Observations on Paris - Pt. 4

Some things that are okay in Europe - would not fly in North America. For example, you may have heard of their small buildings and hotel rooms. Also the small elevators, or lift as they call them, using the British term. One of ours was frightfully small. So small I was unable to stand sideways in our lift. Well, I could, but my shoulders touched the front and back wall. The lift restriction was 3 persons or 225 kg (about 500 lbs). Were I to live in Paris and eat like I did, I may not be able to share a lift with any one in short order.

Although the lift was an OTIS, I don’t think it would pass OSHA standards on this side of the pond.

It is also not easy to get around if you are disabled in Paris, and I don’t simply mean the cobblestone streets. Of course there are improvements for wheel chair access, and I don’t mean to say that they are not doing anything.

Because so many of the buildings are from the middle ages, there is only so much retrofitting that can be done. Many restaurant restrooms are in the basement, down very narrow stairwells, often curved, with tiny stair steps. Tough not only for handicapped, but rough on the elderly as well.

St. Emilion, France.