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:

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).

A sports and cultural tour of Paris with Ingrid at Christmas

Ingrid - Gallery Vivienne

8:32 AM - Ingrid lives in Uberaba, Brazil. To begin her stay in Paris, Ingrid chose to make a Paris Running Tour. On Sunday morning, two days before Christmas, Paris is quite decorated for the holidays. As we can see above, the beautiful Gallery Vivienne (1823) also respects the tradition.

Our run, in this very quiet Paris of a Sunday morning before Christmas, allowed us to see a highly varied Paris: passages (Gallery Vivienne, passage of the "Grand Cerf", passage of Bourg-L'abbé), the Paris of Napoleon the 1st with the Arc of the Carousel, the modern Paris with the Pompidou Center or the very old Paris with Nicolas Flamel's house.

Ingrid - House of Nicolas Flamel

Nicolas Flamel's house, which dates 1407, is the oldest of Paris (older than those of the street François Miron). Nicolas Flamel was a rich "Bourgeois" who, with his wife Pernelle, made build houses to welcome the poor people. This one, street of Montmorency, is the last existing one. An inscription indicates the prayers that the inhabitants of the place had to make : "We, ploughmen and women living at the porch of this house, which was made in 1407, are requested to say every day an 'Our Father' and an 'Ave Maria' praying God that His grace forgive poor and dead sinners Amen".
It is at present an inn.

Some strides farther, it is the modern Paris which we discover.

Ingrid - Centre Pompidou - "The Zinedine Zidane's headbutt" Piece of Adel Abdessemed

Effectively, we find the Pompidou Center, one of the biggest world Contemporary Arts Centers. It welcomes at present a temporary exhibition of the artist Adel Abdessemed. We can see on the square a (provocative?) sculpture representing the headbutt given by the famous football player Zinedine Zidane to an opponent having a little moved words...

Ingrid - Arc du Carrousel

We have already spoken about the Arc of the Carrousel during a tour with Kristy. 
Had you noticed the quadriga at the top of the Arc? 
In fact, the sculpture is a copy.
Napoleon 1st had taken the original statue to the Venetians who themselves had stolen it during the sack of Constantinople in 1204 (The quadriga were ordered by Emperor Constantin in 330).
With Napoleon's fall, the original horses were returned to Venice where you can admire them place Saint Marc. 

To finish, here is a small postcard with other beautiful places seen during our visit:

Merry christmas to all!
Merci Ingrid !

The route of the tour:

Center of Paris, right bank with Liz and Curt

Curt and Liz - The "Bourse de Paris"

9:12 AM - Curt and Liz are regular runners who live near Boston (USA). We left the Opera to make a big visit, more than 10 miles (16 km) to discover Paris center, on the Right bank side (a good training for the half marathon Curt prepares).

Not far from the Opera, we found the "Bourse de Paris". Ordered by Napoleon the 1st and created by Alexandre Théodore Brongniart, the building called Palais Brongniart (Brongniart Palace), served for a long time as stock exchange, the Paris Stock Exchange, before the transactions were dematerialized since the 1980s.
Remember:

Now everything is computerized!
The "Bourse de Paris" serves now as a conference, receptions, fashion shows, showroom or exhibitions center.

Later, we crossed "Le Marais" quarter (Marais=swamp), very quiet on this Sunday morning. No cars! The street belongs to the runners!

Curt and Liz - The Marais

Sunday morning, ideal moment to run in Paris! How many discoveries by running, the old Paris, the modern Paris, the fashion shops, the museums, the passages...

The Marais, the "Passage des Panoramas", The "Pont des Arts", The Pyramide of the Louvre
The first shop of a very fashionable shoes manufacturer, The Louvre, The river Seine

On our way, a couple of tourists asked Liz to photograph them. It fell well, Liz is, among others, a professional photographer!

Liz - Louvre and the Arc of the Carousel

Merci Liz ! Merci Curt !

The route of the tour :

Under the Arc du Carousel with Kristy

Arc du Carousel - Kristy

8:01 AM - Kristy, from Atlanta (USA), one week after running the half-marathon of Georgia, and having fully recover from the race, chose to do a sporting visit of Paris with Paris Running Tour. We explored "l'Ile de la Cité", the right bank going through "le Louvre", "les Tuileries" and the "Champs Elysées", then we rejoined the left bank to run under the arches of the Eiffel tower, we crossed "les Invalides" and went along the river Seine to finish in the Quartier Latin.
During the visit, as the armies of Napoléon, we "triumphantly" went through the "Arc du Carousel"!
Merci Kristy*!
The "Arc du Carousel":
After his victory in Austerlitz, Napoléon declared to his troops : "I will bring you back to France. You will pass through arches of triumph on your way to your homes!". Therefore were constructed the "Arc du Carousel" at the Tuileries and the majestic Arc de Triomphe at place de l'Etoile.
130 years before, Louis XIV ordered the construction of the Arcs of "la Porte Saint-Martin" and of "la Porte Saint-Denis" in the North of Paris.

Un jour de revue sous l'Empire. Hippolyte Bellangé 1862. Musée du Louvre. © Photo RMN - F. Raux

On this picture, in the background, behind the Arc du Carousel, we can see the "Palais des Tuileries", which closed the Louvre by the west side. The palace was burnt during the events of "La Commune" in 1871.

* See Kristy's blog about running and healthy food, a good choice for life!

The route of the tour: