The capital’s most jaw‑dropping race is back on September 20, 2026. It’s the event for Paris’s café waiters and waitresses, who will dash off with a single goal: to run without spilling their trays, to the sound of your applause!
The Place de l'Hôtel de Ville hasn't always been the lively, cheerful spot in the heart of Paris. Indeed, it was here that many public executions took place over the centuries. You'll never see the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the same light again!
On September 4, 1870, Léon Gambetta proclaimed the Third Republic in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, following the fall of the Second Empire after Napoleon III's defeat at Sedan, and in the face of the obstinacy of the Parisian people.
