kswl

Finalizing plans and need advice:

QUESTION #1: Cannot join the regularly scheduled Segway Tour due to Eurostar arrival time. The price for a private tour is pretty steep for two people (about $400). However, if this is just an amazing, wonderful experience we'll do it. Has anyone done this? Has anyone taken the tour in the cold rain?

QUESTION #2: any recommendations for lunch in Greenwich or environs? Spending the day at prime meridian, cutty sark, maritime museum, etc., traveling by boat there and DLR back. Anything that stands out? (13-year-old opposed on principle to sushi.)

As always, thank you all for your help and suggestions!

cmeyer54

Segway tour was the highlight of our time in paris. However, we were there in August and took a night tour. I wouldn't miss it again - had a great time, good guides, etc.

kswl

thank you, Cmeyer. Do you think it would be safe for a 13-year-old? The website says 12 is the minimum age. I am totally ignorant of these machines, but am completely fascinated by them.

caroline_edinburgh

We were in Paris the weekend before last & saw a Segway tour in the Place de la Concorde & Tuileries gardens, around midday. Initially we thought it looked very exciting. However, we saw them several times as we kept being caught up by them and then leaving them behind : the participants seemed to spend more time listening to instructions then walking, while dragging their machines behind them, than actually riding. But presumably you didn't have that experience, cmeyer ?

ilovetulips

Have you looked at Mike's Bike Tours? It may be called Fat Tire Tours now. I have looked at some of their tours and I think they include a Segway tour. I believe they are about $40 or 50.

ilovetulips

Ok, I just checked and the website is fatbiketours.com. The price is 70 euros per person.

kswl

Yes, you are all correct. Mike's Bike Tours is now Fat Bike Tours (no speculation on name change). They are the ones who offer the Segway tours also. Regularly scheduled tours are E 70 per person. An unscheduled, private tour is E 70 pp plus an additional E 100 for the guide. This is a lot of money (for us, anyway) and I am really interested in hearing from those who have been on the tour. Again, many thanks!

Also, UK'ers, any restaurant recommendations for the Greenwich day trip?

anotherjudy

I did the tour last April in the cold rain - they provided ponchos. I had a good time, but you really don't see anything except the streets of Paris and The Thinker's behind. I wouldn't characterize it as the highlight of my time in Paris. But it is fun!
I think a fairly well co-ordinated 13 year old would be fine.

chepar

We did the night Segway tour in early May, and it was the highlight of our time in Paris.

The tour was great fun - zipping along the streets of Paris and seeing the sights. We made brief stops at various places (Louvre, Invalides, etc.) and got a short "history lite" blurbs from our guide. However, the focus of the tour wasn't really the history/significance of what we were seeing - it was enjoying the Segway on the beautiful streets of Paris.

I agree that a fairly well coordinated 13 year old should be ok. Most of the time you travel along the sidewalks, but you do have to cross the streets (in crosswalks) and sometimes if the sidewalk is not wide enough, ride on the side of the road. There were not always bike lanes for us to travel in - so as long as the 13 year old is mature enough to handle him/herself in potential traffic (not darting out or weaving too close to a car), it's ok.

If you decide to do it, make sure your legs are well rested before you take the tour. You are basically standing in the same position for 4 hours straight - without being able to do much stretching of your legs and feet.

kswl

Thanks for your advice. If we do this trip, we'll not be able to do the full 4 hours--more like 2 and a half. (unfortunately, same expense as private tour is flat fee). I think we'll do it! Will report back with success of middle-aged mom with sciatica on this new contraption. sounds like a New Yorker cartoon...

cmeyer54

My son was 13 when we did it; they provide an orientation session for safety, etc. You can ask for a helmet to wear if you like. We left from about 2 blocks off the eiffel tower, zipped through there, along by les invalides, through the louvre, over to Ile de la cite, etc. Our guide had a nice running commentary for us; we saw a lot - we used Mike's Bikes - now Fat Bike Tours - they are all from the US so the language is not a problem. We made a stop for crepes near the Louvre. You will be tired when its done - and its the only time that as a tourist...YOU are getting your picture taken!

sol_veracruzano

How much?

How much is a Paris Segway tour?

kswl

I am so excited about this! I showed the website to Skip and he is elated. Dad now wishes he had taken the time off to come with us!


sv, this is one of the website pages:
http://www.parissegwaytours.com

thanks again, everyone! I would not have even found out about this without reading about it on the fodors message board.

Bill_I

Lunch in Greenwich. I like English pub food & atmosphere. So a place I like for lunch is the Gypsy Moth pub. It is very near the Cutty Sark & the Gypsy Moth yacht, right as you start getting into the town. Was a friendly place, with good pub grub & beer. I would go back there for more.

kswl

sounds like a good place for a hamburger or shepherd's pie. Thanks much, Bill. I was very fortunate as a teenager to get to take tours of the Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Malcolm Miller, both sail training ships of the Royal Navy. You don't know where they are docked, by any chance? I'd love for Skip to see them.

bellairegirl

Not your gourmet recommendation, but when I was in Greenwich with my 12 and 14 year old sons, they enjoyed eating at Pizza Express. It's nicer than it's name sounds -- more like a cool Italian restaurant serving high quality thin crust pizzas. My sons like the Pizza Express pizza better than any pizza they can get here in the States.

Susan

kswl

that would work, too--thanks, Susan.

TPaxe

I've seen the Segway Tours and personally I wouldn't take them. Why? too expensive, silly gadgets in a beautiful city, thought it looked too much like Disney world type gimmicks.

Try Paris Walks. Great guides, interesting tours and about Euro12 per person. Worth every penny. Sometimes there are only 6 to 8 people on the tour.

Exploring Paris on foot is the best way and the Segway machines are not easy in the medieval streets.

If you want to visit the main drags, touristy spots, the Segway tours go there, and there is limited historical commentary and more talk on how to use them! Walking around Paris, there is more discovery of hidden treasures as well as the classic sights.

also there are some great guide books with self-guiding walks. Try Time Out Walks.

TimS

In his _Daytrips London_, Earl Steinbicker recommends several place for food and drink in Greenwich. In 2002 my wife and I ate at the Plume of Feathers pub which Steinbicker describes as "an 18th-century pub, locally popular for its bar food." We enjoyed it. Other places he recommends are Trafalgar Tavern ("an old and celebrated combination pub and restaurant with traditional English fare&quot, Spread Eagle ("French and modified English cuisine in an old coaching inn&quot, The Yacht ("colorful 17th-century riverside pub offers simple bar lunches and sandwiches&quot and Bosun's Whistle in the west wing of the Maritime Museum ("light lunches and refreshments in a pleasant setting&quot.

kswl

Thanks, Tim, for all the suggestions. I don't know what I had imagined would be available, but not that much choice for lunch!

T Paxe, I understand your point. However, we have only 3 hours to devote to a tour, and you can't see much of Paris on a three-hour walk. 13-year-old son accompanying me has never been to Paris, so all the "touristy" sights--the ones people see the first time---are the ones he should see this trip. As for the "gimmicky" aspect of the Segway, well, we're technology-crazy in our house, so that doesn't bother us a bit!