From the square of the United States to the Palais Royal with Eather and Chris
Chris and Heather – “Place des Etats Unis” (Place of the US) – Memorial to the American volunteers 10:02 AM – With Heather and Chris, runners living in Virginia (USA), we left the “place Charles de Gaulle-Etoile” to join the “Palais Royal” and its magnificent garden. Along the way, we crossed the “place des Etats-Unis”(square of the United States). Do you know the story of this name? Originally, this square was called the “Place of Bitche” (a city of Lorraine, France). The ambassador of the United States came to settle down there in 1881. Impossible to reside in a square named Bitche, “Bitch” being a rather vulgar English slang word. Paris agreed to rename the place “Place of the United States” (the “place de Bitche” being now situated in the 19th district of Paris). The new name is well appropriate for the location, numerous points of this place are indeed connected to the United States of America, the statue of La Fayette and Washington shaking hands, the public garden Thomas Jefferson in the center, the statue of the American dentist Horace Wells who participated in the discovery of the anesthesia, the monument to the American Volunteers (photo above), etc. This monument pays tribute to the American volunteers enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and who succumbed by fighting during the World War I. Among them, the poet Alan Seeger. We followed our route and enjoyed our first beautiful point of view of the Eiffel Tower, the avenue of President Wilson: Heather and Chris – Avenue of the President Wilson Avenue of President Wilson, a reference to the United States again. This avenue leads itself to the “Place d’Iéna” in the middle of which appears a George Washington’s equestrian statue! Heather and Chris – Eiffel tower New stop, in the front of the Eiffel Tower this time. Notice the ball between the first one and the second floor. It is an huge tennis ball! Indeed, it is the period of “Roland Garros” tennis tournament. Having enjoyed the banks of the Seine and its numerous magnificent sites, we paused in the Louvre. Look at the Marly Courtyard: Heather and Chris – The Louvre – the Marly courtyard (The flash did not work!) In this blog, we spoke about the famous horses of Marly during a Paris visit with Mary. After leaving the museum, we found the sun again within the magnificent garden of the Palais Royal (many roses!): Merci Chris ! Merci Heather ! The route of the tour :
Paris, an old museum? No! Let us discover the Parisian Modern Art with Valerie
Valerie – Garden of the “Palais Royal” (Royal Palace) 6:52 AM – Valerie, fast runner from Texas, chose Paris Running Tour to discover various aspects of Paris. We sometimes say that Paris looks like a museum, a magnificent museum where everything is unchanging and everything remain still… By following our sports route, we certainly saw numerous magnificent monuments and historic buildings which we wish eternal but also various places which present a new Paris in sync with the modern art. As the Eiffel Tower at the time of its construction, too modern for some, these new creations were often the object of controversies. Next to the classic but magnificent garden of the “Palais Royal”, is a work of art which did not please everybody during its creation. Look at this strange view from the sky: It is the work of the artist Daniel Buren, “Les deux plateaux” created in 1986, usually called the Columns of Buren: Valerie – The “Colonnes de Buren”, in the heart of the “Palais Royal” Every column seems to grow, pushed by a unique root (visible under the railing). An attractive courtyard surrounded by the more classic columns of the “Palais Royal”… Just a step from the columns of Buren, at the exit of the Royal Palace, is another contemporary creation, the “Kiosque des Noctambules” (Kiosk of Night birds), created by Jean-Michel Othoniel in 2000: Valerie – The “Kiosque des Noctambules” This work of art is a metro entrance of the station “Palais Royal”. If you go to the “Palais Royal”, compare it with the other exit of the same subway station, situated 100 meters from there, in front of the Louvre, in style “Art nouveau”, created in the 1900s, modernity of that time… Another surprising view from the sky. What is this work? The Fountain Stravinsky of Nikki de saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely (1983), tribute to the composer Stravinsky. Another beautiful example of contrast between modernity and classicism (look also at the old Church Saint Merri, probably modern at its time): Valerie – The “Fontaine Stravinsky” also called “Fontaine des Automates” (Usually, the automatons turn on themselves and throw water) Ongoing controversy: the “Tour Triangle”! A very nice, sports and cultural running! Merci Valerie ! The route of the tour:
The oldest monument of Paris with Laura, Marni, Peter, Marshall and Jason
Marni, Marshall, Laura, Jason et Peter – Jardin du Palais Royal 7:00 AM – Marni, Marshall, Laura, Jason and Peter are runners-friends coming from the United States. Paris is still a little bit chilly in this early spring. Magnolias begin to bloom, as here in the garden of the “Palais Royal” (Royal Palace). Our sports visit begins in the garden of the Tuileries to arrive quickly at “place de la Concorde”, in front of the oldest monument of Paris, the Obelisk of Luxor: Jason, Marni, Laura, Marshall and Peter – “Place de la Concorde” – Obelisk of Luxor The Obelisk which we can see in the center of the “place de la Concorde” is more than 3000 years old. It comes from Egypt. The Pharaoh Ramses II had made two obelisks in the entrance of the Luxor temple, temple placed in the center of the old city of Thebes. The obelisk of “la Concorde” is one of them. In 1830, the viceroy of Egypt Mehemet-Ali offers to France the obelisks of Luxor. Then begins, for the first obelisk, an adventure which will last more than 6 years: the preparation of the operation, the cutting down of the obelisk, its transport towards Paris and its erection “place de la Concorde” in 1836, with all the troubles such an expedition can generate (heat, diseases, expectation of the Nile flood, navigation and transport difficulties, etc.) Cutting down of the Obelisk in 1831 (the other obelisk is situated to the left by looking at the temple) Erection of the Obelisk in 1836 “place de la Concorde” (The king Louis-Philippe and 200 000 Parisians attend the “show”) The other part of the “present”, the second Obelisk, remained in Luxor, France not wishing to launch again such an operation! Our visit continues along the Seine, the left bank then the right bank again. We cross the river Seine running on the “Pont des Arts”, the famous footbridge: Marshall, Laura, Marni, Jason and Peter – “Pont des Arts” In the background of the photo above, we can admire the “Galerie du bord de l’eau” of the Louvre. Did you know that in this long corridor, king Henri IV organized fox hunting for his son, future Louis XIII? We finish our running by returning by the garden of the Tuileries, very quiet in this morning of March: Merci Peter, Marni, Marshall, Jason and Laura ! The route of the tour :
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:
“Place des Victoires” with Kristine
Kristine – Garden of the “Palais Royal” 10:05 AM – Kristine comes from New York. Very sports, she chose to take advantage of her stay in Paris to do a Running Tour and so combine sport and discovery of Paris. We left Grand boulevards to join the Eiffel Tower. At first, we ran in more intimate places as the garden of the Palais Royal (above) or the magnificent Parisian covered passages: We often spoke about them in this blog but it is always a great pleasure to discover these passages again. The second part of the route led us towards less “confidential” but great amazing places, as the banks of the Seine… Kristine – Banks of the River Seine (right bank, at the level of the “Jardin des Tuileries”) … or of course, the Eiffel tower: Kristine – Eiffel tower since the Avenue of the President Wilson Along the way, we crossed the magnificent “Place des Victoires” with the Statue of king Louis XIV, the Sun King. Kristine – Place des Victoires This square, created in 1685, was named “Place des Victoires” in honor of the military victories of Louis XIV. Do you know that the place saw successively four different monuments: from 1686 till 1792, a standing statue of Louis XIV from 1792 till 1810, a wooden pyramid from 1810 till 1828, a statue of General Desaix and since 1828, the current statue, an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The first statue was melted in 1792 to make canons during the revolution. It represented King Louis XIV standing… … on a base representing four overcome nations (Spain, the Empire, Brandenburg and Holland): This base is visible in the Puget courtyard in the Louvre. We can even see it without entering the Louvre since the passage which connects the street of Rivoli with the Louvre Pyramid (remember the photo 12 in this article: here). Merci Kristine ! The route of the tour:
Prepare marathons by visiting Paris
