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Starting point and access: Réaumur-Sébastopol metro station.
- Metro – Lines 3 or 4. Take Exit 2 onto Rue Réaumur and, at the end of the street, take the stairs on the right.
- Bus – Routes 20, 38, 39.
The main animal sightings and key features to look out for are highlighted in italics within the description.
(S/E) As you exit the metro station, go straight ahead and cross Rue Réaumur at the pedestrian crossing (opposite the former Art Nouveau-style headquarters of Félix Potin). Follow Rue Réaumur to the right. At the traffic lights (withthe ‘A Réaumur’ clock high up on the right), turn left into Rue Saint-Denis. Pass the Passage Basfour on your left and enter the next passage on the left, the Passage de la Trinité. At the end, turn right.
Cross Rue Greneta (note a mascaron in the shape of a cat’s head above the Rue de Palestro plaque) and continue straight ahead. Just before the end of the street, turn right into Passage Bourg-l’Abbé (caryatids representing industry on the left and commerce on the right; a beehive and bees in the centre). At the end, turn left. Continue straight on along Rue Saint-Denis and cross Rue de Turbigo and Rue Étienne Marcel in turn. You will reach the junction with Rue du Cygne (a sign depicting a swan in the top right-hand corner; a church opposite on the left).
(1) Turn right onto Rue du Cygne. At the junction, turn left into Rue Pierre Lescot (at No. 17, a gate surmounted by a caduceus and cornucopias with fruit and a serpent). Carry on straight ahead. Cross Rue Rambuteau and note, on the corner, a beehive and its bees. Take the next left onto Rue des Précheurs. Note, on the right-hand side, the faience façade of a former fishmonger’s with a bas-relief depicting shells.
At the end, rejoin Rue Saint-Denis, follow it to the right and cross Rue de la Cossonnerie. Then cross Rue Berger and a square on the right to reach the foot of the Fontaine des Innocents (covered in December 2023 due to renovation work). Return to Rue Saint-Denis and you’ll come to a junction with Rue de la Reynie (on the corner, a former sweet shop with a façade decorated with cat heads).
(2) Follow Rue de la Reynie to the left. Cross Boulevard Sébastopol at the pedestrian crossing and continue straight on. At the end of the street, first turn left then right to cross Place Edmond Michelet and arrive at the esplanade of the Centre Georges Pompidou.
At the corner of the monumental building, turn right and cross Place Igor Stravinsky, keeping to your left as you walk alongside a pond adorned with sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle (bird, snake, elephant, etc.). On the wall opposite the fountain, next to the Dalí sculpture, there is a large cat’s head. At the end, turn right onto Rue du Cloître Saint-Merri and walk alongside the church (with gargoyles high up).
(3) At the corner, turn left and walk past the church gate (featuring numerous sculptures, some of which depict lizards, beetles, etc.). At the next corner, turn left into Rue de la Verrerie. After about forty metres, turn right under a portico. Go down a flight of steps and continue along Rue Saint-Bon.
You’ll come out onto Rue de Rivoli; follow it to the left (at No. 76, the doorway is decorated with figures in period costume, one holding a falcon and another with a dog at their feet, with a lion’s head at the bottom and birds at the top). You’ll cross Rue du Renard on your left.
(4) Then turn right to cross Rue de Rivoli at the pedestrian crossing. Next, cross the esplanade in front of Paris City Hall, whose façade is adorned with statues of important figures from the history of the city of Paris. At the end, turn left and walk along the quayside.
At the entrance to the Jardin des Combattants de la Nueve, you have two options:
- If the garden is open (see opening days and times in the practical information), enter and walk through, passing by the equestrian statue of Étienne Marcel (1882) on your right.
- If the garden is closed, continue along the quayside, passing by the equestrian statue of Étienne Marcel on your left.
At the end, turn left and you’ll reach an entrance to the Hôtel de Ville adorned with seated lions. Then turn right and cross Rue de Lobeau at the pedestrian crossing. Continue straight ahead until you reach the foot of Saint-Gervais Church.
(5) Walk round the church on the left, following Rue François Miron. Then turn left to cross a large square (Académie du Climat on the right). Cross Rue de Rivoli again and walk into a small square.
At the junction with Rue du Roi de Sicile, turn left to see, on the corner of Rue de Moussy, a recent mural featuring an apple tree, birds and a fish. Retrace your steps.
Continue along Rue du Bourg Tibourg (turn left if you’re coming back from the mural, otherwise go straight on). At the end, turn left into Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie and note immediately on your left a modern bas-relief depicting Saint George slaying the dragon. Then turn right onto Rue Aubriot.
(6) At the end, opposite the Church of Notre-Dame des Blancs Manteaux, turn right and walk past a square on your left. At the end of the street, first turn left then right to go round the market halls. At the T-junction, turn right and walk past a school on your left (two Mesopotamian-style bull’s heads, sculpted by Edme Gaulle in 1819, on the wall of what was originally the butchers’ pavilion at the Blancs-Manteaux market). You’ll come out onto Rue des Rosiers; follow it to the left.
Take the first right, Rue des Écouffes (the name is derived from the Breton word ‘skouvl’, meaning a bird, the kite). At the next junction, rejoin Rue du Roi de Sicile and follow it to the left. Take the second right, Rue Pavée. At the traffic lights, cross Rue de Rivoli and then an esplanade (on the right, balcony corbels in the shape of chimeras). Then turn left and go straight on until you reach the entrance to the Church of Saint-Paul and Saint-Louis.
(7) Then turn left to cross Rue de Rivoli again. Follow this street to the right and take the first left, Rue Caron. Then cross Place du Marché Sainte-Catherine. On the other side, follow Rue de Jarente to the right.
At the first junction, turn left to see an old fountain decorated with foliage and fish. Retrace your steps and continue straight on along Rue Necker. At the end, turn left, cross Rue de Turenne and follow it to the right (at No. 1, there is an octopus above a fishmonger’s). At the end, turn left onto Rue Saint-Antoine.
(8) After about fifty metres, turn left under a portico and enter the first courtyard of the Hôtel de Sully, whose façades are adorned with numerous mascarons and statues of figures with various animals at their feet (dogs, lions, snakes, etc.). Pass under a portico flanked by two sphinxes and enter the second courtyard of the Hôtel de Sully (more sculptures, numerous mascarons). Cross the courtyard, pass under a third portico and emerge onto the Place des Vosges.
Turn right and enter Square Louis XIII. Walk straight across the square: go round the first fountain adorned with small lion heads, pass by the equestrian statue of Louis XIII and go round a second fountain. Leave the square and turn right into Rue du Pas de la Mule.
(9) Take the first left, into Rue des Tournelles. Shortly afterwards, turn left, cross a small square (three mascarons at No. 12) and continue along Rue Roger Verlomme. Cross Rue du Béarn on the left-hand side and continue along Rue du Foin. At the end, turn right into Rue de Turenne.
At the traffic lights, turn left into Rue du Parc Royal. Walk past a square on your left and the Hôtel de Vigny on your right. At the corner of the square, turn left into Rue Payenne, lined with mansions featuring beautiful gateways, notably the Hôtel de Chatillon at no. 13, the Hôtel de Marie at no. 11 and the Hôtel Cognacq-Jay at no. 9 (Jardin Lazare Rachline). You can take a brief detour into Square Georges Cain, where there are a few sculptures.
(10) At the end of the street, turn right into Rue des Francs Bourgeois (note the three lion heads on the gate at no. 31), then right again into Rue Elzévir. At the end, turn left into Place de Thorigny and, at the Fork in the road, follow the road to the right into Rue de Thorigny.
Walk past the Picasso Museum (a sphinx on a wall and a pediment featuring dogs). Take the first left into Rue des Coutures Saint-Gervais. Cross Rue Vieille du Temple, continue along Rue du Perche and you’ll reach the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross (a lamb on the right-hand side of the gateway).
(11) Then turn right into Rue Charlot (two lion heads on the gateway at No. 12) and then left into Rue Pastourelle (two lion heads on the gateway at No. 6). At the next junction, turn right into Rue de Beauce, which is very narrow at the start but widens further on. Just before the end of the street, turn right into Rue des Oiseaux. Go through a gate and walk straight across the Marché des Enfants Rouges (at the entrance, there is a mural of a fishmonger’s stall with fish and crabs). At the end (mural featuring birds and a dog), turn left. You will come out onto Rue de Bretagne; cross it at the pedestrian crossing and follow it to the left.
Cross Rue Eugène Spuller on the right-hand side and turn right into Square du Temple Elie Wiesel. Walk between a playground on your left and a pond on your right. Then first turn right then left, and walk along a lawn on your left. Walk past the statue of Pierre-Jean de Béranger and leave the square shortly afterwards on the right. Return to Rue du Temple and follow it to the right. Shortly afterwards, cross the street at the pedestrian crossing and continue to the right.
(12) Take the first left onto Rue des Fontaines du Temple. Continue straight ahead. Cross Rue de Turbigo, pass Rue Volta on your right and continue along Rue Borda. At the end (the pediment of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers – CNAM), turn left onto Rue Montgolfier. At the next junction, turn right into Rue Conté and walk past the war memorial to the students of the École Centrale. At the end of the street, opposite a pediment featuring two birds, first turn right then left to join Rue Réaumur. Walk past an old church on your right, which forms part of the CNAM, and note the smiling caryatids at No. 39.
At the traffic lights, turn right into Rue Saint-Martin, keeping the gate of the same name in your sights. When you reach the main entrance to the CNAM, turn left into Square Émile Chautemps. Cross the square and note, on both the left and right, two fountains featuring sculpted figures and a lion’s head. On the other side, turn left and, at the next junction, turn right into Rue du Caire. Take the first left, Rue de Palestro. Continue straight ahead and you’ll soon reach the Réaumur-Sébastopol metro station (S/E).
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Association / Club / Walk leader
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