Purplelake: Day 13-14 – Aug 24-25, 2019 Paris, France

After 11 days, 7 different countries, and almost 4500 km later, we were back in Paris. This is not our most epic drive but will definitely rank as our most expensive ever! We could not believe how expensive the highway tolls in France were even though our local friend had forewarned us. In total, we had spent over 250 euros in highway toll which is more than the cost of our rental car! Even stranger thing happened to our rental car return. We were charged a one-way rental drop off fee even though we dropped off the car back to CDG airport where we originally picked up our car. Unlike most other big cities, car rental service was not 24h so we had to drop off the key in a locked box and hope for the best. The rental car company claimed that we had dropped the car off at a train station near the German border!

We only had one full day in Paris for sightseeing. Since this is our third time visiting the City of Light, we were not in any rush to visit any important landmark. Our focus is to revisit the Eiffel Tower first and then randomly stroll the wide boulevards and narrow streets to soak in the Parisien atmosphere. Seeing the fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral is also high on our list.

Our flight home would leave early next morning on the 25th. Having done all the research on how to take a night bus from our hotel and then transfer to a suburban train to CDG at the Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station, we were shocked to find that the transfer station had just been closed a few hours ago for construction work! Luckily, a quick taxi ride to the close-by Gare du Nord station allowed us to catch the same train in time. That was an excitement we didn't expect so early in the morning! As if to make up for this, Yiling got upgraded to Premium Economy on our long flight back to SFO and we both got on first class from SFO back to YVR, making it a most memorable trip!

It was criticized by locals as ugly when it was built for the 1889 World's Fair. Now it is a global icon of France

At 324 m, Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world for 41 years until it was surpassed by the Chrysler Building in New York

Different from our past visits, security was super tight and there were concrete barricades all around the entire ground due to obvious reasons

We saw soldiers carrying machine guns stationed at many famous landmarks and major intersections. This definitely ruined our picture of the Arc de Triomphe

Many ladies would agree a trip to Paris would not be complete without paying pilgrimage to the headquarter of the LV empire. There was even a line up outside the entrance! There is no admission fee since one purchase here would set you back many Disneyland admissions fees

Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous and recognizable streets in the world. Yiling literally risked her life to take this picture when all the cars were stopped by the traffic light in front of her

Petit Palais, one of the many beautiful buildings in Paris everywhere you turn

Iconic Eiffel Tower from Pont Alexandre III over the Seine River. Cruising on the Seine is a must-do tourist activity

Pont Alexandre III is probably the most ornate bridge on Seine River and leads directly to the beautiful gold-domed Les Invalides

Ecole du Louvre in front of Pont Royal on Seine River

After Louvre, Musee d'Orsay is perhaps our favorite art museum in Paris. Not only is the former railway station building so beautiful, its collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces left us a deep impression (no pun intended) in our previous visits

What can be more Parisien than a relaxing stroll along the Seine River in a hot summer afternoon?

Love in Paris

The mother of all museums. Louvre is the largest art museum in the world as measured by gallery space

These three pyramids in front of Louvre, designed by the late architect I.M. Pei, also courted controversy when they were built back in 1984

We had completely forgotten about it, and most tourists probably did not even know that there is a smaller version of Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is actually the original arch built to commemorate Napoleon's victories in 1808. Its bigger cousin was built 28 years later in 1836. The "eye" next to it is an eye-sore IMHO though

View of Ile de la Cite from Pont des Arts. This island is where the Notre-Dame de Paris church is located. I like this picture a lot since the cloud pattern is like a abstract painting on a blue canopy