In front of the invisible pyramid with Molly and Saul

Saul and Molly in front of the Pyramid of the Louvre

9:00 AM - With Molly and Saul from California, we crossed by running Paris from west to east to make an attractive tour of more than 16 km (10 miles).

We made a small stop in front of the Louvre and, what a surprise, the Louvre Pyramid seems to have disappeared by leaving a grey halo!
Is it a photomontage? No, not at all, the pyramid was made invisible by the artist JR by a astonishing anamorphosis.

A look aside makes us understand a little better the trompe-l’œil effect:

We began our race near the "Palais de la Découverte" to join quickly the river Seine at the level of the "Pont de l'Alma" (bridge of Alma). A important number of photographers had assembled near the Zouave, who has become again an attraction because of the important flood of the Seine, this June 2016:

"Pont de l'Alma"

Find the zouave and the usual level of the Seine here.
This flood is impressive and offers surprising views:

"Zouave - Pont de l'Alma" - Lizard of the "Pont Alexandre III" - Passage towards the banks (footbridge Senghor)

By the way, let us take back the photography of the Bridge of the Alma and the Eiffel Tower, don't you notice anything new in this Parisian landscape? The new Russian Orthodox Church in Paris:

Russian orthodox spiritual and cultural center

From the "Pont de l'Alma", we climb the avenue of President Wilson to join the hill of Chaillot and the beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower since the Trocadéro:

Molly and Saul - Eiffel tower from the Trocadéro
Notice the ball above the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, it is the ball of the Euro of Football/Soccer 2016 (during the Roland Garros tennis tournament, we get a tennis ball)

Later, we cross again the Seine by the bridge Alexandre III:

Molly and Saul - "Pont Alexandre III"
See the completely flooded bank (usually, we can run there)

We alternate then the beautiful routes, right bank and left bank with the pleasure of running in the Latin Quarter in the street Rollin, lined with buildings of the XVIth and XVIIth centuries where lived, in particular, the philosophers Pascal and Descartes:

Saul and Molly - Rue Rollin

Merci Molly, merci Saul !


The route of the tour:

From the square of the United States to the Palais Royal with Eather and Chris

Chris and Heather - "Place des Etats Unis" (Place of the US) - Memorial to the American volunteers

10:02 AM - With Heather and Chris, runners living in Virginia (USA), we left the "place Charles de Gaulle-Etoile" to join the "Palais Royal" and its magnificent garden.

Along the way, we crossed the "place des Etats-Unis"(square of the United States). Do you know the story of this name?
Originally, this square was called the "Place of Bitche" (a city of Lorraine, France). The ambassador of the United States came to settle down there in 1881. Impossible to reside in a square named Bitche, "Bitch" being a rather vulgar English slang word. Paris agreed to rename the place "Place of the United States" (the "place de Bitche" being now situated in the 19th district of Paris).

The new name is well appropriate for the location, numerous points of this place are indeed connected to the United States of America, the statue of La Fayette and Washington shaking hands, the public garden Thomas Jefferson in the center, the statue of the American dentist Horace Wells who participated in the discovery of the anesthesia, the monument to the American Volunteers (photo above), etc.

This monument pays tribute to the American volunteers enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and who succumbed by fighting during the World War I. Among them, the poet Alan Seeger.

We followed our route and enjoyed our first beautiful point of view of the Eiffel Tower, the avenue of President Wilson:

Heather and Chris - Avenue of the President Wilson

Avenue of President Wilson, a reference to the United States again. This avenue leads itself to the "Place d'Iéna" in the middle of which appears a George Washington's equestrian statue!

Heather and Chris - Eiffel tower

New stop, in the front of the Eiffel Tower this time. Notice the ball between the first one and the second floor. It is an huge tennis ball! Indeed, it is the period of "Roland Garros" tennis tournament.

Having enjoyed the banks of the Seine and its numerous magnificent sites, we paused in the Louvre. Look at the Marly Courtyard:

Heather and Chris - The Louvre - the Marly courtyard (The flash did not work!)

In this blog, we spoke about the famous horses of Marly during a Paris visit with Mary.
After leaving the museum, we found the sun again within the magnificent garden of the Palais Royal (many roses!):

Merci Chris ! Merci Heather !

