The next day we woke up at 8:00 am, got dressed and had a quick breakfast. We already had an idea, which places to visit in Paris, as from beforehand I had done an online research on sightseeing. (The best way to travel in Paris is taking the hop-on and hop-off tour bus. They are couple of tour buses but only one company does wheelchair accessible tours and that also if one is on a manual wheelchair as they have no ramps, so the driver and someone else shall pick the wheelchair on the bus and take it off when required. The wheelchair accessible bus is known as the L’ Open Tour and their website is http://www.city-explore.com/open_tour.html. The one day ticket costs 29 Euros and a two day costs 32 Euros) The bus drivers and local people around there are very happy to help, almost everyone understands English so there is not much of a communication problem. As I am wheelchair bound we were not quite sure if gallivanting around Paris on a motorised wheelchair was feasible or not, therefore we bought the tickets for the Hop-on and Hop-off Open Bus Tour from our hotel concierge, we also borrowed a manual wheelchair which was not very good but served the purpose. We bought the two day tickets and the first day we kept sitting in the bus and took loads of pictures while sitting on top and told the driver that we shall get off at the Notre Dame Gothic Cathedral. It is a magnificent work of art and architecture; the construction began in 1160 and was completed in 1345. It holds 60,000 worshippers and each and every bell in the cathedral has its very own name. (Visiting the Notre Dame is free and is wheelchair accessible except for the Chapel, it has a few steps).
After absorbing the magnificence of Notre Dame, we decided to walk all the way to Champs-Elysées street, a very long walk it was but heaps of fun, with its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops, and beautiful trees and vegetation. Champs Elysees is one of the prestigious avenues in Paris; it is one of the most famous streets in the world. We passed the Place de la Concorde, this Place is a shaped octagon and designed in 1755. It is situated between the Champs-Élysées to the west and the Tuileries Gardens to the east. It is filled with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honour the king at that time. We also passed by the Luxor Obelisk it is a 23 metres (75 ft) high Egyptian obelisk standing at the centre of the Place de la Concorde. At the Arc de Triomphe, (one of the most famous monuments in Paris is located on the right bank of the Seine River), we decided to stop here and catch a cab. As I was on a manual foldable wheelchair, we could hail any cab as we were able to fold the wheelchair and keep it in the boot. We reached the hotel at around 7:00pm, washed, rested and had a snack to eat and then took a cab to the Eiffel tower, it is a completely different experience from what it looks like in the day. The magnificent tower stands proudly up high, lit up in the clear dark skies. Vendor selling miniature Eiffel Towers, key chains, glow in the dark tiny bouncy lights as souvenirs, a few people to sketch your picture in front of the tower and young photographers with Polaroid camera. Apart from its main lights which are the yellow ones it also has been installed with 70,000 lights which flicker every hour after dark for approximately 5 minutes, which is a sight to see. We were there till mid-night enjoying the glorious beauty towering on top of us thrilled by its gorgeousness.
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