Nicole and Dan with Paris Running Tour – Palais Royal – Photo Frédéric Poirier 8:04 AM – Nicole and Dan live in New York. They are two regular runners. Nicole participates regularly in competitions. On holidays in Paris, Nicole prepares her next races: the Chicago marathon and, three weeks later, the New York marathon. Running so close marathons? Yes, with a non-exhausting good training, it is possible. So what is better than a Paris Running Tour to combine regular training and discovery-visit of Paris? Nicole and Dan – Avenue of New York in Paris Little break avenue de New York. New York, one of Nicole’s objectives. Is there also an avenue of Paris in New York? No, but there is an avenue of Paris in Chicago, Paris Avenue. Let us run in the paths of the garden of the Trocadéro: Dan and Nicole – Gardens of the Trocadéro – In the background, the “Palais de Chaillot” then along the river Seine: Dan and Nicole – Left Bank, “quai Branly” (Branly pier) The perspectives are often very beautiful in Paris, it deserves some stops: Dan and Nicole – “Champs Elysées” (Paris Marathon start!) Nicole and Dan – The “Palais Royal” Nicole and Dan – The garden of the “Palais Royal” Merci Dan and Nicole ! Since then, Nicole realized a time of 3:31 in Chicago then, only three weeks later, 3:40 in New York. Fantastic! Bravo Nicole! The route of the tour:
Zigzags from Nation to Trocadero, 11 miles by running in Paris with Anne
Anne – “Place des Vosges” 9:09 AM – Anne from Washington D.C. (USA) is a regular runner (look at her blog). In this first Monday of August, we had decided to cross Paris by running from east to west. We left a place near the square of “Nation” with the objective to reach “Palais de Chaillot” to take advantage of the beautiful view on the Eiffel Tower offered by the “Esplanade of the Trocadéro”. To go there by the shortest route? No, no, we chose to make a lot of zigzags to be able to appreciate Paris in all its magnificence. In the end, nearly 11 miles of an attractive tourist and sports route. First photo stop: the “Place des Vosges”. Very quiet this morning (photo above). Read here the funny short story of the statue of Louis XIII situated in the center of the garden. Did you know that this Royal place was renamed “Place des Vosges” because this department in the east of France was the first one to pay the tax during the Revolution? From “Place des Vosges”, to join the street Saint Antoine, we took the magnificent shortcut offered by the Hotel of Sully: Anne – “Hôtel de Sully” Still in the “Marais” (right bank), we are going to penetrate the Philippe Auguste’s Paris (by postern Saint-Paul). Indeed, king Philippe Auguste, at the end of the 12th century, before leaving for his third crusade, made build an important protective wall around Paris. Numerous parts of this surrounding wall are still visible nowadays. Below, the longest preserved portion of the wall. Discover here another massive part of the wall, left bank this time, as well as plans representing Paris of this time. Anne – Well of Phillippe Auguste – 12th century (Behind the wall, “Lycée” Charlemagne – High school) Let us cross the Seine to visit the Island of “La Cité”. Look (photo below) at the installations of “Paris-Plages” (Paris-beaches), right bank. Do you see the small red Eiffel Tower? We had spoken about it here and here. Anne – “Paris-Plages” Back right bank, surprise! A metro entrance (Palais-Royal station): Anne – “Métro Palais-Royal” (“Le kiosque des Noctambules” – Jean-Michel Othoniel) Compare this modern art subway entrance installed in 2000 with those created one hundred years earlier, representative of the “Art nouveau” movement: see here some examples of these metro entrances created in 1900. As a matter of fact, the other entrance of the same station, Palais-Royal, just in front of the Louvre, is typically “Art nouveau”. Zigzag, small detour on left bank, “Quai Anatole France”. Just in the opposite, the garden of the Tuileries which we are quickly going to join… Anne – “Quai Anatole France” …crossing the footbridge Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, which gives us a beautiful view on, from left to right, the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Orsay museum: Anne – Footbridge Léopold-Sédar-Senghor In the garden of the Tuileries, here is a new example of modern art that we meet, a tree in bronze! Anne – “L’arbre des voyelles” (bronze molding installed in 1999 – Giusseppe Pepone) After other numerous discoveries, we finish our running as expected, Esplanade of the Trocadéro: Anne – “Esplanade du Trocadéro” Objective reached! Merci Anne ! The route of the tour :
Some nice places to run in Paris