The route of the tour :

Under the Eiffel tower with Rachel

Under the Eiffel Tower - Far off the Palais de Chaillot and the garden of Trocadéro

7:32 AM - Rachel, from Wales, is a regular runner with very good results... After the running tour in Paris, she arrived recently second woman of a half marathon.
At present, she prepares for the next London Marathon.
In this beginning of March, the sun is with us for an attractive tour of Paris by running.

Look at the photo above, we are just under the Eiffel Tower. Early morning in March, the place is very quiet. Compare with the crowd that we can find on Easter Mondays for example or on a summer weekend there... Running early morning in Paris is a delight!

Far off, on the other side of the Seine, we can recognize the majestic "Palais de Chaillot" which was built for the World Fair of 1937, last World Fair in Paris.

The Palace of Chaillot replaced the Palace of Trocadéro built in the same place, that time for the World Fair of 1878:

Aerial view of the "Palais du Trocadéro" - 1934

By the way, do you know what "Trocadéro" means?

It is a fort which is situated in Cadiz in Spain and the place of a French victory; France came to help Spain to restore the absolute monarchy in 1823 (the king Louis XVIII reigns at that time in France).
The Palace of the Trocadéro built in 1878 (and then the "Place du Trocadéro") owes its name to a royalist victory!

We went for running early, accompanied by the rising sun which lit for us the magnificent monuments of Paris:

The Arc de Triomphe. We are in his shadow, the sun beginning to light the Champs-Elysées

Palais Galliera
Museum of the fashion with until, August 23rd, 2015, the exhibition dedicated to Jeanne Lanvin

The Eiffel tower - We are at the "Palais de Chaillot"!

The Alexandre III bridge with in the back the statue symbolizing the France of the Renaissance. At the top  of the pylon, one of the four Fames: The Fame of the War. 
These four statues were covered with gold leaves in 1989.

The Bridge of the Arts and in the back, the "Galerie du bord de l'eau" of the Louvre - The "Pont des Arts", known these last years for all the padlocks which where put there by the loving tourists, is at present protected by wooden panels. These panels covered by graffitis spoil a little the beauty of the place. It should be temporary.

The Palais Royal and its famous Columns of Buren ("Les deux plateaux"). The "Théâtre Ephémère" (short-lived theater) now disappeared. This wooden theater had welcomed temporarily the troop of the "Comédie Française" during the works of the "Palais Royal". We can see again the garden of the "Palais Royal" through the columns.

The Garden of the Tuileries - Our shadows are still very long!

Merci Rachel ! 
We wish you a great London Marathon!

The route of the tour:

Running 25 km under the sun of Paris, with William

William - Sunrise from the bridge Alexandre III

6h55 - William comes from Dubuque, Iowa. Long distance runner, William chose to run 25 km (15.5 miles) to discover a lot of aspects of Paris.
We left early to see the rising sun, magnificent sun which accompanied us during the run and gave us beautiful images of Paris.

25 km allows to see full of beautiful Parisian places, in particular:

• The Alma bridge and its "zouave" - Remember this visit with Lotte, where we speak about the "Zouave" and the river Seine.

William - "Pont de l'Alma"

• The garden of the Trocadéro and the Eiffel tower

William - "Tour Eiffel"

• The "Invalides" - We also went there during this tour with Sharon. We had evoked the history of these cannons.
  Look, a small rabbit hardly hidden by the cannons came to greet us.

William - "Esplanade des Invalides" - On the right, a little rabbit from the Invalides

• The Arc of the Carrousel - The "Arc du Carrousel" comes to us from Napoleon the Ist (We had discussed it with Kristy) and the horses are copies of the horses stolen by Napoleon in Venice (their story had been told during the tour with Ingrid). Carrousel? A merry-go-round? Actually, this name is connected to an equestrian show which took place at the time of the king Louis XV.

William - "Arc du Carrousel"

• The French National Museum of Natural History ("Muséum Naturel d'Histoire Naturelle") whose head office is in Paris, here in the magnificent Garden of the Plantes ("Jardin des plantes").

