As expected, I had officially fallen SICK today. Early in the morning, the weather was cold as usual. I had mild fever, and sore throat. Since today was the last day of my Europe trip, so I was really hoping to visit few more places.
It was raining when we were on our way to Montmartre. There was a very nice old cathedral, Sacre Coeur Basilica. It was located on a hill, so we gotto take a short rail to go up. Since we got the day pass, so we didnt have to pay for the ride. As I was saying, the weather was freaking cold, and I was holding the umbrella. So I didnt really have the mood for taking pictures. Somemore, I needed to watch my steps as it was too slippery at the staircase.
Sacre Coeur
Outside the cathedral
Great view of Paris city
Taken while I was in the rail
There were many souvenir shops nearby the rail station. The price was reasonable if u purchase in greater amount, and u are capable of bargaining. So we spent some times there for last minute shopping. Mostly, I bought the souvenirs for friends, such as key chains, t-shirts, and some decorative ornaments. At least, there was heater inside the shop!
After this, we went to the Moulin Rouge. The famous show was known as Féerie, which definately could not run away from the "nude" ingredients. However, we only went there for photo taking purpose. As for the nude show, I think the one I've watched in Bangkok was more than enough to kill my curiosity.
Moulin Rouge
Féerie
Before we left, we bought the famous Crepes there, some kind of pancake. Since I could not read French, and the only word I understood was "banana", so I ordered this flavour! Actually I could read "chocolate" too, but I was not in the mood for this flavour. Seems like the banana in Paris didnt taste any difference from Malaysia's.
Next, we went to the Madeleine Church. This church was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. In French, Magdalene is known as Madeleine, hence the name of the building.
External view of Madeleine Church
Today was Sunday. This suddenly strikes me and made me ponder if LV was opened today, as I needed to go back and change the wrong bag. I started to worry very much. If LV was closed, then that wrong bag would have to follow me back to Malaysia, as my flight was tonight! To save time, we took the Metro directly to George V station, right outside the LV store. Thank God, business was going on as usual :) So I went in and explained to the sales assistant about the incident. Politely, she asked me to wait for a moment. After 10 minutes, she reappeared, but with a horrible news: Damier Ebony Speedy 25 was OUT OF STOCK......... She told me the only unit available was the Demo unit. Holy crap, asking me to pay the original price for a demo bag, where it has been touched by millions of people, in such a rotten condition?? She kept apologising to me for the mistake. So I ended buying the Speedy 30, same colour, and had to pay additional EUR15, as she charged me the price of Speedy 25 that day. As a conpensation, the manager gave me a Pocker Card Set for free. Actually the situation didnt really boil my blood, as Speedy 30 was great after all. I choose to buy 25 at the first place, as I'm small in size, and was thinking that 25 would suit me more.
It was about 2pm by then. I felt really weak as my fever was getting serious, so I went back to hotel first. AL continued with her last minute exploration. When I reached the hotel, since we had already checked out, so I got no choice but to rest at the lobby. I ordered a sandwich and a cup of hot milk, as I could not eat the antibiotic with empty stomach. At about 4pm, AL came back. My fever was still bad, so she gave me a panadol. The taxi was there to pick us up at 5pm. Actually it wasnt that far from the hotel to Charles De Gaulle airport, about 40 minutes. But this short journey was kind of expensive, EUR40! It doesnt matter, as I was really exhausted, and wouldnt mind paying as long as I could reach the airport without any unexpected trouble.
The airport was huge, and I think it has more than 5 terminals. The taxi driver was a very helpful French man. At first, he sent us to the wrong terminal, it was for KLM Royal Dutch Airline instead of Emirates. Luckily, he was kind enough and went into the terminal with us. After he talked to the ground staff, and found out that we were at the wrong airport, he immediately sent us to another terminal without extra charge :) I would really like to thank him for doing so.
After checking in our luggage, I did the GST refund. The procedure was quite simple. I showed the refund form and LV bags to the customs, and they stamped the form for me. After that, just handed this form to the American Express Money Changer counter, and the officer would refund u the total in CASH :) However, EUR3 was deducted for each transaction, per receipt.
Then, I decided to use up all my available EUR coins, so I bought some chocolates there. Our flight to Dubai was at 2105. It was certainly not funny to get my ass burn for the 7-hour flight to Dubai + 4-hour transit + 7-hour flight to KL.
Bye-bye Paris!
Well, a really memorable trip with exceptional experiences and fresh encounter. And I spent a total of RM18k. After going back to Malaysia, I was sick for one whole damn week.
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