Hayley on Paris historical axis, after the Louvre, the Garden of the Tuileries, the “place de la Concorde” and the Obelisk of Louxor, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc of Triomphe and the business center of “la Défense” with its “Grande Arche” 7:30 AM – Hayley, who lives in Vancouver, began her stay in Paris and in Europe by a sports discovery of the city thanks to a 10 miles route in the company of Paris Running Tour. Hayley is journalist for Lainey Gossip and also a personal trainer. We further recommend her article Travelling and weight management. We fully agree her first advice for travelling 😉 => see the web link that comes with it… Thank you Hayley 🙂 Discover with us some beautiful places of Paris, to run (or not) : The “Cours de la Reine” : This beautiful alley created by Marie de Medici in 1618 is a nice place to run, see this beautiful lawn surrounded with majestic trees and which welcomes a number of statues. At Paris Running Tour, we call this perspective “The Alley of the Statues”. On the photo below, we can see successively the monument to the Russian Expeditionary force having fought in France during the World War I, the statue of General Lafayette (do you remember the small little tortoise ?), the statue of the Liberator Simon Bolivar then the one of the King of the Belgians, Albert the 1st. Hayley – “Cours de la Reine” “Place du Palais Royal” : Having passed by the garden of the Tuileries (see the photo at the beginning of this article), having crossed the Louvre by the passage which leads of the Pyramid to the Street of Rivoli, you discover the beautiful square of the Palais Royal. From there, you can join the gardens of the Palais Royal, the beautiful garden protected by the galleries of the Palais Royal. Hayley – “Place du Palais Royal” The “new banks of the river Seine” : We could not resist to the envy to make a small sprint on the 100 meters running track of the new banks of the Seine, small 2 km paradise in the center of Paris for the runners. Not so easy to accelerate after about 6 miles… On our road, we were also able to admire: The “Hôtel de Ville de Paris” (Paris City Hall), which, this day, welcomed the President of the Federal Republic of Germany (German flags joined to the French flags): Hayley – “Hôtel de Ville de Paris” The magnificent front door of the “Petit Palais”: Hayley – Le Petit Palais as well as one of the Parisian Statues of Liberty (discover them here) : Hayley – Statue of Liberty (“Arts et Métiers”) Merci Hayley ! The route of the tour :
Running in the Parisian Passages with Michelle and Susan
Susan and Michelle – The river Seine near the Tuileries garden, in front of the Orsay Museum 9:03 AM – Susan and Michelle are two New-York road-runners (NY – USA). Michelle prepares at present the Marathon of Chicago. After a first visit of Paris last year, their choice was for a little bit different route. We started near the Seine on the left bank. Look on the photo above, the new “emmarchement” in front of the Orsay Museum, “emmarchement” which is a part of the new banks of the Seine (very much enjoyed by runners). Having crossed the pedestrian footbridge Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, run in the Garden of the Tuileries and admired the place Vendôme, we were able to cross our first covered passage, the long passage Choiseul: Michelle, Susan – Passage Choiseul Not far from there, it is with pleasure that we met the beautiful “salle Favart”, National Theater of the “Opéra Comique” : Michelle and Susan – Opéra Comique It is the third “Salle Favart” built in 1898, both previous ones having burned. Second covered passage on our route, the Passage of the Panoramas, the oldest passage of Paris (we had already spoken about it here) : Susan, Michelle – “Passage des Panoramas” Just in front of the “Passage des Panoramas” is the Passage Jouffroy where a curious medieval character welcomes you: Susan and Michelle with a character of the Grévin Museum It is about one of the numerous wax characters of the Grévin Museum, the Parisian counterpart of Madam Tussauds of London. The entrance of the museum is situated in the Grand boulevards and the exit in the Passage Jouffroy. A little later, we found an old acquaintance, the Statue of Liberty (well, a Parisian younger sister…): Susan, Michelle – The Statue of Liberty in the museum of “Arts et Métiers” To know more about the Parisian statues of Liberty, click here. We continued our road and again crossed magnificent passages: “Passage du Grand Cerf” “Galerie Vero-Dodat” “Galerie Vivienne” These Parisian passages were approximately 150 in the middle of the 19th century, there are less than thirty nowadays. Our running allowed us to cross nine of them, among the most beautiful: We ended the tour by crossing the beautiful garden of the “Palais Royal”, isolated from the Parisian street by its long galleries of arcades, Michelle, Susan – Garden of the “Palais Royal” participated in the work of art constituted by the Columns of Buren (“Les deux plateaux” of the Artist Daniel Buren), On the columns of Buren in the “Palais Royal” and made a small break in front of the Louvre before crossing again the Seine to join the Left bank. Susan and Michelle – The Louvre museum Look on the Louvre Pyramid the sign of the Third Paradise, bound to The temporary exhibition of Michelangelo Pistoletto. Merci Susan, merci Michelle ! The route of the 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 :