Day 9: Seine River Cruise

I had wanted to just drop in to LV Champs Elysees for an LV Paris experience.

Alas! The temptation was too great when you see a black-hair, yellow-skin species checking out and buying the bags. Nevermind that they were from China. 

I ended up buying 2 - a speedy and a classic. What did you say? Are they cheaper? I didn't know. If the prices on LV's website were reliable, I think the savings were about $1 or $2 after tax rebates?

I had brought photocopies of my passport along, but the saleslady insisted on the real document, so I had to make another trip down to show my passport to get my tax rebates.

We chanced upon Jardin des Tuileries after we visited Place Vendome to check out some watches.

Naturally ...

Jardin des Tuileries was more happening than what I had read.

We made a second trip to Galleries Lafayette to do an exchange for a medium Longchamp bag with a longer handle. Unbeknownst to me, it would take quite a bit of time. I had the pleasure to meet a young Parisian customer service officer who spoke Mandarin well in the process though. After that, we made our way to Vedettes Du Pointe Neuf for our cruise on River Seine.

Tickets were booked online prior to the trip. The cruise had mixed reviews but since it was cheap, I thought we had nothing to lose except time, and time is what tourists have.

The cruise went past many supposedly famous bridges and various tourist attractions ie. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

Another cruise I was reviewing before the trip

We were excited to see the Eiffel Tower again!

The Louvre

It poured like crazy as our cruise ended. We made a mad dash to the nearest train station and headed back to the hotel, in preparation for our flight home.

Taking a cab in Paris was a mistake. A grave mistake. 

I had set a buffer of an hour for us to reach the Roissy Airport ie. our flight was 10pm, and we boarded the cab at 7pm, thinking that even if it took 1 hour to get to the airport, given the notorious traffic condition in Paris, we should do fine and reach the airport in good time like 8pm. It would give me a lot of time to get my tax rebate done and admire the airport, have a long tea and take pictures like we always do at other airports and train stations.

I totally underestimated the 'crazy traffic' reviewed by other travellers. We were stuck in jams after jams. Cars were just short of kissing one another on the butts at Champs Elysees and Arc De Triomphe. The cab driver went various ways to get out of jams to no avail. In the end, we only got to the airport after 9pm! Needless to say, the cab fare was 93 euro for a supposedly 20km ride. 

The small airport helped though. There was virtually no queue at the tax rebate counter. The only items the female officer wanted to verify were 2 LV bags. She stamped some chops on the documents and passed me two envelopes. I was a little apprehensive but told her that that was the first time I was doing tax rebate. She explained to me that one was to drop into a mail box just next to the counter and I would keep the other.

After that, we made a beeline at the Etihad counter to check our luggage in and we were on our way home!

Whew!