By running with Tove and Charlotte on the Ourcq Canal

Charlotte and Tove - "City of Sciences and of Industry" - "La Géode"

9:55 AM - Tove lives in Norway; The time of a short stay, Tove came to see her daughter Charlotte who studies in Paris. They know well Paris but wished to discover the Parisian canals. We thus began our visit by running street Lafayette, continued along the Ourcq Canal and the Saint-Martin canal and ended our visit with the "Grand boulevards" and "passages Jouffroy" and "Verdeau".

First amazing discovery, the building at 145, Lafayette street:

145 Lafayette Street

Windows, balcony, a door, a roof... A building like any other? No, an artificial building intended to hide a huge air vent of the Parisian subway!

Not far, still "rue Lafayette", a mural painting proposes an original representation of Paris:

"Coup de chapeau à Paris" - François Boisrond - 2001

Having left the long Lafayette street, we exceeded the limit of the general farmers' old wall and the barrier of the Villette with its magnificent rotunda built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux, to find the Ourcq canal.

Tove and Charlotte - "Canal de l'Ourcq" - South-West view

The construction of the Canal of the Ourcq was decided by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. The Ourcq canal insures a supply of Paris in water by connecting the river Ourcq (more than hundred of kilometers with ten locks). 

The neighborhoods of the Canal and the district of the Villette were completely renewed from the years 1970-1980, in particular by the destruction of the gigantic slaughterhouses of the Villette in 1974 and by the creation of the "Cité des Sciences" opened in 1986, of the Géode (a huge cinema) opened in 1985 and of the "parc de la Villette".

View of the canal inside Paris from "place Stalingrad" to the "Parc de la Villette"

Charlotte and Tove - Ourcq canal - North-East view

Having turned back, we ran along a part of the Saint-Martin canal, the other beautiful canal, which joined the Seine.

Merci Tove et Charlotte !

The route of the tour :

Running with Pedro and Juliana on the historic axis of Paris

Pedro and Juliana - On the historic axis of Paris, in the garden of the Tuileries

9:10 AM - Juliana and Pedro are well trained runners from Campinas, near Sao Paulo in Brazil.

We ran all along the river the Seine and for a good part, on the historic axis of Paris.
Historic axis? Yes, it is the name given to the axis which leaves the center of Paris and goes westward.

The history of this axis began when the Capetian kings took the habit to leave the Louvre to go hunting in the forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, drawing then a way in straight line to the West.
In 1599, king Henri IV created a road on this axis leading of the Louvre to Saint Germain's castle.

This axis is successively fitted out and embellished, by the extension of the Louvre, the garden of the Tuileries, the place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe and now, the Business center of the La Defense with the "Grande Arche".

Discover in detail the historic axis of Paris. Click on the following image. On the obtained page, you can again enlarge the image (a new click on it). Then, take place on the right of the image and with the horizontal-scroll, move on the left (Have a good trip!)

Do you remember the previous article, which speaks about the Baron Haussman who had wished to enlarge the axis eastward?
Do you also remember this running with Amy, where we had made a buckle on the West part of the axis by leaving from "La Defense"?

Pedro and Juliana - Quai d'Orsay

Juliana and Pedro - Champ de Mars and Esplanade du Trocadéro

Merci Juliana et Pedro !

The route of the tour:

Running in Paris at the sunrise, with Denise

Denise - "Quai de l'Horloge" (Pier of the Clock)

6:58 AM - With Denise from Porto Allegre (Brazil), we start running early. We took advantage of the morning light to admire streets and monuments and see the city waking up. While staying near the Seine, we visited the center of Paris by alternating the right bank and the left bank: the Latin Quarter, Saint Germain des Près, the "place de la Concorde", the Louvre, without forgetting the Island of the City (as shown on the photo above, Quay of the Clock, at the foot of the Horloge of the Conciergerie, recently  renovated).

We made a small detour on the "Pont des Arts" to appreciate the rays of the sun enlightening the West of Paris:

Denise - Pont des Arts

A little later, we found the Garnier Opera, quite enlightened by the daylight:

Denise, avenue de l'Opéra

The avenue of the Opera, created during the works of Hausmann, had initially been planned with trees. Charles Garnier, the architect, did not want these trees. He had wished that the sight of his Opera was completely unobstructed. Without trees, the Opera is indeed very visible since the place André Malraux near the Louvre. 

Denise - Mairie of the 1st arrondissement (1st district city hall) and the church Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

A little farther, we met two buildings. They are alike, right? 
If they have the same architecture, they have nevertheless very different uses. One is a public building: the City hall of the 1st district and the other one, a religious building: the church Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois.
This group owes its existence to a particular history:
August 24th, 1572, in full religious war, bells of this very old church gave the order to eliminate all the Protestants of Paris. This signal was the beginning of the horrible Saint-Bartholomew's massacre.
In the 19th century, town planners made the project to extend eastward the historic axis Louvre-Tuileries-Concorde-Champs Elysées. It should cause the destruction of the church.
The baron Haussman, in charge of the big Parisian works, refused.
Indeed, as he was Protestant, he did not wish that people can interpret the destruction of the church as a personal vengeance. 
He also asked for the construction of a city hall, completely similar to the church, by concern of harmony. He made raise between both buildings a tower-bell to strongly separate the "religion" and the "republic".
Parisians, derisive, called the group "L'huilier et ses deux burettes" (the hand oiler and the two cruets).

We finished our running by way of the Island of the City and the Latin Quarter.
About 11 km, sports and instructive!

Merci Denise !

The route of the tour :

At the "Champ de Mars" with Sylvie

Sylvie - Eiffel tower

8:00 AM - Sylvie from Montreal (Canada) came to Paris for a short stay. We took advantage of this morning run to do a nice visit of Paris. On this Friday morning, the cold weather arrived to Paris. Having dressed our winter runners' clothes, we ran along a buckle of 10 kilometers by way of the "esplanade of the Invalides", the Tuileries, the Champs Elysées.  

At the end of the tour, we passed by the "esplanade of the Palais de Chaillot", one of the best viewpoints to contemplate the Eiffel Tower. After a small break to make a "photo-souvenir", we joined the "Champ de Mars" by way of the Iéna bridge.

In the Champ de Mars, we were welcomed by very nice bears:

Sylvie and the Buddy Bears - Champ de Mars

Bears? The Buddy bears! 
Yes, after Berlin, Kitzbühel, Hong-Kong, Istanbul, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Vienna, Cairo, Jerusalem, Warsaw, Stuttgart, Pyongyang, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Astana, Helsinki, Sofia, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Saint-Petersburg, among others, "United Buddy Bears" settled down in Paris this October. They will stay there until November 18th, 2012.

These 140 Buddy Bears represent the 140 countries recognized by United Nations. They wish to present the art of the tolerance and symbolize the idea of a world in peace in the future.

Sylvie with the Buddy Bear of Canada - Sylvie between the Bear of Georgia and the one of France

Come to Paris to admire these works of Art and Peace united!

Merci Sylvie !

The route of the tour :

Running in October in Paris

Right bank - Far off the Pont Royal (Royal Bridge), Notre-Dame and the dome of the Institute of France

Garden of the Tuileries - Far off, the Louvre

The bridge of "la Concorde" then the place of "la Concorde" and its obelisk, with, far off, on the left, the "Hôtel de Crillon", the "Hôtel de la Marine" on the right and in the center, "La Madeleine"

The "esplanade des Invalides" - The "Hôtel des Invalides"

No matter what month we are, it is always a pleasure to run in Paris!
Come and do a tour, a nice visit while running with Paris Running Tour!

By running in the parks of Paris with Scott and Kelly

Kelly and Scott - Luxembourg gardens

8:59 AM - Kelly and Scott live in New York (USA) and usually run in the magnificent park of Central Park. Today, we discovered some of the superb parks of the center of Paris, the Luxembourg gardens, Tuileries gardens and the Palais Royal gardens.

The name of "Luxembourg" for the gardens and the Palace (the current Senate) comes from the Duke of Luxembourg, François de Piney who possessed a hotel in this place, in the 16th century. Marie of Medici, the Regent of France, acquired the hotel and built the current Palace in 1615.
Did you notice in the background of the above photo, a small dome far off? It is the Paris Observatory, the oldest observatory of the world still in function. It was created in 1667 by king Louis XIV.

The Paris Observatory in the continuation of the Luxembourg gardens

With the American "Center for Astrophysics", it is the most important research center in astrophysics and in astronomy of the world.
Very soon, the Observatory will open again its doors to the Public, from Thursday, 11 till Sunday, October 14th, 2012 on the occasion of the "fête de la Science".

Of the three parks, which is the most beautiful one? The Garden of the Luxembourg, the discreet Garden of the Palais Royal, or the Garden of the Tuileries, placed on the historic axis of Paris?
Impossible to say, they are splendid all three! 

Let us find the Garden of the Tuileries, a good place to run:

Scott and Kelly - the Tuileries gardens

and the small garden of the "Palais Royal", well isolated by the "Palais Royal" palace and the adjacent Galleries:

Scott and Kelly - Garden of the Palais Royal

On our road, when we discovered a part of Philippe Auguste's outer wall, a nice runner proposed to take a picture of us:

Paris Running Tour, Scott, Kelly - Philippe Auguste's outer wall (13th century)

Thanks to him. A good souvenir!

Good runs in Central Park then!
Merci Kelly ! Merci Scott !

The route of the tour :

A touristic half-marathon with Eva and Christian

Christian and Eva - Bridge of Sully

10:04 AM - Eva and Christian are fast marathon runners who live near Copenhagen (Denmark). They are also triathletes who have already participated in Iron Man Triathlons (swimming 3.8 km, bike 180 km, Running 42.195 kilometers or 26.2 miles).

On this Friday morning, without any performance objectives, we chose to quietly visit Paris while running, however on a good distance to be able to admire as much places as possible. 
We finally ran 21 km, the distance of a half-marathon.

Do you remember Lady Geneviève, the protector of Paris, whom we evoked recently during our Paris visit with Jennifer. You can see her to the left of the photo above, she looks to the east of Paris, the east where from came Attila and his Huns at the 5th century and Geneviève did not let them get into the City.

Of the bridge of Sully, we went place of the Trocadéro, to join the Palais de Chaillot, palace built on the hill of the same name for the 1937 World fair. It is one of the best points of view on the Eiffel Tower. 
"To deserve the view", we took a "small ascent" which leads to the (no so high) top of the hill... However with a small break to have a little bit different souvenir of the big tower:

Eva and Christian - Avenue of the President Wilson

Back to the east, in full Latin Quarter, here is the Sorbonne, the famous and very old university of which the history begins in the 13th century. The chapel of the Sorbonne which we see on the photo below was created during the 17th century.

Christian and Eva - Sorbonne Chapel

Along the way, following the river, we wondered if it was possible to swim in the Seine. Yes! Of course! On the occasion of the Triathlon of Paris! Look at these videos:

Your next triathlon in Paris, Eva and Christian?
Next edition: July 2013...

Merci Eva ! Merci Christian !

The route of the tour :