William - "Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle" - "Jardin des Plantes"

• The Square of the "Hôtel de Ville" of Paris (The City hall of Paris). Look at the drawing at the ground. We can see a ship. It is the Paris coat of arms. If there is a place where to see the symbol of Paris, it is here, at the "Mairie de Paris", the Paris city hall!
  To know more about it about this blazon, read the explanations which we left to describe the running tour with Emily. 

William - "Hôtel de Ville de Paris"

• The famous bookshop "Shakespeare and Company", the Mecca of the Anglo-Saxon culture in Paris, in particular, a meeting place for the American and Anglo-Saxon writers as Woody Allen evokes it in the movie "Midnight in Paris" (see the photo of the movie where we see the character interpreted by Owen Wilson in front of the bookshop):

William - Shakespeare and Company - Wallace fountain

• The magnificent banks of the Seine:

William - Saint-Michel bridge - To the left: the island of "La Cité" with Notre-Dame, to the right: the left bank of the river Seine

Merci William ! 

The route of the tour:

"Place des Victoires" with Kristine

Kristine - Garden of the "Palais Royal"

10:05 AM - Kristine comes from New York. Very sports, she chose to take advantage of her stay in Paris to do a Running Tour and so combine sport and discovery of Paris.
We left Grand boulevards to join the Eiffel Tower.

At first, we ran in more intimate places as the garden of the Palais Royal (above) or the magnificent Parisian covered passages:

We often spoke about them in this blog but it is always a great pleasure to discover these passages again.

The second part of the route led us towards less "confidential" but great amazing places, as the banks of the Seine...

Kristine - Banks of the River Seine (right bank, at the level of the "Jardin des Tuileries")

... or of course, the Eiffel tower:

Kristine - Eiffel tower since the Avenue of the President Wilson

Along the way, we crossed the magnificent "Place des Victoires" with the Statue of king Louis XIV, the Sun King.

Kristine - Place des Victoires

This square, created in 1685, was named "Place des Victoires" in honor of the military victories of Louis XIV. Do you know that the place saw successively four different monuments:

• from 1686 till 1792, a standing statue of Louis XIV
• from 1792 till 1810, a wooden pyramid
• from 1810 till 1828, a statue of General Desaix
• and since 1828, the current statue, an equestrian statue of Louis XIV.

The first statue was melted in 1792 to make canons during the revolution. It represented King Louis XIV standing...

... on a base representing four overcome nations (Spain, the Empire, Brandenburg and Holland):

This base is visible in the Puget courtyard in the Louvre.
We can even see it without entering the Louvre since the passage which connects the street of Rivoli with the Louvre Pyramid (remember the photo 12 in this article: here).

Merci Kristine ! 

The route of the tour:

Prepare marathons by visiting Paris

Nicole and Dan with Paris Running Tour - Palais Royal - Photo Frédéric Poirier

8:04 AM - Nicole and Dan live in New York. They are two regular runners. Nicole participates regularly in competitions.
On holidays in Paris, Nicole prepares her next races: the Chicago marathon and, three weeks later, the New York marathon. 
Running so close marathons? Yes, with a non-exhausting good training, it is possible.

So what is better than a Paris Running Tour to combine regular training and discovery-visit of Paris?

Nicole and Dan - Avenue of New York in Paris

Little break avenue de New York. New York, one of Nicole's objectives. 
Is there also an avenue of Paris in New York? No, but there is an avenue of Paris in Chicago, Paris Avenue.

Let us run in the paths of the garden of the Trocadéro:

Dan and Nicole - Gardens of the Trocadéro - In the background, the "Palais de Chaillot"

then along the river Seine:

Dan and Nicole - Left Bank, "quai Branly" (Branly pier)

The perspectives are often very beautiful in Paris, it deserves some stops:

Dan and Nicole - "Champs Elysées" (Paris Marathon start!)

Nicole and Dan - The "Palais Royal"

Nicole and Dan - The garden of the "Palais Royal"

Merci Dan and Nicole !


Since then, Nicole realized a time of 3:31 in Chicago then, only three weeks later, 3:40 in New York. Fantastic!

Bravo Nicole! 


The route of the tour: