I’m not sure whether any studies have been done on whether love of riding Segways is genetic, but I have a very strong suspicion it could be. Touring by Segway is always top of my Mum’s list on any of her travels, and Sascha also seems to have inherited the need for sightseeing at speed.
The first time I rode a Segway was actually with Sascha in Austin Texas, and when we heard that Sunday was a car free day in Paris or #JourneeSansVoiture, a repeat mother-daughter Segway ride seemed like the perfect way to get in a big day of sightseeing.
We picked up our Segways in Place de Concorde and headed up the Champs Elysees, which was filled with people, cyclists & a few fellow Segway riders instead of the usual multiple lanes of cars.
We zoomed along to the Arc du Triomphe, where one lone car was visible instead of the usual chaos of vehicles all with horns tooting madly
then on to the Trocadero with its great vantage point over the Eiffel Tower,
down past the gardens below a little hotel that Stuart and I stayed at on our first ever trip to Paris back in 1999,
and on to the Eiffel Tower itself.
From there we made our way to the Invalides,
before crossing back over Pont Alexander III ,
past the Grand Palais and Petit Palais before returning to our starting point in Place de Concorde, all in the space of 90 minutes.
It was the most beautiful sunny day, so we decided to keep exploring on foot and headed back across the Pont de la Concorde to the Rodin museum, where we strolled around the gardens.
I didn’t pack my Google Glass this trip as I was worried about them foiling in the Singapore humidity, but I definitely missed the ease and convenience of taking pictures with Glass while on the Segway. Constantly fishing my iPhone out of my pocket was nowhere near as convenient, but we still had a fantastic time exploring Paris on an absolutely stunning day.