Under the Eiffel tower with Rachel

Under the Eiffel Tower - Far off the Palais de Chaillot and the garden of Trocadéro

7:32 AM - Rachel, from Wales, is a regular runner with very good results... After the running tour in Paris, she arrived recently second woman of a half marathon.
At present, she prepares for the next London Marathon.
In this beginning of March, the sun is with us for an attractive tour of Paris by running.

Look at the photo above, we are just under the Eiffel Tower. Early morning in March, the place is very quiet. Compare with the crowd that we can find on Easter Mondays for example or on a summer weekend there... Running early morning in Paris is a delight!

Far off, on the other side of the Seine, we can recognize the majestic "Palais de Chaillot" which was built for the World Fair of 1937, last World Fair in Paris.

The Palace of Chaillot replaced the Palace of Trocadéro built in the same place, that time for the World Fair of 1878:

Aerial view of the "Palais du Trocadéro" - 1934

By the way, do you know what "Trocadéro" means?

It is a fort which is situated in Cadiz in Spain and the place of a French victory; France came to help Spain to restore the absolute monarchy in 1823 (the king Louis XVIII reigns at that time in France).
The Palace of the Trocadéro built in 1878 (and then the "Place du Trocadéro") owes its name to a royalist victory!

We went for running early, accompanied by the rising sun which lit for us the magnificent monuments of Paris:

The Arc de Triomphe. We are in his shadow, the sun beginning to light the Champs-Elysées

Palais Galliera
Museum of the fashion with until, August 23rd, 2015, the exhibition dedicated to Jeanne Lanvin

The Eiffel tower - We are at the "Palais de Chaillot"!

The Alexandre III bridge with in the back the statue symbolizing the France of the Renaissance. At the top  of the pylon, one of the four Fames: The Fame of the War. 
These four statues were covered with gold leaves in 1989.

The Bridge of the Arts and in the back, the "Galerie du bord de l'eau" of the Louvre - The "Pont des Arts", known these last years for all the padlocks which where put there by the loving tourists, is at present protected by wooden panels. These panels covered by graffitis spoil a little the beauty of the place. It should be temporary.

The Palais Royal and its famous Columns of Buren ("Les deux plateaux"). The "Théâtre Ephémère" (short-lived theater) now disappeared. This wooden theater had welcomed temporarily the troop of the "Comédie Française" during the works of the "Palais Royal". We can see again the garden of the "Palais Royal" through the columns.

The Garden of the Tuileries - Our shadows are still very long!

Merci Rachel ! 
We wish you a great London Marathon!

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:

Snapshots of a first visit in Paris, with Melinda

Melinda - On the bridge of Austerlitz. In the distance, Notre-Dame and Saint Louis Island beautiful houses

Monday 27th May - 12:51 PM, Wednesday 29th May - 6:57 PM - First time in Paris for Melinda from Miami (USA) ! 
What better choice than to start a first stay in Paris doing a visit by running (with Paris Running Tour)? A good way of unwinding legs after a long travel by plane and a first discovery of Paris getting directly into the life of the city.

And why not begin again two days later to discover new paths through Paris?
We thus ran by following two routes which mainly crossed the disctrict of "Le Marais", the Left bank, the island of "La Cité" and the center of Paris around the Seine.

Here is the route (numbers indicate where the photos of this article were taken):

We took numerous photos during our running:

1) "La rue des Barres" (Street of Bars). This name comes because formerly, in the 10th century, on the location of the street, a wall, a fence of wooden bars, constituted a wall protecting Paris:

Melinda - "Rue des Barres"

2) "L'Hôtel de Sully" (The Hotel of Sully). The Duke of Sully, Minister of Finance of king Henri IV, lived in this noble mansion at the end of his life. By crossing the Hotel of Sully, we passed directly from the street Saint Antoine to the "place des Vosges".

Melinda - "Hôtel de Sully"

3) The "bassin de l'Arsenal". Having crossed the place of the Bastille, we met the Basin of the Arsenal, port and canal connecting the river Seine with the Saint Martin canal and which, formerly, was a ditch which filled the moats of the castle of the Bastille.

Melinda - "Port de l'Arsenal"

4) "Pont d'Austerlitz" (Bridge of Austerlitz). See the picture at the beginning of the article.

5) "Cour du Commerce Saint André". Another place which is situated on the plan of the former surrounding wall of Paris, the wall of king Philippe Auguste. This passage, opened in 1776, allows to reach the Café Procope (1686), one of the oldest cafés in the world.

Melinda - "Cour du Commerce Saint André"

Second tour :

6) "Le Tribunal de Commerce de Paris" (Commercial court). This building presents the peculiarity to have a dome placed not in the center, but on the side, in a way that the dome is visible from the Boulevard Sevastopol. The dome closes the perspective of the Boulevard by the South.

Melinda - On the bridge Notre Dame. We can see, on the island of "La Cité", successively,
the Hôtel-Dieu (Hospital), the "Tribunal du Commerce de Paris" and the Conciergerie.

7) On the "Pont Neuf" ("New" Bridge). 

Melinda - Pont Neuf. On left, the "Institut de France", the Eiffel tower and, on right,the "Musée d'Orsay"

8) Colonnade of the Louvre. Summit of the French classicism, the Colonnade of the Louvre was realized at the request of king Louis XIV. The Colonnade of the Louvre served as model to numerous famous buildings, in particular, the Capitol of the United States in Washington, Metropolitan Museum of art in New York and San Francisco War Memorial Opera House.

Melinda - The "Colonnade du Louvre"

9) Alexandre III bridge. The widest bridge in Paris. Built with the "Grand" and "Petit Palais" for the World Fair of 1900. The bridge offers a direct link between the "Invalides" and the Champs-Elysées.

Melinda - the Alexandre III bridge - In the distance, the "Invalides"

10) The Champs Elysées.

Melinda - Champs Elysées, at the end, the "Arc de Triomphe" and far off, the "Grande Arche" of "la Défense"

11) The equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, place of the Pyramids. She is situated not far from the Gate Saint Honoré, where Joan of Arc tried to cross Charles V's surrounding wall to reconquer Paris, occupied at the time by the English. She was hurt by an arrow in the thigh there.

Melinda - Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, of Frémiet and inaugurated in 1874

12) The Puget courtyard in the Louvre.

Melinda - Puget Courtyard, situated with the Marly Courtyard on both sides of the passage
which connects the Louvre Pyramid to the street of Rivoli

13) Stravinsky fountain. This fountain, fountain Stravinsky or fountain of automatons, was created by the couple of artist Nikki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely in 1983 and evokes the work of the composer Stravinsky.

Melinda - the "Fontaine Stravinsky", on the right George Pompidou Center

Interesting and beautiful discoveries, isn't it?
Merci Melinda !

The route of the tours:

Running under the bridge Saint-Michel with Antje

Antje - Under Saint-Michel bridge - In the background, "Notre-Dame de Paris"

7h57 - Antje comes from another great and beautiful European capital, Berlin. She already ran several times the Berlin marathon, one of the fastest world marathons (the last four world records were realized in Berlin). 
Antje knows well Paris and that is with pleasure and while running that we rediscovered its most beautiful "paths". A beautiful route of more than 14 km also passing under bridges of Paris as we can see on the photo above.

Our running led us of the Eiffel Tower up to Notre-Dame, then up to the Arc of Triumph. This Friday was making the "bridge" between two holidays, May 8th&9th and the weekend so Paris was very quiet, even the Eiffel Tower seemed deserted (at least at 8 am in the morning).

Antje - "Champs de Mars" and Eiffel tower

Notice the scaffolds which leave the ground towards the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. These temporary elements are of use to the renovation of the first floor. The objective of this modernization project is to make this floor a more attractive place => Click here.

Back from Notre-Dame, this time, it is ON the "Pont Neuf", the New Bridge, that we ran:

Antje - "Pont Neuf" - In the background, the "Pont des Arts" (bridge of the Arts)

As its name does not indicate it, the "Pont Neuf", literally "New Bridge", is the oldest bridge of Paris. As you can read it on the photo, the bridge was built at the end of the 16th century.
Yes, "neuf" means "new" (and not "9"). Is the oldest bridge the new bridge?
Indeed, at the time of its construction, this bridge was very modern: all in stone, without houses on its edges (at last, we could know that we were really on a bridge while crossing it, impossible with houses!), and with sidewalks!
These sidewalks were really new because very rare in Paris at that time... The "Pont Neuf", already at that time, a beautiful place to stroll, to appreciate the sight and Paris!

Farther, we pursued our route along the historic axis of Paris (see here), the Louvre, the Louvre Pyramid and the garden of the Tuileries :

Antje - "Cour carrée du Louvre"

Antje - Small break near the Louvre Pyramid

Antje - In the garden of the Tuileries

We then continued our road along the Champs-Elysées to go uphill towards the Arc of Triumph. Uphill? Yes indeed, do you know that the Arc of Triumph is put on what we called formerly the "colline du Roule" (The hill of the Roule). In 1768, this hill was leveled to have a more regular slope towards the Gate of Neuilly. The top of the hill was then 5 meters higher.
Paris as flat as Berlin? Hem, not completely...
So remember, when you will take the departure of the Paris marathon and will start with the Champs-Elysées, do not run too fast: if it is so easy, it is because you are in descent!

Merci Antje !

The route of the tour:

Paris Competitions News: Ready for the 2013 Paris Marathon?

Champs-Elysées - Kilometer 1 - Just before "place de la Concorde" before turning left to the Rivoli street

In spring, strange signs appear on the Parisian road, blue lines accompanied by indications which seem to be coded: "KM1", "KM2", "KM3", etc. 
These are the kilometric marks of the Paris marathon! In other places, all the miles are indicated too.

On the photo above, the first kilometer. Magic kilometer going down the Champs-Elysées. Imagine, you are in the middle of the road of one of the most beautiful avenues and you are running applauded by the crowd!
Take care, in spite of the enthusiasm, don't lose your head. If it seems to be easy, it is because you are running downhill. keep your energy.

One kilometer earlier, the start, in the middle of the Champs-Elysées. The mark is already present:

The 2013 Paris marathon start at the level of the Marbeuf street

Here you are, ready to make a magnificent route in Paris. Find the route in detail by clicking the image below, with a view of monuments, buildings, streets:

Having crossed and taken advantage of Paris up and down, here you are, very close to the finish, in the kilometer 42:

Avenue Foch - 42th kilometer - In the background, the Arc of Triumph

Only 195 meters to go (enjoy it, this moment is extraordinary) and you arrive!
Here is the location of the finish, rather discreet for the moment:

The finish line ! Behind the Arc of Triumph, the Champs-Elysées from where the Marathon started!

We wish you a beautiful Paris Marathon!

Grande Arche - Arc de Triomphe return trip with Maggie

Maggie (in front of the Arc of Triumph) - Champs-Elysées

6:51 AM - Maggie, who lives near Houston, runs very regularly. Early on Sunday, we ran on the West part of the Paris historical axis (map here), from "La Défense" up to the Arc of Triumph.

We thus left "La Défense" to cross its esplanade, the city of Neuilly, the avenue of the "Grande Armée" and join the Arc of Triumph on the "Place de l'Étoile" (place of the Star). 

We went around the "Arc de Triomphe", admired the other part of the historical axis: Champs-Elysées, far off, the obelisk of "La Concorde" then, at the end, the Louvre (on the photo above, by enlarging it, we can see the Obelisk and the buildings of the Louvre far off).

Maggie - The "Arc de Triomphe"

On returning to "La Défense", we were able to appreciate some of the numerous works of art arranged on the Esplanade, as "the pond of Takis" created by Vassilakis Panayotis Takis:

Maggie - The "Bassin" of Takis (1988) - The "Grande Arche" of "la Défense"

or "Le Moretti" ("Cheminée Moretti") of Raymond Moretti :

"Cheminée Moretti" (1995)

"La Défense" is the biggest business center in Europe. On this Sunday morning, the esplanade of "La Défense" was deserted, contrary to the working periods when the paving stone of "La Défense" is full of businesswomen and businessmen who join or leave their offices.

La Défense (Click on the picture for a larger view)

By the way, do you know why this business area is called "La Défense"?
In 1883, the Statue of the defense of Paris was placed on a traffic circle of Courbevoie, one of the cities where is situated the business center. The statue evokes the resistance and the bravery of the Paris defenders during the 1870 French-Prussian war.
See below "La Défense" in the debuts of the business center developments (begun with the CNIT):

On the left, "La Défense" in 1962 with the statue in the center and the CNIT recently created (1958) 

On the right, the Statue of "La Défense" still visible on the esplanade and drilling the paving stone.

A little run of 10 km through space and time! ;)

Merci Maggie !

The route of the tour: