If you haven’t ever been to Paris, you ought to go at least once and stay at least a week. We just spent two weeks there and then went on to Edinburgh for a week! Paris is a feast for the eyes and has myriad cultural diversions, and Edinburgh has a much different set of rich offerings.

(Photo: La Tour Eiffel as seen from the rooftop patio of Georges Pompadiou Art Center at night; we were there at the now-closed restaurant, Le Georges, for dinner.)

We discovered in 2024 that flying to Europe via British Air business class is only a bit more expensive than United’s Economy Plus and about half the price of their business class… and to us, the service and comfort on a long flight seemed much the same as United’s business class. Close enough to first class for us!

So, we flew with them from San Francisco to Heathrow, London, and then on to Paris from there. I usually don’t like to take a two-stop itinerary, given I have a scooter to collect when I arrive before we can go on to the next flight. We allow two or three hours between flights when we must do this kind of agenda.

The trip over all went smoothly this year, or mostly anyway (unlike last year when we had a connection with Aer Lingus to Dublin that went very much awry; I do not recommend that airline). Since we were at San Francisco airport three hours before departure, a late afternoon flight which allowed us to leave the house at a leisurely 12:30pm, we had time to have a bit of free lunch in the BA lounge, one of the perks of biz class.

Meeting the connection at Heathrow was also surprisingly easy, partly because our luggage had been checked straight through to Paris. I recall that the flight was delayed a bit, and the pilot made rather a rough landing, but we arrived at our charming hotel in the St. Germain neighborhood by about 6:00 in the evening, about fifteen hours after we’d left home.

We have previously stayed several times at a small boutique hotel in the Latin Quarter, but it’s become so popular that we were not able to get more than three nights there, partly because I waited late to book because of myriad repair issues with our home earlier this year. So, we found two new-to-us hotels about a half mile from our old stomping grounds which worked out well.

The first was Hotel du Aubusson, in the Saint Germain du Pres quarter, the 6th Arrondissement, which is named after a beautiful church in the neighborhood. I booked them partly for the neighborhood, partly because they have a pool (unusual in Paris) and partly because the pictures of the lobby, atrium courtyard and lounge photos and the room photos looked lovely. It did not disappoint, and the staff was very friendly, accommodating, and willing to speak English with us. Because we booked eight nights, they had a nice flower arrangement in our room when we arrived along with a small bottle of champagne and sweet treats, so we felt fully welcomed.

As with all travel, not everything was sweetness and light for me; I have a small lightweight mobility scooter, which is essentially a low tricycle with a little electric motor and a battery that weighs ten pounds. It is collapsible, and my husband breaks it down, puts it into cars or taxis  and then sets it up for me; it takes him about two minutes each way and takes me closer to ten, so it’s efficient for him to do this for me. The bike has enabled us to do far more together as my age and my gradually continuing weakness from polio have required me to use two arm cuff crutches when I walk. (When we first met over thirty years ago, I used only a cane when out and about and did not need one at home yet.)

Although the scooter is great and has hugely expanded where I can go, it doesn’t work on multi-layered gravel or soft dirt and is not at all comfortable on cobblestones. It also tips over easily when on some inclines so I must lean to the side into the higher end of the incline, and if there are two intersecting inclines, I may have to lean forward and to the side at the same time. Some of the sidewalks of Paris are quite narrow (as they also are in some Irish towns) so I would have to get off the scooter and move it into the street a bit from time to time, in addition to all the leaning. Frequently people pass in front of me without noticing me (I mean, so often that I came to see that I am invisible to almost everyone because I’m sitting down so low) so I very often have to brake when amongst large groups of pedestrians. When I have to accelerate to get up a steep curb ramp and then turn sharply onto a slanted sidewalk with people moving hither and yon and not noticing me, and brake to avoid a collision, it’s actually quite stressful. I felt like I was getting quite a workout even though I was riding most of the time when we were out!

I did take a spill once. I had to accelerate a little to get over a threshold and out a door during a quick lull when no one was in the doorway or on the sidewalk, and then turn sharply, to avoid going out into the street, and the bike tipped over into the street. It landed with my strong side under it and my weak side on top, with one of my hips hitting the sidewalk. I had to have my husband pull the bike up off me before I could get up and find out if I had been hurt. I was bruised up, but nothing was broken, and I managed to stand up, shaken, and get back on the bike. Several people wanted to help me up, but I often find that when someone grabs my arm, I’m at risk for one of my shoulders being damaged so must decline the assistance, which can look as if I am ungrateful.

After that mishap I was so cautious that it verged on paranoia and my husband held on to the back of the scooter’s chair sometimes if I were on too much of an incline. I couldn’t tell if his hand was there most of the time because I don’t lean back on the seatback, so I still felt very vulnerable.

Fortunately, we soon learned that there were several good restaurants within a few blocks of our first hotel and began availing ourselves of those right away. I’ll go on to that adventure in my next installmenton eating in Paris–which will be more fun than this one about my scooter challenges!