14 miles visiting Paris while running to prepare the New-York marathon, with Jess

Jess - "Pont des Arts" (Bridge of the Arts) and view on the Island of the City ("île de la Cité")

7h11 - Jess, marathon runner of New York (USA), in business trip in Paris, had two objectives by making a running tour: discover Paris and make a long run to prepare the New York marathon.

We thus made a running of 14 miles (23 km) in Paris, distance which allows a beautiful visit of the city and the discovery of its numerous aspects.

At first, a short pause to remember the objective, 26.2 miles (42.195 km) in New York:

Jess - Avenue de New-York

Then, from the avenue of New York, a small ascent (light preparation of the hilly New York marathon route) to join the Esplanade of the Trocadéro, the most beautiful view on the Eiffel Tower:

Jess - "Esplanade du Trocadéro"

We then leave the Eiffel Tower by the "Champ de Mars":

Jess - "Champ de Mars"

Formerly used for military maneuvers, the Champ de Mars is now an ideal training ground for the runners: firm and supple hard-packed surface, buckle of 2 km, garden always opened (without railings), enlightened paths... Perfect circuit for the early morning runners!

Much more east of Paris, it is on the sandy soil of the Lutetia arenas that we ran:

Jess - "Arènes de Lutèce"

Nowadays, we meet "pétanque" players or amateur soccer players there... About 2 000 years ago, there, we could see gladiators fighting, wild animals and also theater plays.
Paris, at the time, was Roman and was called Lutetia.

Of course, we did not miss numerous majors places of Paris, for example, the "Pont des Arts" (as we can see in the first photo of this article with its beautiful view on the Island of the City) or the Louvre Pyramid:

Jess - The Louvre pyramid

Since this sports stroll in Paris, Jess ran the marathon of New York with a beautiful performance. 
Paris Running Tour hopes to have contributed to this a little... ;)

Merci Jess !

The route of the tour :

Medieval art, Art nouveau, Modern Art, 10 miles (16 km) in Paris with Lysa

Lysa - Ile de la Cité (Island of the City)

7:03 AM - With Lysa, from Buffalo (New York), we made a 10 mile run (16 kilometers) to discover the numerous artistic facets of Paris. More than 2000 years of History... and artistic and architectural creations!

Did you notice the numerous Parisian metro entrances with these arabesques forms, as the one that we see on the photo above next to Lysa?
These entrances are typical artistic creations of the beginning of the 20th century, this art which we called the "Art Nouveau".
The creator, Hector Guimard, very representative artist of the "Art Nouveau" movement, realized 141 of these entrances of the Parisian subway from 1900 till 1912. Some entrance are even covered with a glass roof.
Today, there are only 86 left, 2 with a glass roof as the "Porte Dauphine" one (West of Paris on the Avenue Foch):

Hector Guimard's subway entrances were offered to the subways of other cities as Montreal, Mexico City, Chicago, etc. There is even one in the Washington National Gallery of Art!


Still on the Island of "La Cité", we also admired two Medieval Art examples (vast ensemble of the Middle Ages Arts, covering a period of 1000 years):

• The famous Cathedral Notre-Dame-de-Paris, representative of the Gothic Art:

Lysa and the Cathedral "Notre Dame de Paris"
(on the left, the temporary installations celebrating 850 years of Notre-Dame)

• The Clock of the Conciergerie (for more information, read this article) :

Lysa - Tour de l'Horloge (tower of the Clock)

Further west, we met two forms of more recent arts:

• A plant wall! One of the first green walls realized by Patrick Blanc, who invented the concept of plant walls. This one was created in 2004, on one of the Quai Branly Museum administration building walls:

Lysa - Vegetation wall (Patrick Blanc 2004)

• And of course, the famous Iron tower, the Eiffel Tower!

The Tower was built for the World Fair of 1889. 
From 1889 to 1931, it was the highest monument in the world.
During its construction, it was very criticized, but obtained a big success during the world fair of 1889, success which fell rather fast (in spite of a renewal of curiosity during the World Fair of 1900)
We even intended to destroy it... It is now the most emblematic symbol of Paris!

Lysa - Eiffel tower

It's a pleasure to run in Paris!

Merci Lysa !

The route of the tour:

A magnificent dawn in Paris with Marnie

Marnie - "Pont Louis-Philippe", on the left, "Ile St-Louis", in the background, "Ile de La Cité" and Notre-Dame

5:52 AM - Marnie lives in Singapore. After having run several half marathons, Marnie prepares a marathon she will run this autumn. How to prepare a marathon while visiting Paris? A long tour with Paris Running Tour! Ideal to discover the city while doing our training.
We thus traveled on a circuit of more than 18 km kilometers, with an amazing Parisian landscape parading under our eyes.

We discovered a totally deserted Paris, embellished by the magnificent light of the rising sun.

Deserted Paris? A start before 6 am + on Sunday + August! 
The Parisians went on holiday, tourists still sleeping, well parked cars. Paris only for us!

Look on how the "Place de la Concorde" is deserted and beautiful in all the splendor of this summer morning:

Marnie - "Place de la Concorde"

Nobody in front of the "Palais de Justice" either... The Sainte Chapelle and Conciergerie, which surround it, are still in the quiet before the arrival of the visitors during the day.

Marnie - The "Palais de Justice" of Paris, on the left, the "Sainte Chapelle", on the right, the "Conciergerie"

We ran along the river Seine which we crossed several times to benefit from beautiful points of view on Paris:

Marnie - "Pont Neuf", in the background, the "pont des Arts"

Marnie - Footbridge Senghor, on the left, the Louvre, on the right the "Musée d'Orsay", in the background, Notre Dame

On the new banks of Paris, we made a little sprint to test the new new athletic track of one hundred meters:

Marnie - New banks of Paris, athletic track of 100 meters

Souvenir photo on the Esplanade of the Trocadéro, the best point of view to see the Eiffel Tower:

Paris Running Tour - Marnie - The Eiffel tower - On the left, the dome of the Invalides

Merci Marnie !

The route of the tour:

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:

A new Running Tour in Paris with Manoella

Manoella - "Opéra de Paris" (Opéra Garnier)

7:09 AM - Do you remember Manoella, from São Paulo, Brazil? (See the post here.)

Bravo! Since last time, Manoella finished successfully her first marathon, the Paris Marathon. Manoella is now a marathon runner, a confirmed long distance runner since, three weeks only after the marathon, we redid easily a Paris Running Tour of more than 19 km.

In spite of the cold still present at this end of April, it is under a big sun that we admired the marvels of Paris:

- The Opéra Garnier (As we can see himit on the photo above)

- The Eiffel tower from the President Wilson avenue:

Manoella - President Wilson Avenue

- The Eiffel tower from "place de l'Alma", as well as the flame of the statue of Liberty (remember the article on this flame => here):

Manoella - "Place de l'Alma"

- The embassy of Brazil which we were able to greet (the wind was not very hard this morning and the flag was resting):

Manoella - Brazil Embassy, "Cours Albert 1er"

- The "Sacré-Coeur" of Montmartre from "Boulevard des Italiens":

Manoella - "Boulevard des Italiens" - Far-off, the "Sacré-Coeur"

- Two magnificent passages:

Manoella - "Passage Jouffroy", boulevard Montmartre - "Passage du Grand Cerf", rue Dussouds

- And many other amazing places of Paris...

Good return in Brazil!

Merci Manoella !

The route of the tour :

Historic, artistic, scientific and sports stroll in Paris with Isabel

Isabel - Les Invalides

8:59 - Isabel, from Baltimore (USA), is a young, very regular runner as she runs 6 days a week. Visiting Paris, why not discovering the city by running?
We thus went for 17 kilometers with a good pace for a stroll which we can qualify as historical, artistic, scientific and of course, sporting.

Historical: 
Every Parisian place is a witness of the History, whether it is a small street, a small garden either a famous place or a most known building, for example, the "Invalides". The "Invalides" reminds the will of king Louis XIV to regroup the disabled war veterans in a dedicated place, the "Hôtel des Invalides". We can see the magnificent building in the background of the photo above. The dome is covered with 12 kilograms of gold deposited in fine layers. Inside, thrones the grave where rest Napoleon.

A little earlier, we crossed the "Arènes de Lutèce" (see the picture above). At the time of the Roman Empire, more than 15000 spectators saw there the gladiators fought and wildcats appeared. They also could applauded theater performances. These arenas, rediscovered in the 19th century, have now more modest dimensions, but we can always see games there, more quiet certainly, as football (soccer) or "pétanque" (a form of lawn bowling). Lutecia was the former name of Paris in this period.

Isabel - The Arènes of Lutèce

Scientific :
If there is a garden dedicated to the sciences, the "Jardin des plantes" is the one indeed:

Isabel - Garden of the plants/Natural history museum - In the background, the great Gallery of the Evolution

The garden of plants is, first of all, a botanical garden. It is a magnificent park which contains at the same time very big Greenhouses and specialized gardens, for example, the Alpine garden.
The buildings contain various galleries dedicated, among others, to the mineralogy and to the geology, to the evolution, and to the paleontology. We see the gallery of the paleontology on the photo below (see, behind the windows, the big skeleton of a whale):

Isabel - Gallery of Paleontology

The garden of plants also contains a menagerie, one of the first menageries of the world.
Even if these mammals do not exist any more, we were able to cross a mammoth on our way!

The Mammoth of the "Jardin des plantes" - By his side, Isabel

Artistic:
Paris is a city of Art which counts at least 130 museums. Among them, the Museum of Modern Art:

Isabel - Paris Modern Art Museum

The Museum of Modern Art presents numerous works of the 20th century, some are famous (Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani, ...)

Finally, even though if it was rejected by numerous artists during its creation, is not the Eiffel Tower a gigantic work of art?

Isabel - The Eiffel tower from the "Palais de Chaillot"

Merci Isabel !

The route of the tour: