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The Coolest Thing I Have Ever
Done
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Author: Linda
Mathieu
Added: 07/15/2003
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The Coolest Thing I Have
Ever Done
I'm in Paris, full of marvelous things
to see and do. Treasures and history are on every
corner. I'm with a group of people and a man turns to me
and says, with his eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas,
"This is the coolest thing I have ever done!" .What was
he talking about? Walking down the Champ-Elysées?
Looking at Paris spread out at his feet from the highest
level of the Eiffel Tower? Maybe a meal at Tour
d'Argent? He probably had done all of those, but none of
the above was what he was talking about. So what was
it?
It was a ride on a Segway, a new-fangled mode
of transportation that had people stopping and staring,
pointing and smiling. It is a human transporter allowing
people to go up to speeds of 12 miles an hour in any
pedestrian environment. I suspect it was first invented
to help people with limited mobility, but it is so much
fun that everyone wants to hop on and try it.
The
only place in Paris that you can rent a Segway is at
Mike's Bike Tours, an American owned and run operation,
owned not by Mike, but David Mebane. He has the
exclusive contract with Segway as the only tour operator
to have these machines.
I joined a group one day
for a trial run. A quick orientation is needed before
you set off. There are three3 keys for starting a
Segway, each producing a different speed. The red key,
being the fastest, is no longer available to tourists
after two couples left a guide in the dust speeding for
the fun of it, not as tourists getting a look at Paris.
Our great guide, Brittany, had to hold on to our Segway
when we first stepped on because at first you wobble
back and forth, then suddenly you are balancing-- some
sort of gyroscope system underneath the machine keeps
you balanced. Then you just lean forward and pull back
on the handles to stop or to reverse if already stopped.
The turning device is on the left handle. This is the
part I enjoyed most, as you turn very quickly and easily
and maneuver like something out of Star Wars. The Segway
was easy to ride and great fun.
Then we were off
on our tour, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Invalides, the
Louvre, Ecole Militaire, Alexander III bridge, Place de
la Concorde and more. We were covering ground 2 to 3
times faster than the pedestrians we whizzed by on the
sidewalks. We could go up or down small curbs easily and
quickly come to a stop. I imagine that those who have a
little trouble with mobility would love the Segway. All
that is necessary physically is being able to step up
and down. Plus, you must weigh at least 70
pounds.
Part of the fun of the tour on the Segway
is the attention we attracted. As we drove by, people
stared either with a smile, because they could see how
much fun it was, or with a frown, wondering what in the
heck this new-fangled contraption was (however you say
that in French). Bikes aren't allowed in parks, and we
saw security men and policemen trying to decide if we
should be made to dismount and walk our Segways. We
found that as long as we didn't go right up to the
Pyramid at the Louvre they would let us continue to
ride.
When we stopped there to take a look at
the Pyramid from a distance, people surrounded us and
asked, "Where can you rent these?," "How do these
work?," "What are these?," "Can you buy them here in
Paris?," and on and on. I have a feeling that Madonna
gets this kind of attention when she goes out for a
walk. For just a few hours on one day, it was a rather
heady feeling. We saw a bike tour go by us and I saw the
riders look at us with envy.
David, the owner of
Mike's, told me that after a Prince of Saudi Arabia
tried the latest Segway, he immediately went and ordered
30 of them for his use back home, as well as for his
family and employees. Plaza Athenée has struck a deal
with David to put carrying bags with their name on them
for groups coming from this prestigious hotel to do the
Segway Tour.
I asked David why this tour has
become so wildly popular and he said he thought it was
because it was so new--the latest rage. Maybe in a year
or so the fad will pass, but it sure is a draw at the
present time.
Is it potentially dangerous? I
guess it could be. The Segway stops so quickly and
easily that I don't think it would be easy to run into a
pedestrian. It is possible to fall off, and I'm sure a
few people will run into a wall or get a wheel caught in
some gravel. No one in my group had any problems once we
became familiar with our Segways. All I know is that it
was a really fun thing to do and, possibly, "the coolest
thing I have ever done."
These tours are very
quickly booked. Call or email ahead of time to
book.
Mike's Bike
Tours-Paris
Dates : Every day March
1st-October 15th
Times: Day tour at 10:30am, night
tour at 6:30pm
Prices: Day tour 70 Euro, night tour
70 Euro, both tours 125 Euros
Meeting Point: Both
tours meet in the area under the Eiffel Tower
Phone :
01 56 58 10 54
Email : Info@mikesbiketoursparis.com
Web site : www.MikesBikeToursParis.com --
Linda Mathieu, formerly from Austin,
Texas, is a professional journalist and photographer.
Owner of Paris Photo
Tours, she delights
in taking tourists around Paris, showing them her
favorite views and photo ops. She is currently at work
on a book of her photography with a light-hearted look
at Paris. |
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