12th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 19th centuries, a stroll in the History of Paris with Aveen and David

Aveen and David - "Jardin des Plantes" (Garden of the Plants)

8:05 AM - With Aveen and David, confirmed runners from Dublin (Ireland), we explored Paris, by running and stopping in front of various buildings or places which restore the city such as it was in the previous centuries.

Discovering "Le Marais", the Left bank (Latin Quarter et "Saint-Germain des Près"), the Louvre and "Ile de la Cité" is a journey through the time and a way of feeling the History of Paris.

Paris was damaged, bombarded but never totally destroyed as were London (Great fire of 1666) or Lisbon (Earthquake of 1755). In Paris, all the layers of History are represented (since the Roman Lutetia).

Our route thus led us:

• in the 12th century with Notre-Dame,

Aveen and David - Notre-Dame seen from the Bridge of "La Tournelle" (the first stone was put in 1163)

• in the 14th century with the magnificent "Hôtel de Sens",

Aveen and David - "Hôtel de Sens", built in 1345, formerly Hotel of the Archbishops of Sens 
(Paris depending on the archbishopric of Sens until 1622).
On the left part of the building, look (below and to the right of the roof) at the cannonball pulled in July, 1830, always stuck in the wall. The date in July 28th, 1830 is registered under the cannonball.

• in the 16th century with the Carnavalet Museum (formerly "Hôtel de Carnavalet" and "Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau")

David and Aveen - Carnavalet Museum. Look at the magnificent blazon of Paris above the door (1889). 
Carnavalet is the Paris museum (go there and discover the History of Paris through numerous exhibitions).

• and the place Dauphine, also created at the end of the 16th century,

David et Aveen - Place Dauphine.
Notice the buildings with the red bricks. Do not they remind you those that we see "Place des Vosges"? Look at the photo Place Vosges below. These two squares were created at the same time, Royal Places!

Let us admire now four beautiful places appeared in the 17th century:

• The "Jardin du Luxembourg" (Garden of Luxembourg),

David and Aveen - 
The "Jardin du Luxembourg", created in 1612 by Marie de Médicis with the Palace of Luxembourg (now the French Senate).

• The "Jardin des Plantes", initially Royal garden of the Medicinal Plants created in 1626 (see the picture at the beginning of this article),

• The "Place des Vosges",

David and Aveen - "Place des Vosges".
Compare the building with the ones of "place Dauphine" (see the photo above).

• The "Hôtel de Sully".

David and Aveen - The Hotel of Sully, magnificent Mansion in the "Marais", the residence of Duke of Sully, Minister of Finance of Henri IV (among others!).

Our road also passes in the 19th century with the "Place de la Contrescarpe", created in 1852 in the location of a counter-scarp of Philippe Auguste's surrounding wall (12th century).

David and Aveen - "Place de la Contrescarpe" 
In the back, the street Mouffetard which dates of the roman time.

Merci Aveen ! Merci David !


The route of the tour:

In the Latin Quarter with Erin et James

Erin and James - "Pont des Arts" (Bridge of Arts)

10:17 AM - Last June, we visited the Latin Quarter with Erin and James from Texas. At the end of the route, we passed by the "Pont des Arts". But where are the famous love padlocks? 
Too heavy for the bridge, Paris replaced them temporarily by panels painted by artists (while waiting for the definitive transparent panels).
Look at the photo above. The Arms of Paris were represented in a funny way, a banana for the boat and a bone for the mast!

A journalist of the Swiss Television accompanied us and realized this report:



A beautiful stroll in Paris.

We actually studied the pediment of the Pantheon. Here is the photo taken in the video:

Erin and James - The Panthéon

"AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE"
"TO GREAT MEN THE GRATEFUL HOMELAND" is displayed on the Pantheon, monument to the glory of the great Men of French history. The crypt welcomes a large number of famous persons, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Jean Moulin... Many men but only four women: Marie Curie, Sophie Berthelot (wife of the chemist), Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, both last ones entered the Pantheon last May. One day, maybe we shall see another inscription: " TO GREAT WOMEN AND GREAT MEN... "

Let us look closer at the pediment (in the report, we present the French Cock):

The Panthéon - On the left of the Nation, the civil society, on the right, the military representation (even if the high-ranking military figures rest in the Invalides like Napoléon or Foch)

After the Pantheon, we continue our route in the Latin Quarter (Cf. meaning of the name Latin Quarter), after the beautiful "place de la Contrescarpe", we join the Arenas of Lutèce going through a pretty flowered staircase (in harmony with the running wear!) :

Erin - "Rue Monge" (Monge street)

In the video, we evoke Montaigne's foot which gives luck:

Erin - "Rue des Ecoles" (Street of the Schools)

The story is funny. The students actually come to caress the foot of the philosopher Montaigne and formulate a wish (success in the examinations thanks to the knowledge of Montaigne?).
Before the current bronze statue, was a marble statue. This statue was created in 1933 by Paul Landowski. Here is the photo of its inauguration:

"Rue des Ecoles" - Statue of Montaigne - 1933

Made with a nice white marble, the statue attracted graffitis, paint, ink, lipstick... The right foot touched permanently and unceremoniously, was broken numerous times.
The statue had to be so often restored that Paris preferred to replace it by an exact copy but with a more robust material, bronze!
Robust, well, look at the patina of the shoe...

For another story about a bronze then marble statue, look this at this article where we speak about the Statue of Louis XIII "place des Vosges".

Merci Erin ! Merci James !
And thank you Michel from the Swiss Television!

The route of the tour:

Two early morning runs to discover Paris, with Agnes

Agnes - Pont au Change - La Conciergerie

Thursday 3 July 5:55 AM, Saturday 5 July 7:33 AM - Agnes lives in Los Angeles. Among the numerous visits which she foresaw to know Paris, Agnes included two Paris Running Tours, two morning visits to fully enjoy the capital.
Indeed, it is a good means to understand the city landscape, discover numerous sites, to know its history and its architecture but also to apprehend its places, streets and squares in a sport way.

First morning:
A few minutes after the sunrise, a start not far from the Opera. Let us go to see the Eiffel Tower.
Place of Concorde, we begin to see the tower far off:

Agnes - Place de la Concorde - Behind the Obelisk, far off, the Eiffel Tower (notice the preparations for the National Day, on July 14th, with the stands which are going to welcome the government for the parade)

Let us get closer. Place of the Alma, the Eiffel Tower is more and more visible:

Agnes - Place de l'Alma with the Flame of Liberty, an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame and underneath, the famous tunnel of Alma
In the background, the Eiffel tower

Now, let us go to the Esplanade of the Trocadéro, one of the best locations to see the Eiffel Tower:

Agnes - "Esplanade du Trocadéro" - The Eiffel tower, very close!

Look at the landscape visible since the Esplanade, with in the background, on the left, Notre Dame, the Pantheon and the dome of the Invalides:

Let us go towards Notre Dame. After a few kilometers of running, we can see the Cathedral, closer this time, since the bridge of the Carrousel:

Agnes - Bridge if the Carrousel - Far off, on the Island of "La Cité", the Saint-chapel and Notre Dame

Second morning:
Small rain this morning.
Today, we are going to admire Notre Dame and the Pantheon. Let us cross the Bridge of the Arts (with a small "Hello" to the Eiffel Tower, far off):

Agnes - "Pont des Arts" - Far off, the Eiffel tower

We join the Pantheon and greet the great man recently arrived:

Agnes - The Panthéon

The Pantheon in restoration, as we can see it with these scaffolds on the photo, welcomes the exhibition of the artist JR.

We follow our route to finally find the Cathedral "Notre Dame de Paris":

Agnes - Notre Dame - Notice on the ground, the marks which testify of the presence of a street (which existed until the middle of 19th century. Under the feet of Agnes, the mark of a church, Sainte Genevieve des Ardens)

Before finishing our run, we cross another church, the Church Saint Eustache (built from 1532 till 1633):

Agnes - Church Saint Eustache

Funny detail, before the construction of the current church, stood a chapel (built at the beginning of the XIIIth century). This chapel was dedicated to Saint Agnès!

Merci Agnes !

The routes of the tours:

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:

In Paris, under the pink morning light with Amy

Amy - Pont du Carrousel (Bridge of the Carrousel)

7:03 AM - Amy, from Florida, chose to make an early morning Paris Running Tour in this beautiful day of March 9th. The light was magnificent, giving a beautiful pink aspect to the landscape. At this hour, on Sunday morning, nobody in streets, very few cars, Paris for us alone and some other morning runners.

Look at the first picture above, from the "Pont du Carousel", look at the pink gradation which goes with the sunrise and shines on the river Seine and the buildings of the Louvre.

Admire the sight from the "Pont de la Concorde", on the east side:

Amy - Pont de la Concorde - In the background, from left to right : the Tuileries, the Sainte-Chapelle,
Notre-Dame, the Institute of France and the "Musée d'Orsay"

then, on the west side :

Amy - Pont de la Concorde - In the background, a big iron tower ;), the new banks
and the "Pont Alexandre III"

On Sunday morning, we can even stop in the middle of the road in front of the Champs-Elysées to take a photo without being afraid of cars:

Amy - "Place de la Concorde" - The Champs-Elysées, in the background, the "Arc de Triomphe"
and far, the "Grande Arche" of "la Défense"

While going back to the east, we stop at the entrance of the garden of the Tuileries, to make a small salute to the "Statue of the Fame" which sounds the triumph of the sun in Paris!

Amy - Garden of the Tuileries with in the background, from left to right, the copy of the Statue of the Fame, the "Grand Palais", the Obelisk of Louxor in the center of the "place de la Concorde"

A perfect weather, a beautiful light, ideal to run in Paris!

Merci Amy !

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: