Paris

I went to Europe for the first time the s past September ; it was a dream come true!

Ever since I was in high school, I’ve dreamed of going to Paris! My Dad has been there for work, and also he lived in France for a couple of years when he was in his early twenties. In addition, my sister, Brigitta, studied abroad there. They both talked so highly of it. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. 

The flight was about 8 hours; it was the longest flight I've been on. Not gonna lie, being on a plane for that long was rough, but it was worth it. When our plane landed, I was eager to start our adventure. 

As a person with a disability, one of the things I noticed, that was different in Paris from the US is that, in France, there are people called Mobility Assistants. It is their job to help disabled people get on and off the plane. They also help the person navigate the airport. The guy that was helping us took us a backway through the airport to customs. I felt like a VIP! 

By the time we got to the  apartment we had rented, all of us were exhausted. I couldn’t sleep on the overnight flight at all! My Dad arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and I really enjoyed looking out the window for my first views of Paris. My mom, my sister,and I were looking at all the people and the clothes they were wearing. I was surprised that the fashion was casual, lots of jeans and sweaters, but it was still classy.

The apartment was an Airbnb. It had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. While it was spacious, parts of it were old like the kitchen. The apartment was on the 2nd floor and although the building had an elevator, it was really tiny. There was only enough room for my sister and me to stand up in it. Every time we were going or coming back from somewhere, we had a whole system with my manual wheelchair at the top of the stairs and my Eagle wheelchair which is a collapsible hybrid at the bottom.The Eagle wheelchair is what I use when we go out.

What’s nice about the Eagle is it’s a hybrid between an electric and manual. It has a joystick so I can drive, but I'm also able to be pushed. This is nice because I like to be as independent as possible. I thought I did pretty well driving in the large crowds, but sometimes I got tired, or the sidewalk was very narrow so I needed my family to push me. 

The first couple days we just wandered around the city . There was a bakery (Patisserie) and a coffee shop on every street corner and restaurants all over. There were so many places to go and things to see. My mom said it reminded her a little bit of New York City. I enjoyed wheeling around and just taking it all in. I don’t often get to go to a city that big, so it was a different experience for me, and I was amazed.

I was surprised that most of the sidewalks had curb cutouts for a wheelchair or a stroller. This made it easier to get around. Some stores had one or two steps, but we didn’t let that stop us. In this case my family just worked together to lift me up a couple of steps.

Paris has a bunch of what they call Gallerias. These were old buildings with pretty architecture, like passageways, open on both sides, kind of like mini malls with a few specialty stores and restaurants. What I liked about the Gallerias was that they had colorful tile floors and walls, all done by artisans back in the 1800’s.  My family and I enjoyed walking around exploring. Boutiques were all around! At one store, I got a license plate that says Paris with my name under. It is currently hanging on my wall in my bedroom.

One of the first attractions we visited was Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked there from our apartment. The walk was about 15 minutes,and we were able to see some different neighborhoods along the way. Notre Dame is on an island in the middle of the river Seine, which goes through the center of Paris. It’s a beautiful view and I made sure to get a picture.

Once we got to Notre Dame,there was a line to get in, luckily it went fast. The inside was stunning! There were so many statues of important figures from the church, and of course there was Mary and Jesus. The Altar was gorgeous. 

People were going up behind the altar, unfortunately there were steps. As my family was debating if they should try to lift my chair up the stairs, a worker came up to us, and told us they had a lift. I was happy I would get to see the rest of the church without much trouble. I was also impressed that they made accommodations for accessibility in such an old church. I love that accessibility is acknowledged and I thought the city of Paris was generally inclusive.

Behind the altar, there were more things to see. I’ve always loved  the bright, beautiful colors of stained glass and Notre Dame’s were magnificent. My family and I enjoyed exploring. There were candles all around the different areas for praying. There were also statues of saints and wood carvings of the crusades.

My dad and I got to go to a museum- a room in the back of the church. Normally there is a fee, but if you are disabled, you and your companion get in free. ( Sometimes being disabled pays off, hahaha ) Inside, there were all kinds of things from Christ’s time! Perhaps the most amazing thing was the display case for the crown of thorns. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the actual crown because it’s only out on Fridays, but, the fact that I was in the same room where the crown of thorns is displayed, WOW! 

Notre Dame was beautiful, especially considering the fire that happened in 2019. My Dad noticed a lot of differences because he had seen the church before the fire.) I’m soo glad I got to see it. 

After that we went to another church on the same island as Notre Dame. Fun fact about this church, my dad actually did a reading during Mass there when he was visiting my sister during her study abroad. (My Dad speaks French and the scheduled Lecture hadn’t shown up.)The church was way smaller than Notre Dame, but it was still really pretty. 

A couple days later, on Friday, we went to the Palace of Versailles. This is where King Louis XIV lived, and moved his Court and the French Government there in 1682. Now it is a Museum and people can tour it. To get there, my dad booked a company that he found online called Sage Travel. Sage Travel is a company that caters to people with disabilities. All their vans are handicapped accessible. 

When we got there, I was amazed at the size of the palace, and I was eager to explore! The outside looked like it was made out of gold. There was even a gold gate. There were  again, long lines to get in, but similar to most every Tourist Attraction in Paris, people with a disability are ushered to the front of the line. 

Once inside,we each got a set of headphones that was connected to a device which explained each room. The machine was like an old- fashioned phone with a keypad. Each room had a number to plug into the phone to hear about what was in that room, and what it was used for. Lucky for me, I had a wire to plug my headphones into the machine so it was easier to use. 

As we went through the different rooms I was amazed by the furniture and the artwork. The furniture was so fancy and  beautiful and seemed expensive. I wonder how much it cost?

Definitely something wayyyy out of my budget, hahaha. There was so much artwork, to be honest, I don’t even remember all of it, but, at the moment I loved looking at the pieces. 

One of my favorite rooms was called The Hall Of Mirrors. The room was very big with lots of light and floor to ceiling mirrors. Sarah and I took a mirror selfie. It’s a unique picture.

My other favorite part was the outside gardens; they were very peaceful. I can imagine Royalty spending their afternoon walking around. 

The next day, Saturday, was a  chill day! My sister, Brigitta, and her husband, Andrew, and my niece Gigi came and joined us. That night we went out to dinner at this delicious Lebanese restaurant, called Liza. The food was on another level. If you’re ever in Paris, I really recommend trying it! 

The next two days were filled with fun adventures. Sunday was the day for which my Mom and Sarah were waiting. Yes, the Paris Flea Market!! Before we went, my Mom researched  to determine what Flea Market we should attend because there are lots of flea markets in Paris. (We even explored one right outside our apartment on the weekend we were there.)

In the morning, our driver for the day picked us up and took us to the Flea Market; it was huge! At the beginning, the items were very typical and not that interesting, such as shoes and electronics. We had to make it past the first section in order to get to the stuff we really wanted to see, which was the Vintage furniture, clothes, artwork and more.

The way the market was set up almost reminded me of a little town. There were different store fronts with furniture and artwork. Some of it was really interesting and modern. I enjoyed looking around, but I don't think I'd want any of it in my house. I had to be extra careful with my wheelchair, not to bump into anything… that would be bad .haha 

There were some jewelry, clothes, and miscellaneous nicknacks. I didn’t get anything, but I enjoyed looking around. This Flea Market was definitely impressive! 

The next day, Monday, was the day I was most excited about! We went to the Eiffel Tower. This was one of the things I really wanted to see when planning our trip! I remember when we were driving to Versailles, we passed the Eiffel Tower and when I saw it for the first time up close, I screamed with excitement.

When we got there, I was amazed how huge it was when you’re standing right in front of it. I felt like an ant. There was a line and security to get in, but, guess what? We were taken to the front of the line. Everyone was waiting for the elevator, which was pretty big and had big glass windows. I looked out the window as we were going up, and saw the structure of the Eiffel Tower. My dad told us that when it was first built, the people of Paris thought it was ugly,- funny how it became the symbol of Paris.

The elevator took us up to the second floor

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 The second floor view was incredible! As I made my way around, I could see almost all of the city. My Dad pointed out Notre Dame. From up that high, I could see most of Paris, the Seine River and all the different neighborhoods.

My Mom and sisters went up to the third floor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t wheelchair accessible, so my Dad, Andrew, Gigi and I stayed on the second floor. Throughout the years, I've learned there are just certain things that I can’t do. Even though I felt a little disappointed. My Dad and I kept going around the whole floor looking at the different parts of the city, I couldn’t believe that I was in the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower has an ‘inside’ as well with several gift shops. I had to get some souvenirs:  a sweatshirt and a keychain. The Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris. It was definitely one of my highlights. 

This day was filled with lots of fun activities! After the Eiffel Tower we went to Luxembourg Gardens. This park has a large sand walkway and a pond with grassy areas around. There is the Luxembourg Palace at one end which was built in the 1600’s and has beautiful architecture. Something that was similar to parks in the U.S was that there were kids running around, and people sitting - either reading, or just enjoying the park. If I lived in Paris, I would probably visit Luxembourg Gardens often, for a walk or just to relax. There were beautiful flowers throughout. 

Eventually we got hungry! Close by was a crepe place that Brigitta used to go to when she lived in Paris. The food was really good! I had a crepe with sausage, egg, tomato and honey mustard. 

Two days later, we went to the Louvre Museum. WARNING: this place is NOT wheelchair friendly! Technically the museum itself was handicapped accessible, but getting around with my wheelchair was a nightmare. Besides the normal difficulty of trying to navigate my wheelchair in a crowded space, the Museum was used as a palace and was added on to many times so the layout is complicated and the elevator system was so confusing. The floors were, 0, (0), 1 (1), -1, (-1) .  I remember how my family and I were trying to get to a certain exhibit, and every time we got off on a floor, an employee would tell us to go to a different floor. I swear, it took us an hour just to get out of the museum, no joke! If anyone from the Louvre happens upon this blog, (that would be amazing), I highly suggest you change/update your elevator system. 

This museum has so many incredible works of art, including the famous Mona Lisa. I absolutely had to see this painting  given that it’s one of the most famous paintings in the world. The room was filled with so many people standing in front and on the sides of the Mona Lisa. I couldn’t even see it from my wheelchair, my parents had to lift me up in order to get a glimpse. The painting is much smaller than I expected. It’s a little bit bigger than a notebook but now I can say that I saw one of the most famous paintings in the world. 

We also got to see some of the other exhibits! There were a bunch of jewels that belonged to the Kings of France that were in the Gallery of Apollo.These jewels had many beautiful diamonds in them! I’m sure most of you have heard of the robbery that happened at the Louvre recently, unfortunately, a lot of the jewels that we saw were stolen. In fact, my Mom has some pictures of those stolen pieces. It’s such a shame that happened, especially because the pieces that were taken were a part of French history. The Louvre was a really interesting experience. Even though it was difficult to navigate in a wheelchair, I’m glad I got to see it. 

The adventures never stopped, even in the last couple of days. My family and I went to Montmartre, one of the highest points in Paris. Sacre Coeur, a Catholic Basilica made with beautiful white stones is at the top of a big hill. People can either climb the many steps up the hill to get to Montmarte or you can drive up a winding road to the top. Obviously we drove.There are also steep steps into Sacre Coeur but we were allowed to enter through the handicap entrance which was a back way through the church.Sacre Coeur had a gift shop in the church, how cool is that! I went in to pick out a few items. I got a beaded bracelet for myself and a rosary as a gift for someone. 

Outside the church there was a street with local artists selling their work. I always appreciate original art! My family bought some. My parents and Sarah love collecting art to put on their walls. My mom and Sarah really have an eye for design. 

Walking down the street  and seeing all of the art was incredible. The vibes reminded me of an old French movie. There was an accordion player at the end of the street, classic France. 

All over Paris, there are little news stands that sell items such as hats, bags, and aprons. At the stand in Montmartre I bought  some hats for my family and some bags for my friends! There were also shops that sold scented soaps, books and candy. Montmartre is a cute, artsy area.

The next day was our last day, which was sad, but at the same time I was ready to sleep in my own bed.

That day we went to Le Marais which has lots of little shops and restaurants. There are many different areas of Paris and so much history to each one.

Brigitta wanted to go to a specific store in Le Marais called Le Nom. This store was a purse and wallet store. What was so special about Le Nom is you could personalize your purse or wallet by having it hand painted. One of the employees, who was an artist, would paint it right there in the store. I got a wallet with my initials in blue and a red rose. It’s one of my favorite things I bought on the trip. 

My family and I walked around for a little. Eventually we sat down at a  cafe. Since our table was out on the street, watching people walk by was fun! I always like to people watch and Paris was great for that! 

I also took the opportunity to be creative. As a writer, I try to write as much as possible! It was so amazing to be at a French cafe, doing something I love, surroundedbeing  by Paris culture while writing, what could be better than that? I wish I could go to a French cafe everyday. I can imagine sitting in lots of different cafes, working on my writing,

These are some of the highlights, but there are so many moments from this trip that I could talk about. We saw a lot of the typical tourist sights, we shopped at Vintage stores as well as high end stores on the Champs Elysees, we ate in some small cafes with delicious food and walked all over the city of Paris.

This trip was something out of my dreams. Seeing another part of the world and being surrounded by the culture was such an incredible feeling and I will cherish these memories forever. I hope I can go back one day. 

Thank you, Paris!!