At the Champ de Mars with Janet
Janet – Champ de Mars 7:52 AM – Another very sunny day in Paris. With Janet of Singapore, we evoked the competitions in Singapore and in France. Because of the warm temperatures in Singapore, the races begin very early, for example, the departure of the marathon, which takes place in December, is at 5 am in the morning. Janet will redo it certainly this year but also thinks of making the marathon of Paris next year… The tour of this morning allowed us to notice in which point museums are many in Paris. On our route of about 10 kilometers, we crossed successively, the “musée Galliera” (“museum of Fashion “), the “musée Guimet” (“museum of Asian Arts”), la “cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine”, the “musée de l’Homme”, the “musée de la Marine” (Navy), the museum of Arts and Civilizations, the museums of the “Invalides”, the museum of the Legion of Honour, the “Musée d’Orsay”, the Louvre, the “Orangerie”, the “Jeu de Paume”, the “Petit Palais”, the “Grand Palais”, the “Palais de la Découverte”! More museums than run kilometers! And the art in Paris is not only in museums but, of course, also in streets. Below, on our route, an example of representative building of the “Art nouveau”: Avenue Rapp Merci Janet ! The route of the tour:
To close a working stay in Paris, a Running tour!
Running Place Vendôme 9h43 – In this month of April, an important international company had an executive management meeting a few days in Paris. At the end of the working stay, a day of relaxation was dedicated to the visit of the capital. A sports tour of Paris was organized: there is nothing like running to fully relax. We, Vincent, Frédéric and Jean-Charles, accompanied the group of runners for a tour following the right and the left banks of the Seine, passing by the place Vendôme, the Tuileries, the Champs Elysées, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Opera Garnier. Thanks to them! In front of the Eiffel tower The Eiffel tower: Did you know it? From the beginning of the Eiffel Tower, five hydraulic elevators transported the visitors. In this time, for such a height and of such weights, it was a real technical exploit. For a long time, these elevators were driven by a pilot who was outside of the cabin. He bore the cold or the heat according to the seasons… A life-size reproduction of this pilot is on one of the elevators. Try to see him through the window of the elevator: Elevator pilot! The route of the tour :
A brightened up week end in Paris with Anne and Niels
The Eiffel tower from the Esplanade of the Trocadéro – Anne and Niels 7:30 AM – Saturday and Sunday – Anne and Niels, from Copenhagen (Denmark), as regular marathoners, chose to run with Paris Running Tour two times, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. We were lucky, despite a rather cold weather, we ran under a fantastic sunlight, which allowed us to fully enjoy our tours. On our way, we saw the “Invalides” (see the picture below), the “Ecole Militaire” (Military school) and ran through the “Champ de Mars“; all these places are linked to war. The Hotel des Invalides was created at the request of Louis XIV to house and take care of injured, maimed or old soldiers (one reason often evoked: Louis XIV liked the glory of his victorious wars but not the – not so glorious – aftermaths in terms of maimed soldiers wandering in the Parisian streets). Inside the Invalides, you can see the tomb of Napoleon. The Invalides (from the south) – Niels and Anne Not so far from the Invalides, the Ecole Militaire founded by Louis XV. Its aim was to educate young (and poor) officers. As the Invalides, it still belongs to the Ministry of Defense. Between the Ecole Militaire and the Eiffel tower, you find a park, the “Champ de Mars“, literally the Field of Mars, Mars being the Roman god of war. It was called “Champ de Mars” by the Romans when they defeated the Gauls there and took Paris (called Lutecia at this period). Then, the Champ de Mars was used to study strategy and to train for war, notably by the Ecole Militaire. Nowadays, the ones who train at the Champ de Mars are runners (among them, sometimes, soldiers from the Ecole Militaire!). Merci Anne and Niels! The routes of the tours (Saturday and Sunday):
Paris Competitions News: 10/10/10 10h => 20 km de Paris
20 km de Paris – Start This Sunday will see another release of the 20 km of Paris. We will be there. Recently, Debbie told us Melbourne will have its marathon. Chicago, Bruxelles, Munich, Bueno Aires, Ottawa, Poznan, Eindhoven also will welcome their marathon… Probably many other competitions this Sunday too… 10/10/10, a good day for running all over the world!
From Palais-Royal to the Eiffel tower with Julie
Under the Eiffel tower – Bettina (journalist), Julie and Jean-Charles (D.R.) 7:30 AM – Julie, from New-Zealand, travelling in Europ, chose to begin her stay in Paris by a running tour. Bettina, journalist from the German newspaper Spiegel Online, ran with us to do a report on one of our tours. You can see the article and photos here (in German). Thank you Julie and Bettina! The route of the tour: You can display Julie’s tour on a bigger map
Opera, Eiffel tower, Le Louvre… Keeping pace with Melanie
Melanie – Eiffel tower 7.00 AM – This Saturday in the middle of August was a very quiet day in Paris. Melanie came from Australia to visit and was happy to do her first run in Paris. We tried to keep the pace, finally doing nearly 12K in 1h05. So we are confident that Melanie will reach less than 1h for the 12K race she will run soon, even though we rested a little during our pauses to enjoy Paris and take pictures… Thank you Melanie! The route of the tour: You can display Melanie’s tour on a bigger map