A segue on my Segway?!!

I probably had my busiest week so far in Paris last week.

It has been amazing, the doubts of weeks past have all but disappeared and I am well and truly back taking Paris by storm!

I got more involved in work this week. I commenced my tour guide training by heading out on a segway tour most mornings followed by French lessons in the afternoons. Trying to remember all the history that everyone seemed to spurt off so effortlessly then go to French and try and understand what was going on there was exhausting but fun at the same time. As weird as this may sound, it was so nice to be busy again! I think I have had such a cruisy time the last few weeks, I started missing a bit of routine in my life so it was great to get out every day and feel like I was on a mission.

When many of my friends and family found out I was going to be that person cruising around Paris on a Segway there were a lot of tears.... of laughter. I have been demanded photos as proof and had other friends even ask me for a video. Now if you have ever met me, you would well and truly know that I am not the most coordinated person in the world. It's strange 20 years of ballet, you think that I would have the whole coordination thing down, but no, not sure what happened there. I am well and truly clumsy and when I was told I was going to be heading out on Segway tours, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy.

I voiced this fear to one of my new work colleagues and he told me I had nothing to worry about. When he asked me where I was from and I said Australia, his response was 'Ooooh, actually, that's one strike against you already, Australian's have the most accidents.' Oh great. Thanks mate, you're not exactly doing anything for my confidence here. So stack-hat tightly strapped to my head, I walked outside and commenced 'Segway training 101.'

For my first tour I was with a group entirely made up of Australians. While it was comforting to be surrounded by so many people from home, I couldn't shake those words from my mind, and just had visions of us all piled up in a big segway mess in the middle of the Champs Elysée. Our guide for the day was a lovely young American girl who explained that we would all be safe as long as we listened to our segway and showed it who's boss. After watching her cruise around explaining the machine, I started feeling a little more relaxed. This doesn't look too bad, I thought. Maybe I can do this. One by one we had a turn at getting on and off the segway and taking it for a little trip. It wasn't half as bad as I had anticipated. It did feel a little strange but after a few minutes, it felt quite normal to be cruising around the courtyard standing up on a mini platform with 2 wheels. Once we all had a machine, we took off like little ducks in a row and started to head off around Paris.

I must admit, it was actually kinda fun, but never in a million years did I think I would be cruising around Paris on one of these bad boys. Not quite the 'Paris chic' I imagined, but enjoyable none the less. You will be all happy to know I got through my first tour unscathed. There was one guy (Aussie) that was acting like a bit of a tool and kept crashing but that was funny more than unsettling.

After my first tour, my fears subsided and felt quite confident to head out on tour again for the rest of the week. The next tour went off without a hitch and I was starting to wonder what all the fuss had been about. Yeah.... I wondered too soon....

On my last tour of the week I saw one of the most epic segway crashes I hope to ever see. I was at the back of the group so I witnessed the entire thing happen in what at the time felt like slow motion. It all started with an old man who was lacking confidence and just promptly fell off his segway. As he was going down he let out a God awful scream which startled everyone in the group. One person leapt off their segway in order to help him, forgetting that it will keep going for a few metres before it shuts itself off. So this Segway like a machine possessed flew down the side-walk straight into another girl. I must admit I have never seen anyone fly quite like she did as the possessed segway spear tackled hers and she came crashing down to the pavement. In all the excitement and trying to help, as I was parking my segway, I jumped off too quickly and it crashed full speed into my shin. So at this stage there are bodies and segways all over the place and me trying not to swear, hopping around making sure everyone was ok. I can only imagine what we must have looked like to the stunned onlookers walking past.

One big segway mess.

The guide running the group did his best to make light out of the situation after we were sure everyone was ok, but team morale was seriously low and the rest of the tour (thankfully we were near in the end) was spent in almost complete silence.

There you have it, not even a week into my segway training and I have gained my first injury. I spent a few days hobbling around wondering if I had actually fractured my ankle, but now most of the swelling has gone down and I am just sporting a wicked graze and impressive bruise. I am heading out on my first solo tour tomorrow and although I am still tempted to wrap everyone in bubble wrap, I am looking forward to getting out there and telling people a little about the city that I love so much!!

So a very eventful week, full of Segways, French lessons and numerous social outings. I am very much settling into Parisian life! The evenings that don't get dark until after 10pm still completely throw me and I find I will be out and about with friends thinking it 7 or 8pm and its really close to midnight. Got to love those European summer days!!

In a week full of excitement I have 2 final things that I would lastly and most certainly not least like to mention.

Firstly my lovely friend over at My Own Duende completed her chemo this week which is an amazing effort! 18 weeks of chemo done and dusted and I wish her all the best for future good health!!

Secondly one of my favourite people in the whole world got engaged last weekend!! 6yrs, a house and 2 dogs with her man and he finally popped the question!! Very VERY happy for them both!!

Sigh... What a week!!