Superawesome Paris - Day 7 and 8

Day 6
We had to wake up early again, for we were going to Disneyland!
The man behind the desk had told us the night before that Disneyland opens at 9 am, so we wanted to be a bit early. Yet we took our time, which resulted at arriving at 10:15 am. Luckily we were ‘late’, because it turned out that the parc opens at 10 am, not 9!
Close to the entrance there was a waggon that already sold Disney merchandise. My mom bought me a pair of Minnie Mouse ears. ‘For the pictures!’ she said. I didn’t mind it, I love them!

I always loved these ears and now I finally have them myself!
We paid the rest of the money for the tickets and entered the parc! I was so happy that I jumped around (sometimes I really look like a little kid, and I love it).
We took a bus with two floors to the castle. While driving, I texted my dad and brother about Disneyland and my Minnie Mouse ears, whereupon I got the answer: ‘But you always have Minnie Mouse ears!’
We arrived at the square in front of the castle, where we got out. I always think that the castle is so pretty! And Tinkerbell is flying around it too!

I am considering to buy this as my house in the future. You know, when
I’m horribly rich and famous and everybody adores me?
We walked through the castle and checked out the shops. Both my mom and I love all the Disneystuff, we could look around for hours! But we decided to do that later and went to the carrousel behind the castle.

I just decided to name the horse Bernard. ^^
Because it was early, popular attractions weren’t busy yet. Except for Peter Pan, which is always busy. So we went into Pinocchio. It was really cool, except for the big whale (I have a strange fear of whales, for your information).
After that, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean, which was really cool too!
Then we walked to a part dedicated to Aladdin, where I went to the toilet (interesting information ;)).
When my family and I went to Disneyland a couple of years ago, we went into Big Thunder Mountain, a rollercoaster with a miningtheme. My mom thought it was okay, since people with small children went into it.
Well, those kids must have been really tough, for I didn’t like it. At all. I was really scared, in contrast to my three years younger brother, who calmly ate his sandwich during the ride. When we got out, I cried: ‘I’ll never go into this attraction again! Never!’
Now, years later, I got in again! And I loved it! I have changed since then for sure. XD Waiting in line took hours though, but it was worth it!
But, I do understand why it was so scary back then: it’s a really fast ride and it makes a lot of noise, so I can’t blame myself. And I was a small child!
After that, we went to get something to eat. We bought two very interesting sandwiches, filles with chips, ketchup and mayonnaise. It was nice though.
Then we went to the rollercoaster ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril’. I have no idea what that has to do with Disney, but it was really cool!

My grandma has been on this ride too once, she thought it was a train (how can
you think that?). She even went backwards too!
It kind off ruined her day…
When I got out, something strange happened: they stretched out a rope so people wouldn’t go to the rollercoaster anymore. I did notice they had some trouble starting the cars, so maybe it was broken? Then I was very lucky!
We went to Alice’s Labyrinth after that, where we walked around looking for the way (of course, it’s a maze). Chesire Cat is so awesome!

If I can’t have Belle’s/Beauty’s castle, I can always go live with the
Queen of Hearts. Hopefully I can keep my head…
We also went to ‘Le pays de conte de fées’, a slow boatride passing fairytales, such as the Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Snow White and Peter and the Wolf.
After that, we went to ‘It’s a small world’, which I filmed partially. It’s just so pretty! And the song gets stuck into your head.

I can’t help but just love the merchandise. Hamm is so cool!
We went to get icecream at a shop where they claimed to have ‘such delicious icecream that the gods in the sky come down to have some’. So we tried and indeed, it was de-li-cious!

My mom’s icecream. She had something with chocolate and mint.
In the shops, they sold almost every princessdress possible. I wished I was a little girl again, they were so pretty! I even saw a few darkskinned girls wearing Princess Tiana-dresses, so adorable!

An ordinary day in Disneyland: eating icecream when suddenly Sleeping Beauty
(who wasn’t sleeping at all) and her prince walk by.
When we finished our icecream, we headed for Space Mountain. I really wanted to try it! I stood in line for 50 (!!!) minutes, but it was really worth it! It was so cool…Yet, my poor mom had to wait for me. She ate warm popcorn though.
Then, we finally went shopping!
The shops were all so wonderful. We checked every shop in Main Street out and every shop had new merchandise. We bought key rings, a Tinkerbell bulb, a phone strap, and a stuffed animal of Dug the dog from Up. Maybe we bought more, but I can’t remember right now.

My mom taking a picture of me taking a picture of myself.
Then we sat down to wait for the parade. It’s unbelievable how many people try to stand on the street, even though the staff asks them to take a step back. Some people are so weird…
The parade started and it was really cool! All the cars featured one or even two movies and of course a Mickey, Minnie and Donald one! The movies were Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Junglebook, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.

He actually patted the dog on the head, but I took the picture too late...
It's still cute though! ^^
There was also a Disney Princessess-and-their-princes-car with Tiana, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella and Belle/Beauty and a Villain-car with Scar from the Lion King and Hades from Hercules!

I'm glad we had Belle/Beauty on our side and not Cinderella. I like her more.
After the parade, we wanted to check out if Peter Pan was a bit more quiet. When we walked towards the castle, someone from the staff stopped us by strechting out a rope. Then suddenly, all these Disney characters passed us! It turned out that the stage on our left would be used in a show. We stood at the backside, where you could see the characters doing funny things.
After the show, the characters passed us again, including Tiana!

Princess Tiana and prince Naveen! Tiana is so pretty!
After the show, we checked Peter Pan, which was still busy. So we went into Mad Hatter’s Mad Tea Party Teacups.

No Disneyland visit is complete without Mad Tea Party Teacups!
Meanwhile, it had become quite late. It was about 10 o’clock, which meant that we spent a whole 12 hours in Disneyland! We were so tired!

It had been an awesome day! I’m glad my mom suggested to go.
We returned to Paris, and after that, taking the metro very late! I thought it was a bit scary, but the metro was crowded, so it was no problem. We immediately went to sleep, we were so tired!

Day 8
Our last day in Paris.
We packed all our things and took them to the lobby. Because our train wouldn’t leave until 2:30 pm, we decided to see the Sacré Coeur again, since it was nice weather this time.

The church turns out to be white after all!
We wanted to go up the hill, but the line in front of the little train to the top was so long that we decided not to do it. Instead, we ate our last crêpe.

Crêpes with sugar and lemon at the foot of the Sacré Coeur.
Is there a better way to say goodbye to this
wonderful quarter of Paris?
We went to pick up our things and took the metro to Gare du Nord. The journey to the station was quite horrible, dragging our suitcases with us up and down all the stairs. Luckily, our train arrived on time. We sat down and as we drove away, we looked one more time at the Sacré Coeur.
Goodbye Paris! I will definitely return!

Irresistible Paris - Day 5 and 6

Day 5
Another morning of waking up early. After breakfast, we grabbed our things and postcards and headed for the metrostation. First, we posted our cards in a bright yellow mailbox (I thought it was a trashcan at first) and then headed for Château de Versailles. In case you don’t know it, you can read about it here.
You can’t just go to Versailles with the metro. You have to take the RER, a special train that takes you to places that are a bit further from Paris.
We took the metro to Musée d’Orsay, where a very friendly (I can even say ‘jolly’) man helped us buying a ticket (he also offered us to go swim after we returned, but it was all meant just for fun. :)).
The train was quite full. The seats were made of a weird, leather-like fabric. My legs constantly stuck tot hem, it was so annoying!
The train started driving, and my mom joked: ‘I still don’t have the feeling we’re in Paris. I haven’t heard a single accordion!’ She hadn’t even finished her sentence, when an accordion started to play. Really, this is a true story! ;) My mom even gave the player 2 euros.
We arrived at the station, where it was very crowded. When we got out, we had to take right, keep on walking, take left and then, between the trees you could see Château de Versailles!

A first look at Versailles. You can see the gate made of gold and on the right, the Chapel.
By the way, I bought that parasol in Venice. I love it so much!
First, we had to buy tickets for the castle and Marie-Antoinette’s quarters. I got in for free, because I count as a child (or as a student). We first went to the gardens, because that was the main reason we were there.
We walked and looked around for a while. To be honest, we were a bit disappointed: we had expected more. I can’t really explain what went through our minds, but it seems to be normal: I read there are more people who think Versailles is less than they expected.

A part of the huge gardens. You can see the Grand Canal too.
But, we only had seen a little piece! We decided to take the little touristtrain to Marie Antoinette’s quarters. The train shook a lot during the ride, which gave me the feeling I sat in an oldfashioned carriage if I closed my eyes.
The train took us to Marie-Antoinette’s house, where we walked to a pavilion to take some pictures. I really wanted to see the queen’s farmhouse too, but my mom was still very tired from the day before and she said that she really couldn’t do it. So instead I visited the bigger house while she sat down outside.
The furniture and walls were so pretty! They were the perfect examples for Classic Lolitas!
After that, we took the train to the Grand Canal. The fishes there we huge! At first, I didn’t see them, until I heard a slurping sound. I looked at the water, and there I saw huge fishheads coming up!
We headed for the horsefountain, where we took some pictures too.

I can’t help but love this picture so much!
It’s almost as if it came right out of a children’s book.
I really wanted to go into the palace, but my mom was too tired to go. So she said I could go alone. I was so happy! Now, my mom could relax for a while, and I got to see the palace after all!
First, I went to the king’s chambers, where I thought I could go upstairs. Instead, I heard I had to go the other side. However, there was a cute little macaron-only shop! They even sold macarons in musicboxes with Alice in Wonderland themes! Too bad they were so expensive…
After that, I went to the other side of the palace.
Château de Versailles is too hard to describe. I think that, if you ever get the chance, you should visit it. Let’s just say there was a lot of art, beautiful wallpaper, astonishing furniture, and…
The Hall of Mirrors!

This picture really doesn’t do justice to its beauty, but it is
the best I have of the Hall of Mirrors.
After one and a half hours (I had walked fast, can you imagine how big it was?) I was done. I bought two pictures of paintings and a card with an image of the Hall of Mirrors for my mom.
We went to the McDonald’s near (very cultural, don’t you think? ;)). They also had a McCafé, so we bought some macarons (lemon, pistache and strawberry only this time), and some other sweet things.
Then, we headed for the train.
It was actually very hard to discover wether it was the right train or not. We had asked the ticket-controller and she said this was the right one, so we got in. But we weren’t the only ones who didn’t get it, for a lot of people (even French) asked us if this was the train to Paris.
It was the right train after all and we safely arrived at our station.
We went to the hotel and quickly to sleep, for we were very tired!

Day 6
Waking up was so difficult! We had quite a hard time getting out of bed. After looking at the map, we decided to have a three-in-one day. Because the fountains were all turned off in Versailles, my mom wanted to see at least one fountain. So we went to Place de la Concorde, where there are two beautiful fountains. The weather didn’t look very good, but it didn’t stop us.
The fountains both stood on a square, but it was quite a mess! A sign said something about a construction until August.

The square was surrounded by traffic. It was quite an adventure to cross the street.
The fountains were worth it though.
After that, we walked to Parc des Tuileries, which was beside Place de la Concorde. It was a very nice parc, with a pond and a fountain, lots of chairs, a little crêperie, lots of trees and even some art.
We sat beside the pond for some time, to wake up a bit more. Meanwhile, a gul landed in the pond, looking for food. My mom and I decided that we’d call him Marty the Gul (yes, we were a bit sleepy and laughing at the same time. Not a good combination :)). We also named two ducks, a mom with her baby, Emma and Javier and a ladybug Hedwig, but she flew away really quickly.
After sitting down for a while, we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe, at the end of the parc. Behind it lays the Louvre, with its famous pyramid made of glass.

The night before I had read a few pages of ‘The DaVinci Code’, about 20 or so.
The pyramid was described so wonderfully, and I can say that it’s all true!
We walked around for a while, taking pictures. We also texted my dad and brother about our whereabouts.
The pyramid was so beautiful, and the other small ones too! You could look right through them, into the museum, and see people walk around with maps. The stairs down looked so big too!
We decided to have lunch in Parc des Tuileries. We bought some delicious sandwiches and pastries and sat down in the grass.

The most intelligent pictures are the ones while you eat. The sandwich was delicious!
It had mozzarella, tomatoes and pesto on it.
After we had finished our lunch, we walked around the Louvre to find a metrostation. We had decided to go to the shoppingcenter Les Halles, which wasn’t very far away.
On the square at the entrance of the metrostation was a man, making giant bubbles with two sticks. It was so wonderful! Unfortunately, a few children pierced the bubbles with their fingers before they even flew!
We arrived at the shoppingcenter, but we soon discovered that we weren’t even in the mood for shopping! So we were there for nothing…
When we sat down, I finally got the courage to ask my mom the question that I had wanted to ask her the entire day:
Can we go to Baby, the Stars Shine Bright for a second time?
Megu-san had told us that on Saturday (this day) the new collection would arrive. I was so curious and I wanted to go back so bad!
My mom asked if I wanted to buy anything again. My answer: ‘I don’t know, but I really, really want to see the new collection!’
Eventually, my mom said yes (she really is too kind, I swear)! After visiting a very small and stuffed Claire’s we headed for the Bastilledistrict again!
Because metroline 8 was still closed, we had to walk pretty far again. But this time we didn’t get lost of course, for I already knew the way.
My mom stayed outside, while I checked out the new skirts I saw. They were form the Creamy Soda Pop line, and they were very pretty but not really to my style.
The shop was more crowded than the first time. A few wonderful French Lolitas were there to check out the new clothes as well (they looked so pretty)!
I kept on walking around, checking one particular pink blouse that I really loved again and again. There wasn’t really anything left for me to do there, but I just couldn’t leave. I wanted to stay a little while longer. The Lolitas left and I still walked around, checking out the blouse that I wouldn’t buy, for it was not my size (it was still really cute though)!
Somehow, I ended up at the rack with JSKs again, looking through the dresses. Suddenly, I saw a dress that looked a bit bigger than the others. It was so pretty! I took it from the rack, holding it up and admiring it. I asked my mom, who joined me in the shop if I should try it on. She said yes, so I did. Unfortunately, this dress was too big! It was quite far over my knees and it was too wide! But Megu-san took the same dress from the rack, a size smaller! I tried it on and this time, everything felt right! It reached about as far as my knees, but I loved it so dearly! And it was on sale! And that moment I knew my visit wouldn’t be for nothing and I bought the JSK!

My very own pink Baby, the Stars Shine Bright JSK! I love it so much!
It has little roses in the lace too!
When I was taking the dress off in the dressing room, my mom asked me what I would prefer as a present: a purse, a headbow or a parasol.
Such a difficult choice! I wanted both the parasol and the headbow very much!
In the end, I chose the headbow. I have to admit that I regret it a little bit that I didn’t take the parasol, but I love my headbow too, and I’ll be wearing that more!

My lovely pink headbow. It matches the JSK so wonderfully!
My mom asked Megu-san if she did mind if she took a picture of me and her (my mom can read my mind, I swear). She didn’t mind at all, she was so sweet!

Megu-san looked so cute again! I also heard her speaking French, so cute!
I promised her to send her the pictures. After that, we finally had to leave. I ran back one last time to check if she really had packed the right dress and not the bigger size.
Then, we finally headed back for the hotel.
My mom had told me that she had almost all of her ‘personal money’ left and that she would love to go to Disneyland with me! The next day would be a very sunny day, so it would be so perfect! We could buy cheaper tickets at the hotel, which we did. So tomorrow Disneyland!
I am so happy that we went back to Baby. If we didn’t, it wouldn’t have a beautiful JSK and Headbow now. Maybe it was destiny that I was pulled towards that rack after strolling through the store..?

Rockin' Paris - Day 3 and 4

Day 3
That morning, I woke up a bit later, thank goodness. I took a shower, got dressed and we went downstairs for breakfast. After that, we got our things and went to the hill Montmartre.
We had to climb quite some stairs, but eventually we managed to reach the top, where the white church Sacré Coeur stands.

Sacré Coeur means sacred heart. The church was supposed to be white,
but we only got the urge to start cleaning it.
Because of Quatorze Juilliet (July 14th, a National Holiday in France. They celebrate the storming of the Bastille prison and the start of the French Revolution) there were military planes flying around for show, leaving smoke in the colours of the French flag in the air. We had a great view, since Montmartre is the highest place in Paris (except for the Eiffeltower of course).
At the foot of church, there was a little square with a shop and a carrousel. And I happen to love carrousels!

This carrousel had two floors!
If you know the movie 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain,
you might know this place. And this carrousel too!
It even played the music of the movie! ^^
And if you don’t know the movie: watch it!
I had brought an umbrella with me, again, but this time it was not only for pictures. After we had visited Place du Tertre, a famous square at Montmartre with painters, it started to rain. And it didn’t stop!
Unfortunately, we had to walk downhill, through the rain. We were soaking wet! The rest of the afternoon it kept on raining, which forced us to take a rest. It was actually quite a good thing after all.
That night, the weather cleared and we went to the Champs-Elysées. Even though it’s supposed to be one of the most famous and most expensive streets in the world, it has two McDonald’s, where we had a nice, junkfood meal (sounds awesome, doesn’t it? I ate fries on the Champs-Elysées ;)).
There was also a McCafé, where they had Macarons! I wanted to try them so badly, so my mom bought a package for us (but mostly for me).

