From the Bastille up to "La Concorde" with Jessica

Jessica - Pont de la Concorde

7:03 AM - Taking advantage of a sunny morning, with Jessica of Los Angeles (USA), we crossed Paris from the "place de la Bastille" up to the "place de la Concorde".
Did you know the anecdote which connects both places? Stones of the Bastille fortress destroyed by the revolutionaries served to build the Bridge of "La Concorde". The Parisian could so walk on one of the strong Monarchy symbols!

Having passed the "place de la Bastille" where we discovered on the ground the tracks of the destroyed fort (at the end of the street Saint Antoine), we joined the City hall of Paris:

Jessica - L'Hôtel de Ville

It is the 1882 "version" of the "Hôtel de Ville" that we can contemplate, the previous one having been burned during the events of the "Commune" in 1871. 
On the photo, we can notice American and French flags, having been gathered here doubtless to honor the US National Day, the 4th of July.

A little farther, near "Les Halles", we interrupted our running one moment to be able to appreciate the glass roof and the frescoes of the "Bourse du Commerce" ceiling. Former Corn Exchange where cereal were stored and sold, it is now occupied by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris, dedicated mainly to the creation of business companies:

La Bourse du Commerce - Paris

Our route then led us "place de la Concorde". The preparations of the French National Day, on July 14th, are nearly finished. We can see on the photo the stand where will sit the President of the Republic and the government members, situated in front of the Champs Elysées where from the military parade will come down. Notice the roof in the colors of the French flag...

Jessica - Place de la Concorde

We ended our running in "Le Marais" district where we were able to admire the magnificent "Hôtel de Sens":

Hôtel de Sens

Jessica is a regular runner, fond of healthy food but also a music composer and a singer : Raelux!

Merci Jessica !

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:

Round trip Montmartre-La Seine with Agnieszka

Agnieszka - Pont des Arts

6:50 AM - Agnieszka lives in Manchester (United Kingdom). During her stay in Paris, Agnieszka chose to live near Montmartre. For this morning tour, we decided to go southward to join the river Seine and return to Montmartre by finishing by a sports ascent towards the basilica of the "Sacré Cœur".

On our way back, we crossed several mills: the "Moulin-Rouge" and the two mills which constitute the "Moulin de la Galette" (the "Blute-fin" and the "Radet").
Contrary to the "Moulin de la Galette", the "Moulin Rouge" was never a real windmill, but from the beginning, a cabaret, this famous cabaret which saw the birth of the "French cancan" and which is always in service.

These two windmills served to grind wheat but also to press grape to make wine. Formerly, Montmartre possessed numerous windmills. These two mills are the only remaining ones.

Agnieszka - Moulin de la Galette (here the "Radet") - Montmartre

Gradually, the "Moulin de la Galette" was transformed into a cabaret. The ball of the "Moulin de la Galette" was famous and attracted numerous artists. Among them, Auguste Renoir, as witnesses his pictures: "Le bal du Moulin de la Galette".

Bal du moulin de la Galette, Auguste Renoir, 1876, Musée d'Orsay

In Paris, works of art are not only in museums: the "Street Art" can be seen almost everywhere. See the one-way street sign behind Agnieszka on the photo near the Mill.Had you noticed this man who takes the white bar?

Merci Agnieszka !

The route of the tour:

At the Palais Royal with Ray

Ray - Pont des Arts

6:48 AM - Ray, who lives near Sydney (Australia), on a business trip to France, took advantage of this Saturday morning to do a visit of Paris by running. Ray is an experienced coach who trains high-level athletes (See Ray's web site). It is thus with a good pace that we went to discover the city.

Having run on the left bank, we crossed the river Seine by the "Ile de la Cité" then joined the Palais Royal (Royal Palace), very quiet in the morning.

Ray - Garden of the Palais Royal

The Palais Royal was built by Cardinal de Richelieu in 1628. The Palace was then called the Cardinal Palace. After the death of Richelieu, the Regent Anne of Austria settled down there. His sons, king Louis XIV and his brother spent their first years there. The period of "La Fronde" (The sling) where the parliament and the noble persons dispute the royal authority, brought the king Louis XIV outside Paris. The Palace of Versailles was one of its biggest creations outside the capital.

Palais Royal and Palais Royal's garden

After the Sling and the departure of young king Louis XIV, the Royal Palace witnessed numerous historic periods, the feasts of the Regency at the beginning of the 18th century for example, the debates of ideas and the start of the Revolution of 1789, then with the 19th century, the world of Cafés, houses of games and of prostitution (games and soliciting were forbidden in the 1830s)...

Do you remember of the small cannon of the Palais Royal about which we had spoken here?

More recently, in 1986, the Palais Royal exhibited a work of modern Art, "Les Deux plateaux" of the artist Daniel Buren, so called the "Columns of Buren":

Ray - Palais Royal - Columns of Buren

These columns aroused an important debate within the population and in the media. The work of Art was nearly demolished.

Very recently, as seen at the left of the photo above, quite wooden, a new theater appeared, the "Théâtre de l'Ephémère" (Short-lived Theatre), which replaces temporarily the nice building of "La Comédie Française", currently being renovated.

Merci Ray !

The route of the tour:

Four mornings to explore Paris with Sarah

Sarah - Hôtel de Ville

6:30 AM - Sarah of Houston (USA), wished to discover Paris by running four following mornings with Paris Running Tour. It is thus with a big enthusiasm that we investigated the center of Paris as well right bank as left bank (see routes at the end of the post).

Did you know that the metric system was set up during the Revolution?

The National Convention (constitutional and legislative revolutionary assembly), to generalize the use of the metric system disposed sixteen marble standard meters at the most frequented places of Paris.
These meters were installed between February, 1796 and December, 1797. With Sarah, during our explorations, we found both last ones who remain at present in Paris, the one of the right photo being the only one who is still on its original site:

Standard meter Place Vendôme - Standard meter street of Vaugirard

On the "grands boulevards", we discovered two triumphal arches:

Porte Saint-Martin - Porte Saint-Denis

Yes, before the Arcs of Triumph wanted by Napoleon the 1st, place de l'Etoile and in the Carrousel of the Louvre, Louis XIV ordered the construction of these two Arcs in honor of his military victories (See the inscription at the top of the Arcs: "Ludovico Magno", Louis the Great). Louis XIV, Sun King did not only make Versailles!

The Arc of "La Porte Saint Denis" ("Porte"=door) and the Arc of "La Porte Saint-Martin" are in the location of former fortified doors of Paris, both belonging to the surrounding wall of king Charles V.
Indeed, the "Grand boulevards" which we know now correspond to the ancient surrounding fortifications of Paris, built by Charles V, widened by Louis XIII, then destroyed under Louis XIV
The word "Boulevard" comes moreover from the word "Bolevers" which comes itself from the ancient Dutch word "Bolewerk" meaning "Ramparts".

From the Charles V's surrounding wall (1383) to the "nouveau Cours" (1705 ) - Representation of the door Saint-Martin

See these trees planted all along the Boulevard. The Parisians called them "boules vertes" (Green balls). Boules vertes = Boulevards! Other origin of the word!

Among our other historic explorations, we found the ancient Arenas of Lutetia (Lutetia = Paris before the third century later JC). They were accidentally discovered by chance during works in 1870. These Roman arenas could contain more than 10000 spectators. Under their eyes took place gladiators' fights, fights of wildcats but also representations of comedies or dramas.

Sarah - Arenas of Lutetia

Nowadays, it is a quiet place for games of balls or tournaments of petanque. From time to time, theater companies play there. 

Merci Sarah !

The routes of the four tours:

Under the sign of the French-American friendship with Cori

Cori - Pont des Arts and Louvre

7:10 AM - Cori from New York City (USA), came to Paris for a short stay of three days. Cori however wished to make a long tour in Paris, in spite of the small drizzle we had this morning.
We thus made a long loop and crossed Paris since the Arc de Triomphe up to Notre-Dame by way of the Eiffel Tower. 

We placed our route under the sign of the French-American friendship by beginning the tour with the square of the United States in the 16th district of Paris. We can find a monument there dedicated to this good alliance. It calls back the support of France for the young America, a handshake between Lafayette and Washington :

Cori - Square of the United States

A little later, we discovered the Eiffel Tower, the head in clouds:

Cori - Tour Eiffel

Before following the Seine, in particular to cross the Pont des Arts, we met the Quai Branly Museum :

Cori - Quai Branly museum

The Quai Branly Museum, the museum of the Arts and Civilizations is very recent, it was opened in 2006.
Do those who made the race of the 20 km of Paris at the end of 1990s remember that the place was during a few years the place of withdrawal of the race bibs?

Merci Cori !

The route of the tour :

Paris Marathon 2012, Kilometer 1, with Sarah

Sarah - Place du Canada

6:56 AM - Sarah from Canada, who works and lives with her family in the Bahamas, has already run several marathons. We went to visit Paris by running on a circuit of a dozen kilometers. Several times, our road crossed the path of the very next marathon of Paris (April 15th), which allowed us to share our experiences of marathon runners. Sarah evoked the magnificent marathon of Nassau, Bahamas, along the sea.

Going up to the Chaillot hill, we crossed the Palais de Tokyo, contemporary art museum.
Above the entrance is a huge countdown. But what does it count?
The artist, Gianni Motti, the creator of this digital clock, appropriates one of the biggest future natural disasters: his "Big Crunch Clock" is the detonator activated "to provoke" the explosion of the sun (planned in 5 billion years by the scientists). This clock deducts the time by tenth of seconds to trigger the 5 billion years "scheduled to trigger the explosion."

Entrance of the "Palais de Tokyo" - Contemporary Art Museum - "Big Crunch Clock" Gianni Motti

But let us return to the marathon. By way of the Champs Elysées, we noticed that the kilometric marks on the ground were already there, for example, the kilometer 1 at the bottom of the magnificent avenue, little before reaching the place de la Concorde:

Paris Marathon 2012- Kilometer 1 - Champs-Elysées

The number which provokes so many feelings to the marathon runners is doubtless "42".
The kilometer 42 is also already indicated, as well as the arrival, a little less than 200 meters farther, in front of the Arc de Triomphe:

Paris Marathon 2012 - Kilometer 42 - Avenue Foch (and Mile 26 a little before)

Miles are indicated on the route as well such as the mile "26" which is for our English-speaking marathonian friends the "mythical" number (Marathon = 42.195 km or 26 miles and 386 yards).
Discover the marathon route here. 
We wish you a beautiful Paris Marathon!

Merci Sarah !

The route of the tour :