nerfman39
11-13-2006, 05:45 PM
City Segway Tours grew out of Fat Tyre Bikes who give bicycle tours and they now have seven tours in Europe and the US, we took the one in Paris.
With a maximum group size of ten, the tour lasts between 4 an 5 hours depending on the traffic and weather. Everything starts with mandatory training in how to use and control your Segway and then heads off.
The machines looked to me like i167s, but I'm no expert, they had been well used, they claim to have had 5000 people through the tour in the last three years, and they are planning to move to i2s in the New Year.
We went in a group of ten and the time it took to complete the training for each individual made the wait a bit dull, but safety is important especially in the maniacal traffic of Paris.
The tour we took went from the Acadamie Militaire, to Les Invalides and across the Seine via the Alexander III bridge and into Place de la Concorde with a stop at a café in La Tuileries for Lunch. After a 30 minute stop it’s on to the Louvre then back over the Seine past the Musee D’Orsay and L’Assemblee National and La Tuileries to the tours end back at the main office.
Unfortunately the "jobsworths" at the Louvre are clamping down on riding across the courtyard, but being chased away was fun!
There are plenty of opportunities to get off and stretch the legs and take photos and they seemed to get the balance about right. We took a chance taking the tour at the beginning of November, but the weather was absolutely fabulous. The commentary is kept to a minimum but is relevant and informative.
The highlight for me apart from riding infront of the Eiffel Tower was riding "on the road" on the way back to the tour office, having eleven Segways on a one way street means you can take up the whole road, power to the people!!
There are two main options; the “Day” which runs from the middle of February to the end of November. As the Segway doesn’t offer any weather protection, due to the cold, the “Night” tour only runs from April to the end of October. Though you can book a personal tour outside these dates but only on a "if available" basis
As I am sure any Segway owner knows you do need to need to be prepared to take a few funny looks and answer a few questions from passers-by, but that’s just part of the fun. Trouble is in Paris you need to be able to speak about 6 different languages!!
The founder "Dave" is returning to Austin, Texas after the birth of his first child so "Mike" is going to be taking over. The staff were uniformly friendly even to a hack radio journalist like me
At 70euros per person it’s not cheap, but for a fun and different way to see Paris it can’t be beaten.
The radio spot goes out on Friday evening I could post an MP3 of it if anyone is interested
With a maximum group size of ten, the tour lasts between 4 an 5 hours depending on the traffic and weather. Everything starts with mandatory training in how to use and control your Segway and then heads off.
The machines looked to me like i167s, but I'm no expert, they had been well used, they claim to have had 5000 people through the tour in the last three years, and they are planning to move to i2s in the New Year.
We went in a group of ten and the time it took to complete the training for each individual made the wait a bit dull, but safety is important especially in the maniacal traffic of Paris.
The tour we took went from the Acadamie Militaire, to Les Invalides and across the Seine via the Alexander III bridge and into Place de la Concorde with a stop at a café in La Tuileries for Lunch. After a 30 minute stop it’s on to the Louvre then back over the Seine past the Musee D’Orsay and L’Assemblee National and La Tuileries to the tours end back at the main office.
Unfortunately the "jobsworths" at the Louvre are clamping down on riding across the courtyard, but being chased away was fun!
There are plenty of opportunities to get off and stretch the legs and take photos and they seemed to get the balance about right. We took a chance taking the tour at the beginning of November, but the weather was absolutely fabulous. The commentary is kept to a minimum but is relevant and informative.
The highlight for me apart from riding infront of the Eiffel Tower was riding "on the road" on the way back to the tour office, having eleven Segways on a one way street means you can take up the whole road, power to the people!!
There are two main options; the “Day” which runs from the middle of February to the end of November. As the Segway doesn’t offer any weather protection, due to the cold, the “Night” tour only runs from April to the end of October. Though you can book a personal tour outside these dates but only on a "if available" basis
As I am sure any Segway owner knows you do need to need to be prepared to take a few funny looks and answer a few questions from passers-by, but that’s just part of the fun. Trouble is in Paris you need to be able to speak about 6 different languages!!
The founder "Dave" is returning to Austin, Texas after the birth of his first child so "Mike" is going to be taking over. The staff were uniformly friendly even to a hack radio journalist like me
At 70euros per person it’s not cheap, but for a fun and different way to see Paris it can’t be beaten.
The radio spot goes out on Friday evening I could post an MP3 of it if anyone is interested