Two days after we’ve returned from Mallorca I find myself back in Paris. It’s a Monday morning, Sara is in bed in hotel Lenox Montparnasse, I’m out. Running through the history of Paris.
It’s seven thirty. I hoped to run through Jardin du Luxembourg, one of my favourite places in Paris, but the gates are still closed. No green today, but I’m not here for the trees. I’m here for history. So I take boulevard Saint-Michel and follow my way to Place Pantheon, which was built between 1758 and 1790. King Louis XV of France wanted it to be a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. By the time it was completed, France was a republic and the National Constituent Assembly decided that it would be transformed into a mausoleum for the remains of distinguished French citizens, modelled on the Pantheon
Shakespeare and Company
From the Pantheon I take the Rue Valette and Rue Lagrange, and pass Shakespeare and Company, my favourite bookshop in Paris. One that normally has a big queue outside, but this morning there is nobody as the shop is still closed. The streets are empty anyway. Here and there a car, but hardly any pedestrians. Those who are outside, are runners.
After Shakespeare and Company I cross the Seine and follow my way onto L’île de la Cité, for the Notre-Dame de Paris. There are still fences around the cathedral, as the repairs after the fire that destroyed the roof and flèche in 2019 are still ongoing. It took almost a hundred years to build it, between 1163 and 1260, so no wonder it’s taking a long time to repair it. The big advantage of this early morning; it’s just me out here. The last time I was in Paris hundreds of people were trying to get a glimpse.
Mona Lisa
Over the Pont au Change I get on to the right bank of the Seine, where I follow my way over the Voie Georges Pompidou. By the looks of it, this is the place to run in Paris. After Pont Neuf however, I make my way up to Quai Francois Mitterrand to have a look at the Louvre, home to the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
I always like to come here. Not so much for the museum – I don’t always understand art – but for the Tuileries Garden, which lies between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. From here it’s one straight line over the Champs-Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe. The avenue is named after the Elysian Fields, the place for dead heroes in Greek mythology. No wonder the Arc de Triomphe is at the end, as it honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Eiffel Tower
But the Arc is for another time. Today I follow the Seine, until the Trocadero Gardens, where the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was held earlier this year. Here I take a left over the Pont d’Lena towards the Eiffel Tower. Napoleon Bonaparte had the bridge built in 1807 and named it after his victory in 1806 at the Battle of Jena.
The Eiffel Tower wasn’t there in those days. The Iron Lady, as it was know in the old days in Paris, is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Now-a-days it attracts around 6 million visitors a year. For me it was twice the end of the long relay run RoPa, Rotterdam – Paris, that raised money for cancer research.
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Luxembourg Gardens
For that race I had to run six times 10 kilometres in two days. The moment I was resting in the van another runner from our team was on the road. Today’s run will be a bit more than 15 kilometres and today the Eiffel Tower isn’t the end; the Luxembourg Gardens are. But not before I’ve seen one more highlight of Paris. So I make my way over the Avenue de Tourville to the Jardin de l’Intendant. This is where the tomb of Napoleon is and Hôtel des Invalides, a hospital and a museum dedicated to the military history of France.
From here it’s a little cool down run over the Rue de Babylone and Rue d’Assas to the Luxembourg Gardens, which date back to 1612. Marie de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her new residence. Today the gardens are owned by the French Senate, which meets in the palace. For me it’s the greenest spot I know in Paris and the best place to finish my run. The only thing I have to do now, is pick up a baguette for Sara and walk back to the hotel in Montparnasse.
Keep on running
