Discovery of Paris history by running with Felicity

Felicity - The Louvre and the garden of the Tuileries
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7:58 AM -  With Felicity from Melbourne (Australia), we rediscovered the city at a good pace while admiring tracks left by the history on the scene, monuments and buildings of Paris.
We crossed The Louvre which made us go back up to 16th century, period when the king François the 1st replaced the ancient fortress by a luxurious residence. Since, during the centuries, the Louvre grew rich of numerous extensions.

Of the Louvre, we went through the Garden of the Tuileries, Italian-style garden, begun in the same period by Catherine de Medici. It is an ideal place to run.
Look at these trees sized as balls on the photo above. Their shape is created by a probably old technique and still used, as we can see here: 

We then ran on the Alexandre III bridge, who sent us in 1900, year of its creation:

Alexandre III bridge
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Back in the past, at first in Notre-Dame, the construction of which begins in 1163,

Notre Dame (and its new Christmas tree)
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then in "Le Marais" district, where we found the most ancient houses of Paris, two medieval "buildings", doubtless built in the XIVth century and having undergone some renovations (originally, they probably had to possess corbelled constructions as many houses of the Middle Ages):

François Miron street
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Merci Felicity !

The route of the tour :

In front of the Opéra Garnier with Lourdes

Lourdes - Opéra Garnier Paris
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8:17 AM -  Lourdes, from Mexico, ended its stay in Europe with a short stage in Paris. How to take advantage of Paris when we have not a lot of time? A fast morning run before taking back the plane? Why not?! How lucky! The weather was very beautiful on this Saturday morning.
From the North of Paris, we thus ran to join the Louvre and the Tuileries by benefiting of the Palais Royal, the place Vendôme and the Opera Garnier.

We made a small break to be able to admire the Opera.
If you look on the right of the Opera, in the left of the porch, you perceive a statue, the Dance :

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"La Danse ", representing the genius of the Dance, was realized by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux for the Opéra Garnier. It is here a copy. You can see the original statue at the Museum of Orsay.

During its implementation in 1869, the work made scandal! "What?! Naked women enjoying life!"

The architect Charles Garnier, creator of the opera, even received a famous letter: " I have a woman, Sir, and girls fascinated by music who often go to the opera. It will be impossible for them henceforth because I shall never grant to lead them in a monument the sign of which is the one of a bad place. "!

Some even threw ink on the statue:

Under the pressure of the public opinion, Napoleon III was ready to remove the work, but the war of 1870 burst and saved the statue. To find the original statue (cleaned!), go to the Musée d'Orsay. Take advantage of it, the museum was completely renewed in 2011.

Merci Lourdes !

The route of the tour :

From the Eiffel Tower toward Notre-Dame by the Louvre with Marnie

Marnie - Tour Eiffel - Notre Dame de Paris

7:31 AM -  It is with a good pace that we went through the banks of the Seine with Marnie, who lives in Washington (USA) and who did several marathons (including Boston). We ran westward to take advantage of the morning sight on the Eiffel Tower: nobody on the esplanade of the Trocadéro early in the morning! We then followed the Seine to join Notre-Dame, also for us only.

With no more difficulties, we finished our tour running by the Louvre.

Marnie - Le Louvre

What a pleasure to run in Paris while ways are clear!

The Louvre has a long history: it was at first a watchtower used by the Franks to attack the island of "la cité" in the 5th century, later the fort created by king Philippe Auguste in the 12th century, then the luxurious Royal residence and finally the public museum decided by the Revolution. 
Every period made its contribution to the construction and to the extensions of the Louvre, the quite last creation being the Louvre Pyramid of the architect Ming Pei in 1983 (Pyramid which replaced bushes and parking lot then in the center of the Louvre). We can admire numerous details of the facades of the Louvre and sometimes original ornaments as this small locomotive for example:

Le Louvre

Yes, this part was created during the extension of the railroad in the 19th century! 

Merci Marnie !

The route of the tour :

From the top of Montmartre to the Tuileries with Ai

Ai - Palais de l'Elysée (Elysee Palace)

7:02 AM -  On early Thursday morning, with Ai, who lives in Seattle (USA), we decided to begin our tour with a sports ascent towards the "butte Montmartre". Ai generally runs on hilly roads in the region of Seattle. In Paris, the running routes are relatively flat, except for some rare exceptions, as Montmartre.

The continuation was easier. At first, the descent led us towards the Elysée Palace, the French Republic president's residence, then, on the way back, we admired some of the numerous sculptures which decorate Paris, among which the General Lafayette's statue and his small curiosity, a tortoise who accompanies the steps of his horse...

General Lafayette and the little tortoise (click on the image to enlarge it)

By continuing our road, we crossed the garden of the Tuileries which abounds in works of art. New creations appear there from time to time, on the occasion of exhibitions temporary like the FIAC which is held from 20th till 23th October in various places of Paris.

We were entitled to some previews, of which "Earthlings" of the artist Adrian Villar Rojas, "fallen column" which provokes a funny effect when we meet it for the first time.

Earthlings - Adrian Villar Rojas (click on the image to enlarge it)

It does not however seem to disturb the sons of Caïn, Paul Landowski's work, which stands a little farther.

The sons of Cain - Paul Landowski (click on the image to enlarge it)

Merci Ai !

The route of the tour :

Two mornings in the discovery of Paris with Jason

Jason - Place de la Concorde

8:50 AM - Friday and Saturday - Jason, who lives in Brooklyn (NY - USA), chose to discover Paris by running two following mornings.

The first day, we explored the island of La Cité, the Louvre, the Palais-Royal, the place Vendôme, the place de la Concorde to return along the Seine. We finished our running in the Arenas of Lutetia; gladiators fought there when Paris was a part of the Roman Empire.  

The next day, we ran Left bank, crossed by the Pantheon, the garden of the Luxembourg, crossed the residence of the Prime Minister: Matignon, admired the Rodin museum since the street, and joined then the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower then returned by the boulevard Saint Germain.

Jason and a well-known tower in Paris

Our route brought us to cross the limits of Paris in the Middle Ages, the Louvre which was a fort intended to protect the western edge of the city and the surrounding wall of king Philippe Auguste some vestiges of which there are still in the current Paris, as the wall that we can see street Clovis (5th arrondissement):

In the 12th century, Paris represented a small portion of the present Paris, surrounded by Philippe Auguste's wall (in yellow on the image) and protected by the Louvre, a fort in the time (in blue): 

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By getting closer, we can see some places where we can find the old and still visible wall nowadays: 

Click on the image to enlarge it

Merci Jason !

The routes of the tours:

Passing in front of the horses of Marly with Mary

Les Tuileries - Mary

8:00 AM - With Mary who lives near New York (USA), we chose the circuit of the most beautiful Parisian Palaces: the Ritz, the hotel Meurice, the Bristol, the George V, the Plaza Athénée... The Palaces tour also allowed us to run along one of the nicest routes of Paris, crossing by the "Ile de la Cité", the Louvre, the
Tuileries, Champs-Elysées...

On our road, we were able to admire the Horses of Marly* which are in the West entrance of the Tuileries:

Coysevox - La Renommée (The Fame) - Mercure (Mercury)

and at the Est entrance of the Champs-Elysées:

Coustou - Horses of Marly

Actually, these statues are copies, originals being in the Musée du Louvre in a gallery visible from the outside. We can see them through a window from the passage between the Louvre Pyramid and the street of Rivoli (passage we took during our running):

Le Louvre, cour Marly - Horses of Marly - Originals

Those who, children in the sixties, looked at the French television, know well one of these statues. In the time, the programs began only late in the afternoon and were preceded by a TV test card which showed the statue "La Renommée". The children in wait of emissions had all the leisure to admire it:

Merci Mary !

The route of the tour :

* Marly, where from come the statues, was one of the favorite residences of the king Louis XIV.

Running in the Champs-Elysées with Françoise and Benoît

Françoise and Benoît - Champs-Elysées

8:59 AM - With Françoise and Benoît of Belgium, we began our run on the Parisian western historic axis. This "royal" way begins in the Louvre with the equestrian statue of Louis XIV, crosses the garden of the Tuileries, continues by the Champs-Elysées, passes under the Arc de Triomphe and continues up to the business district of the La Defense to end at the Grande Arche.

We then continued our sports stroll along the Seine on the left bank.
In passing on the Pont des Arts, we saw the "beaches of Paris ": Paris-Plages.
Paris-Plages is an event which takes place in Paris in summer on the right bank automobile traffic lane: some sand, deckchairs, games, concerts, any sorts of activities and this year, a beautiful sand castle!

Paris-Plages

Merci Benoît et Françoise !

The route of the tour :