to cover with plaster timber framings (these measures were strengthened in 1667 because of the big fire of London in 1666!)

Now, let us admire the beautiful perspective offered by the Soufflot street:

Dave, "Rue Soufflot" (in the background, the Senate and the Eiffel Tower far off) - At the top of the Soufflot street, the Pantheon (The street name is the one of Jacques-Germain Soufflot, architect of the Pantheon)

Merci Dave !

The routes of the tours:

Two sports tours in Paris with Rosalie

Rosalie - Medici Fountain - Luxembourg garden

9:04 AM - With Rosalie, who comes from the beautiful city of Quebec, we made two visits of Paris by running.

An important mist covered Paris the first day, making buildings and monuments hardly visible:

Rosalie - The dome of the Invalides can slightly be seen

Where are the towers of Notre-Dame, usually visible since the bank?
The Musée d'Orsay getting free of the mist (in the right of the photo)

And there, what is this monument which is in the background of the photo?

Yes!... The Eiffel Tower which we find a little farther, a little less veiled:

On our way, we admired a work of Dubuffet, installed for the occasion of the FIAC :

Rosalie - "Petit Palais" - Welcome Parade, of Jean Dubuffet - 2008

and a little bit further west, the beautiful Galliera palace, the Paris Museum of Fashion:

Rosalie - "Palais Galleria"

For our second run, the sky was a little more clear.
Our first strides led us near to the Pantheon, place "Sainte Geneviève":

Rosalie - "Place du Panthéon" - The Panthéon. On the left, the "Sainte-Geneviève" library and in the background, the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont church.

We went to greet the oldest tree of Paris, a Black Locust tree planted in 1601 by the botanist Jean Robin (the tree is native of North America) :

Rosalie - "Square René Viviani"

After the Museum of Fashion, we went to see  the first shop of the famous shoes creator, Christian Louboutin (notice that the shop occupies the premises of a former printing office):

Rosalie - In front of the Christian Louboutin's first shop, in the Véro Dodat gallery

Back on the Left bank, we ran on the old pavements of the "Cour du Commerce Saint André", next to one of the oldest Cafés in Europe (1682): the Café Procope, just under Benjamin Franklin's eyes who was one of the regular customers of the Café (we say that he would have written a part of the United States Constitution there):

Rosalie - "Cour du Commerce Saint André"

A kind newspaper seller was kind enough to take the last photo of our tour. Funny of to have the view of a newspaper seller inside his kiosk!

Rosalie, Paris Running Tour - Avenue of the Général Leclerc

Merci Rosalie !

The routes of the tours :

Postcards of an early morning running in Paris with Diana

6:35 AM - Diana, Australian runner, came to settle down with her family for some time in France. What better way to begin the visit of Paris than a very early morning run?

Here are some postcards of our cultural and sports visit:

We enjoyed very much running on the "Pont des Arts" (Bridge of the Arts):

Merci Diana !

The route of the tour:

In front of the renewed Conciergerie with Greg

Greg - The Conciergerie

7:01 AM - Greg lives not far from Chicago. At this rather rainy end of spring in Paris, we were lucky to have a pleasant sun on this Sunday morning. We ran by crossing a circuit which led us of the Discovery Palace to the Pantheon, by way of the Conciergerie.

Important works, which lasted more than one year, allowed to renew completely the Conciergerie. Until recently, the Conciergerie was covered with scaffolds that hid gigantic advertisements.
We were thus able to discover the beautiful Conciergerie, with clean and clear walls. The roof of the "Tour de l'Horloge" (Clock tower) was redone, it is now golden:

Tour de l'Horloge - Conciergerie

The Conciergerie belonged to the Palace of "la Cité", residence of kings of France in the Middle Ages, palace which succeeded to the Roman Emperors palaces in Paris. 
The palace was abandoned by kings at the end of the fourteenth century, the Conciergerie became then a prison, the most famous prisoner being queen Marie-Antoinette.

Conciergerie? Concierge? Yes, the word comes from there. The Concierge was an important person appointed by the king to maintain the order, manage the police, take care of prisoners, do the justice... He lived in the Conciergerie. 
The word Concierge comes from the Latin word Conservius, "companion of slavery", the one who serves the Palace.
Nowadays, we use now the term "Conciergerie" to name the whole palace.


On the way, we noticed the numerous flags on public buildings, as we can see on the photo of the Pantheon below:

Greg - The Panthéon

Yes, Sunday, June 17th, 2012 was day of elections in France, the second ballot of the general election.

Visit the Pantheon, this temple dedicated to the persons celebrated by the Nation. In the crypt, we find, among others, the graves of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie. The ground floor exposes the paintings which describe the life of Geneviève, protector of Paris. Do not miss to rise to the dome which offers a magnificent view on Paris.

Look at the pediment, so allegorical. In the center, the Nation, with on its right, the Freedom and on its left, the History.
On the side of the Freedom, the heroes of the civil order celebrated by the Revolution. Among them, you can find Voltaire and Rousseau, sat.
On the side of the History, is the military order. We can see the young Bonaparte, future Napoleon 1st.

A beautiful running before the opening of polling stations!

Merci Greg !

The route of the tour: