With Laura, meeting Geneviève, Patroness of Paris and model of resistance

Laura - Notre-Dame

3:53 PM - Laura lives in Oklahoma where she is an active member of a group of runners, Runhers, who promotes a healthy and sports life, notably thanks to the running.

Program of this afternoon: a discovery of the Paris Left bank.

The University of "La Sorbonne":

Laura - University of "la Sorbonne" - "Rue Saint-Jacques"
Discover a sight of Sorbonne and its history in this other article

The "rue du Cardinal Lemoine", where we met the house of the Irish writer James Joyce:

Laura - "71 rue du Cardinal Lemoine"
James Joyce wrote his novel "Ulysses" here.
Not far, one of Ernest Hemingway's houses (remember this article)

The beautiful "Place de la Contrescarpe":

Laura - "Place de la Contrescarpe"

The "Jardin des Plantes", from where we can see the huge skeleton of a whale, behind the windows of the Gallery of Paleontology:

Laura - Gallery of Paleontology and Compared Anatomy of the National Natural History Museum

During our run, in the garden of Luxembourg, we crossed Geneviève, the Patroness of Paris:

Laura - "Sainte Geneviève" (see also this article)

Geneviève, daughter of a Frankish father and a Gallo-Roman mother, would have been a municipal member of the council of Paris.
According to the tradition, Geneviève, in the year 451, would have prevented Attila and his Huns from invading Paris by encouraging its inhabitants to the resistance.

Geneviève, model of courage and endurance for Laura who is successively going to run the Chicago marathon then the one of New York this fall.

Go Laura!

The route of the tour:

Meeting the American writers in Paris with Mary, Susan and Sonia

Mary, Susan, Sonia - "Esplanade des Invalides"

Thursday 26 June - 7:00 AM, Saturday 28 June - 7:33 AM - Mary, Susan and Sonia from Denver (USA) chose to discover Paris while running with Paris Running Tour.

We ran two mornings mainly on the left bank of the Seine.
Left bank! Bank of Paris particularly appreciated by intellectuals and artists, especially in the 1920s, 30 and 50 ...
Many American writers have lived and wrote there (remember the Woody Allen film "Midnigth in Paris" where the hero played by Owen Wilson returns to the past to find Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and many others). 

Many places still bear witness to their presence, as this plate reveals that Edith Wharton lived in this building of the rue de Varenne:

Susan, Mary and Sonia - "53 rue de Varenne"

Edith Wharton was the first writer from the United States to come to live in France as indicated. "My years of Paris life were spent entirely in the rue de Varenne - rich years, crowded and happy years" as she wrote.

A little further, continuing our run street of Varenne, it is a French artist that we will meet this time, Auguste Rodin:

Susan, Mary, Sonia - Rodin Museum (garden and building)

From the street, behind glasses, we found the statue of the Burghers of Calais in the garden of the Rodin Museum. Find the history of "Les Bourgeois de Calais" in this article.

Continue our route around the Invalides...

Susan, Sonia, Mary - "Hôtel des Invalides" and Eiffel tower in the backgroung

...to reach the right bank and enjoy a beautiful view of the "Musée d'Orsay" and the "Hôtel de Salm", the "Palais de la Légion d'Honneur":

Susan, Mary and Sonia - Orsay Museum and Palace of the Legion of Honor

On Saturday, after a run at the foot of the Seine bridges:

Susan and Mary - "Petit Pont" and further, the "Pont Saint-Michel" (Pont=Bridge)

... we went to see one of the places where Ernest Hemingway lived in Paris:

Susan and Mary - "74 rue du Cardinal Lemoine"

Read what he wrote in his book "A Moveable Feast":
... "this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."
A green door for Edith Wharton and a blue door for Ernest Hemingway... ; )
Just around the corner is the pretty little "Place de la Contrescarpe" Hemingway loved:

Susan and Mary - "Place de la Contrescarpe"

On the way back, we stopped in front of the marble standard meter of the "rue de Vaugirard":

Mary and Susan - Street of Vaugirard

Merci Mary ! Merci Susan ! Merci Sonia !

The routes of the tours:

In front of the Embassy of Texas in Paris with Kristina

Kristina - Alexandre III bridge - "La fillette à la coquille" (the girl with the shell), sculpted by Léopold Morice

9:55 AM - Kristina lives just in front of Manhattan (New York). We ran and discovered Paris on a beautiful morning of May.
The magnificent Alexandre III bridge presents numerous groups of statues. Some evoke diverse representations of the Fame, others, France in various periods of its history.
The girl with the shell, which we can see on the photo above, is a member of numerous statues bound to the marine world (the Nereid, the child and the fantastic fish, dolphins and other shells).
It is a pity people hung on to it padlocks (look at the hands of the statue by enlarging the photo)..

Very close to the place where we started our running, Place Vendôme, we met the Embassy of Texas!

Kristina - "Embassy of Texas"

Embassy of Texas?
Yes, read the plaque which we can see on the building behind Kristina:

It is written:
"Embassy of Texas. In 1842-1843 this building was the seat of the Embassy of the Republic of Texas in Paris. With the Franco-Texan Treaty of 29 September 1839 France became the first nation to recognize the Republic of Texas, an independant state between 1836 and 1845."

A little farther, after having run in the magnificent Garden of the Tuileries,

Kristina - Jardin des Tuileries

It is in front of another place of political representation that we stop:

Kristina - Palais de l'Elysée - "La Grille du Coq"

The Palace of "Elysée", official residence of the President of the French Republic.
Look at the railing which closes the garden of the Palace south side: it is the Railing of the Gallic cockerel. Remember, we had spoken about this cock here.

By continuing our road towards the Eiffel Tower, we pass by a street the name of which evokes a city well known by Kristina:

Kristina - Avenue de New-York

In 1918, this way is named Avenue of Tokio (with one "i" as it was the custom at the beginning of the 20th century). At the end of the World War I, the avenue receives this name because Japan was an ally of France.
In 1945, the avenue of Tokio is renamed avenue of New York, the most populated city of the United States, the country which participated in the France liberation (Japan having become an enemy during the World War II).
The Palace of Tokyo, very close, built for the World Fair of 1937, kept its name.

We were lucky! By going to the Eiffel Tower, the cannons of the garden of Trocadéro throw their powerful water jets:

Kristina - Jardin du Trocadéro

Merci Kristina !

The route of the tour:

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:

Chestnut trees in flowers, place Dauphine, with Lena

Lena - Place Dauphine

11:03 AM - Lena comes from Sweden. While running, we discovered a Paris colored by the spring.
Look at the photo above where the Place Dauphine shows proudly its chestnut trees in flower.
Created shortly after the "Place des Vosges" (at that time, Place Royale), the Place Dauphine owes its name to the son of king, the "Dauphin", future Louis XIII, son of Henri IV whose we can see the statue on the west of the Place.
Beautiful small quiet square, opened on the Justice Palace, it was until 1874 a square closed by a third side of buildings. The Place was then a complete triangle.

Before and after

Here are the buildings which constituted the basis of the triangle:

Place Dauphine before 1874 - East side - No trees at the time!

Other beautiful trees and vegetables accompanied our route:

The oldest tree in Paris

Lena - Locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia) planted in 1602 (Square René Viviani)

The plant wall which covers a part of the buildings of the Quai Branly Museum

Lena - Plant wall created in 2004 by Patrick Blanc (Administrative buildings of the Quai Branly Museum)

The trees which follow the new banks of the Seine

Lena - Banks of the river Seine (left bank) - In the background, the Eiffel Tower

Merci Lena !

The route of the tour :

Some small secrets of the Parisian landscapes, with Kara

Kara - Bridge of the Carrousel

8:01 AM - With Kara, who comes from Atlanta (USA), we ran on an attractive route of more than 9 km and took advantage of the magnificent landscapes offered by Paris, emphasized by the sun which accompanied us this morning: splendid urban landscapes of Paris, buildings and monuments which revealed us small secrets during our running.

For example on this photo of the Louvre taken since the bridge of the Carousel: do you see the lantern stands of the Pavilion of Lesdiguières which is at the right of the photo above?
Let us look closer:

Lantern of the Pavilion of Lesdiguières

Golden "N" decorate the balcony of the lantern as on the one of the pavilion which faces it, the pavilion of Rohan. These "N" placed in the end of the Second Empire in the middle of the 19th century, honor the Emperor Napoleon III.
But here, on the pavilion of Lesdiguières, these "N" are back to front! We think that the worker who put them, would have inverted them because of his hostility to Napoleon III!
This small secret was discovered during the restoration of the Louvre museum in 1985, more than one hundred years after their installation!

On the left, the lantern of the Pavilion of Rohan - On the right, the one of the Pavilion of Lesdiguières

Not far from there, the famous Bridge of the Arts. Some tourists call it henceforth the "Love Padlocks" bridge*1...

Kara - Footbridge of the Arts

It is true that it is about one of the most romantic places of Paris, it would be only by its sight on the Island of the "Cité". But what do we see if we get closer to the Island, behind the place Dauphine? A bird...

A bird...
It is one of the Imperial Eagles of the Justice Palace of Paris (Imperial Eagles dear to Napoléon the 1st, notice the "N" under the Eagle...):

By pursuing our running in the Louvre, we decide to make a photo in the very beautiful squared courtyard ("Cour carrée du Louvre"):

Kara - Cour carrée du Louvre

Under our feet you can find the first Louvre, the Medieval Louvre, a fort protecting the West of Paris by strengthening the Outer wall of king Philippe Auguste. If you visit the basements of the Louvre, you can see the foundations of the medieval castle. Here is its representation and a photo of its foundations:

Medieval Louvre - Foundations

By leaving the Louvre, we go through the garden of Tuileries and its numerous statues:

Kara - Garden of the Tuileries

Notice for example, on the right-hand side of the photo above, the Statue of the Oath of Spartacus:

By continuing along the historical axis of Paris, we arrive Place of La Concorde, magnificent place which really deserves a stop.

Kara, "place de la Concorde" - In the axis, the Champs-Elysées with the "Arc de Triomphe"

To the right, in the entrance of the Champs-Elysées, a rearing horse: one of the Horses of Marly. A copy of which the original is in the Louvre, original now protected from the vibrations provoked by the heavy machines of the National day military parade. 
Remember this article: Passing in front of the horses of Marly with Mary

If we take a close look, we distinguish green flags. They are the flags of the Paris Marathon that took place five days earlier!

Merci Kara !

The route of the tour:

*1 The City hall of Paris recently decided to forbid the pose of these padlocks on buildings or bridges of Paris because they threaten and damage these Parisian heritage. Artists are requested to find a respectful replacement to these wild poses (Article France 3 - in French).