PARIS BY WHEELCHAIR -- Part 10

PROGRESS MADE, BUT MANY CHALLENGES REMAIN

The Louvre Museum has made great strides in wheelchair access.

It is true that wheelchair using visitors must use a dozen or more elevators just to get around one main wing of the old palace.

But docents are great about pointing out the lifts and they seem to be well-maintained.

Great strides have been made for access to the Mona Lisa.

It's temporary display room features a large area in front of the roped off crowd -- for disabled visitors to get an unobstructed view of La Giaconda.

Here, Heidi Johnson-Wright checks out her direct-view shot of the fabled Da Vinci painting.

PARIS BY WHEELCHAIR -- Part 5

PROGRESS MADE, BUT MANY CHALLENGES REMAIN

Institut du Monde Arabe is worth visiting for what’s outside and on top of it as much as what’s inside.

The large rooftop terrace provides stunning vistas of Paris landmarks – including Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and Centre Pompidou.

Taking in fresh air, free of the endless cigarette smoke and automobile exhaust that permeates street level Paris, is worth the price of admission.

The modernist building features at least a half dozen large, modern elevators – a great feature for visitors who uses wheelchairs.

Unlike older museums in Paris, where the lifts are hidden away in corners, the elevator core is logically and usefully in the center of the building.

The Arab World Institute features permanent and visiting exhibits, a huge gift shop/book store with premium items, a rooftop celebrity-run restaurant and Arab geometric pattern-inspired modern architecture by star designer Jean Nouvel.

“From an urban point of view the Institute is a hinge between two cultures and two histories. If the south side of the building, with its motorized diaphragms, is a contemporary expression of eastern culture, the north side is a literal mirror of western culture: images of the Parisian cityscape across the Seine are enamelled on the exterior glass like chemicals over a photographic plate. These patterns of lines and markings on the same façade are an echo of contemporary art.” –Jean Nouvel.

PARIS BY WHEELCHAIR -- Part 4

PROGRESS MADE, BUT MANY CHALLENGES REMAIN

Paris is filled with famous final resting places:

The underground, mystifying Catacombs

Pere Lechaise – covering more than 100 acres and filled with unforgettable personalities from Oscar Wilde to Jim Morrison.

Montmartre, with some celebrity tombs and well, the charm of Montmartre.

But for people with disabilities, Montparnasse is the place to be.

The Catacombs, down hundreds of steps; Pere Lechaise, with harsh cobblestones to roll over and some hills; and Montmartre, one of the hilliest places in the City of Light.

Montparnasse is paved, most of it is on quite level ground and it even has a fully-accessible restroom at the main entrance.

A laminated, borrow and return large map leads you to all the famous interred here.

Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, Porforio Diaz, Serge Gainsbourg, Man Ray, Susan Sontag and Tristan Tzara provide plenty of star power resting in peace.

Paris’ second largest cemetery also has the only moulin (mill) left of 30 that used to stand on the farming plain of Montrouge.

PARIS BY WHEELCHAIR -- Part 3

PROGRESS MADE, BUT MANY CHALLENGES REMAIN

The Musee D'Orsay is another world class museum in a re-purposed building.

The artwork of famed Impressionists and others is displayed in a grand Beaux Arts former rail station.

Like the Louvre, elevators are used to transport people with disabilities to the various galleries.

Also like the Louvre, and all other state-operated museums, admission is free for a disabled visitor and one able bodied companion.

Proof is required – a European Union “disabled person” card is often mentioned.

But once they saw that Heidi, pictured above and below by the grand clock in the Orsay, uses a wheelchair for mobility – we were not hassled about official documentation of her right to free admission.

PARIS BY WHEELCHAIR -- Part 1

PROGRESS MADE, BUT MANY CHALLENGES REMAIN

The Coulée verte René-Dumont or Promenade plantée or the Coulée verte is a 4.7 km elevated linear park built on top of obsolete railway infrastructure in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France.

It provides beautiful views and a green garden respite from the bustling city.

It is smooth and paved with plenty of space for wheelchair users to maneuver around.

It is accessible via level ground at about its midpoint between Bastille and Bois Vincennes.

There are multiple elevators, but they have been broken for years.

To address access for all, the city MUST keep the elevators in good repair.

Otherwise, disabled visitors must backtrack for more than a mile – while all others can take the stairs down to Bastille and other interest points.