Morning Walks in Paris

Kevin here.

As I mentioned during a previous blog post, I intended to spend a considerable amount of time while in Europe walking around, watching, experiencing whatever I could find.  Morning walks, if possible, before Kelly and the kids get up were best.  I thought I would throw together a few pictures of many of the things I've seen in Paris.  I think it gives some real insight into how this city works and lives.

Our apartment is in the Latin Quarter, near the Censier-Daubenton Metro stop (if you care to map it).  The major street that runs near us is Rue Monge, which you can walk north on towards the Seine River and Notre Dame on the Isle de la Cite.  We've walked Rue Monge quite a bit.

One thing that I've found interesting is the Autolib cars.  Autolib is essentially a self-service car rental, somewhat like Zipcar.  However, they're all small electric vehicles each with their own charging station.  Pretty cool.  There's an Autolib just down the street from our apartment, on Rue Monge.  These cars are often gone on weekends as some Parisians bolt the city.

Paris, like London, has a great bike rental program called Velolib.  In fact, London's Barclay Bike rental system is modeled after Paris'.  So you'll see Velolib stations all around Paris as well.  You pay, grab the bike you want, and return it to any Velolib station:


Paris prides itself on free speech, of course.  People power.  Before the election of the French Presidency, the city was papered with signs for Sarkozy and Hollande (note: in the US and UK, they pronounce Hollande's last name like the name of the country.  In Paris, the seem to pronounce more like O-LAHND)

Hollande defeated Sarkozy in a close election.

One morning, shortly after our arrival in Paris, I walked to Notre Dame, about a 20-minute walk, to get an early morning picture of the place.  It's beautiful and iconic:


If you walk in a more north-westerly direction from our place down Rue Buffon towards the Seine, you'll get near the Gare d'Austerlitz train station.  I didn't take this walk much as Rue Buffon is not a particularly attractive road, what with many derelict buildings and such.  But Gare d'Austerlitz is a beautiful old train station:

Gare d'Austerlitz

An early-morning train arrives at Gare d'Austerlitz, coming across a bridge over the river.

One interesting thing down Rue Buffon:  the largest mosque in Paris.  It's quite beautiful.  Apparently this is where many Muslims in Paris go to worship:

The Mosque of Paris

Back on Rue Monge...  Now this is very cool.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's actually an ancient Roman coliseum -- called the Arènes de Lutèce -- dating from the 1st century.  It was almost destroyed several times, including during construction of a Metro stop, but it's been saved.  Or at least some of it has.  It was once used for entertainment, sporting, and even throwing Christians to lions, believe it or not. Today, it's a play area!  Kelly and the kids have picnic'ed here.  On my morning stroll, I found a pick-up soccer game underway:

Arenes de Lutece

Heading down Rue Monge -- towards the Seine about where you cross Boulevard Saint-Germaine -- I came across this great science fiction and fantasy shop.  I thought these large pewter figurines of Boba Fett and C3PO were outstanding.  And only about 1500 Euros!  So... let me know if you want me to pick one up for you.

Boba Fett

C3PO goes for 1800 Euros

The Seine is, of course, the life-blood of Paris.  I love to walk down there and sit, watch, etc.  I particularly love to look at the barges.  Not knowing any better, I could see myself living barge life.

Barges moored on the Seine.

Other photos around the river:

One of the many beautiful old bridges on the Seine.  I forget which one.  Sorry. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out, but I'm feeling lazy.

Intricate stonework on the bridge.

Looking down the Seine towards Notre Dame from the Austerlitz bridge.

Closer back to our apartment... we're only about a 4-minute walk to a great park called Jardin des Plantes.  It is, in fact, a garden full of plants.  And flowers.  And statues.  Take a look:

I forget who this statue is in tribute to.  I had never heard of him, but that doesn't mean too much.

May is a great time to visit the Jardin des Plantes.  There are hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers on display:


You don't see a whole lot of people jogging in Paris.  But, when you do, there in the parks.  Lots of them run up and down this area:





The Jardin des Plantes is also home to a couple of interesting museums, including one on natural history  and one on evolution:

Moving back closer to our apartment now...  This great old apartment building is almost right across the street from us.  The cornerstone says it was designed about 115 years ago.  It's a classic french building.  I love the architecture.  And I love passing this building whenever we head out somewhere:

I hope that gives you a sense of many of the beautiful things we get to see every day here in Paris.  I have more pictures taken during afternoon walks.  I'll get them up soon.