I always get the impression that Lolitas must at least eat macarons
one time to try them, so I did! I absolutely loved the three one the left:
pistache, lemon and strawberry.
The right ones were less delicious, but still very nice!
We also went to the Disney Store, where I bought a Tinkerbell notebook and pen.

There were soldiers walking around, because of Quatorze Juilliet. My mom took a picture of me with them.
After that, we went back to the hotel and watched the fireworks on tv. We decided that we wanted to go up the Eiffeltower the next day.

Day 4
We woke up early that morning, to avoid the crowd and the lines underneath the Eiffeltower (where you had to wait for three and a half hours to get to the ticketwindow alone). When we arrived, there were already lines, and it was 9:15 am! But we were so cheerful that it didn’t matter. And we only had to wait for about 45 minutes or so.
The elevator took us to level 2, which was much higher than I had expected. I am not really afraid of heights, or so I thought, because I thought it was quite scary. We had a beautiful view! The weather was cloudy, but clear. The city seemed to have only white and yellow colours.
After walking around, we headed for the top.
I must say that, even though the top was much higher, it wasn’t that scary anymore. The shock from the second floor was much bigger!

A picture taken by a friendly man with my camera.
I think this picture is so sweet!
After that, we went downstairs again. We ate crêpes (I took chocolate, mom took sugar) and headed to the hotel. We were so tired!
I even slept that afternoon (something I don’t do very often) for hours! My mom had to wake me up for dinner!

We had dinner in the same Italian restaurant from earlier that week, where we shared a meal of three delicious pastas. After that, we went back to our room, where we read for a while and after that went to sleep. We decided that we’d go to Versailles the next day!

Amazing Paris - Day 2, Part 2

Wandering through the Parisian streets. I didn’t know
I was walking the right way then, I was totally lost!
I wanted to visit Baby first, because of a particular reason: I thought I would succeed at Angelic Pretty, for I am more of a fan of that brand. Still, I really wanted to go to Baby of course!
When we arrived at the store, I couldn’t help but start crying. I was so happy to be there! I was standing in front of a shop I had dreamed of, with dresses behind the windows I had only seen on pictures! Even looking at the brandname made my heart skip a beat, or as they say: ‘Go Doki Doki!’

I look very stupid in this picture, but I was so happy! My mom insisted
on taking a picture of my superhappy face.
When I entered the store, all I could do was looking around in awe. All the dresses, skirts, petticoats and blouses were amazing! They were all so pink and wonderful! They also had a rack with Alice and the Pirates clothing, but those aren’t really my style, but they still looked amazing!

I was so happy I was allowed to take pictures in the shop!
Everything was so wonderful…
The woman who worked there looked amazing too! She wore a pink dress and headbow, wristcuffs, cherryshoes and white kneesocks. Her eyelashes had little pink diamonds on them. She looked so wonderful! And she was just like how I imagine a Baby’s shopworker to be: enthusiastic, supernice and supercute! I asked her name later: Megu!
Of course I wanted to try something on. Megu-san helped me to pick out things that were likely to fit me (I am not skinny after all). The fitting room was realy pretty: it had a standing mirror and a big red curtain in front of it. Megu-san immediately threw a petticoat on a little hook for me. Of course you need a petticoat for Lolita, but it was so cool to get a petticoat without even asking!
I tried on a skirt, and after that a JSK. I didn’t buy it unfortunately, because it didn’t fit me properly enough. After that, I ried on another skirt that I adored!

On the picture you can see the JSK I tried on.
Don’t you just love Megu-san’s outfit?
I thanked Megu-san and I promised I’d come back to buy something after I had gone to Angelic Pretty. She was so nice!
After that, we had to walk for a while to find Angelic Pretty’s shop. The store actually holds two shops: Boddywood and Angelic Pretty. To get to Angelic Pretty, you had to walk around the store with the shopworker and walk up the stairs to get there!

The front of the shop!
Can you see the Milky Berry-dress?
The shop was a small room, filled with dresses, skirts and tables with accessories.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of the shop inside. Just imagine a child’s room in very bright pink and lots of clothes! The dresses and skirts were mainly the series that Angelic Pretty sells at their international site, like Wonder Cookie, Powder Rose and Happy Garden. They also had a Milky Planet JSK on display.
The shopworker was wearing a strapless, blue Starry Night Theatre JSK: one of my dream series. I carefully asked if they had anything else from that series, and her answer was:

‘Only the pink One Piece.’I thought I would faint! She had my absolute Dream Dress in the store? She went to get it for me, returning with the wonderful dress in her hands.
I tried it on in the cute little dressingroom, praying it would fit me.
But it didn’t. It closed, it was not like it wouldn’t close around me, but it didn’t fit me. My arms weren’t right and I had a too big bust for it. The shopworker helped me, but she also said that it wasn’t perfectly right. She said: ‘I know there are girls bigger than you that squeeze themselves into it, but I don’t think it’s right for you.’ I felt tears stinging in my eyes, because I knew I wouldn’t buy my Dream Dress that day. A few moments before I had joked to my mom that, if they had this dress, I would buy it no matter ifit would fit me or not. But I knew it wasn’t right. My Dream Dress would not become mine.
I was very disappointed and stood there for a couple of moments. To hide my tears, I walked towards the skirts, but somehow they didn’t appeal to me and they were very expensive to what I had seen at Baby. Suddenly, when I looked at the headbows, I saw the Starry Night Theatre headbow. I took it in my hands and made a decision: ‘I will buy a dress from this series no matter what. I want the JSK version, just like the shopworker (who was a bit bigger like me). I will buy it secondhand, I promise this here and now!’ After that, I bought the bow.
So, does anyone have a pink Starry Night Theatre JSK with straps for sale? :)

They pack everything so beautifully! Your purchase is put in a pink wrapper, and I got a personal membercard, a little brochure of the brand ‘Milk’, two postcards and even candy!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get an Angelic Pretty bag, because there weren’t any left. Instead, I got a Boddywoodbag, with teddybears on it. In the shop were four French Lolitas. One of them looked very nice in particular, wearing a pink and mint combination. I also met a very nice American girl, who explained something to me about the Starry Night Theatre series.

Disappointed, but still satisfied. I almost bought a dress over 300 euros that
didn’t fit me properly. I am very glad that I know I can be strong.
We went back to the Baby store, where I looked around again. I really wanted to buy something. I came from so far away! After searching and doubting myself, I finally decided: stop whining about the money, you saved up for this! And so I bought a beautiful skirt after all. I never expected to succeed at Baby like this, but it was a very pleasant surprise. When I asked what series the skirt was from again, Megu-san answered me: ‘The Sugar Rose Cake series’.
Sugar Rose Cake, it sounded perfect. A rose skirt for me, Rose.

My beautiful pink Sugar Rose Cake skirt! My very first Lolita clothing item.
I have to admit, when I opened the wrapper at home, the skirt seemed even more beautiful!
Megu-san said there would be a new collection delivered on Saturday. I really wished I could see it…

Megu-san had also put two postcards in the bag (I didn’t even know).
They are so cute! The right model is wearing a Sugar Rose Cake
One Piece. I think I’m going to put them into photoframes!
Of course, I wanted to have a picture of me with my purchases. My mom takes pictures of anything anyway. ^^

Happiness after disappointment. I actually felt a bit relieved, to be honest!
And I totally love Baby’s bags. ^^
After that, we went to McDonald’s to eat and then back to the hotel. We were exhausted! We had done so many things! It was a wonderful day.
I can officially say this with pride: I am a Lolita now!

Thank you Baby, for making my Stars Shine Bright!

Amazing Paris - Day 2, Part 1

To prevent this post from getting huge, I decided to do Day 2 in two parts. It had been such an amazing day, it deserves to be described well!

Day 2
I woke up at 6:15 am in the morning. I tried to sleep some more, but I was too excited, so I got up. While my mom was waking up I took a shower. We got dressed up and went downstairs for breakfast. We had a hotel with breakfastbuffet. You could choose many things: croissants, bread, toast, orangejuice, milk, cornflakes, chocolate cornflakes, yoghurt, fruit, chocolate spread, butter, cheese, coffee, chocolatemilk and tea. My breakfast was the same everyday, and I totally loved the chocolate cornflakes!
Then we went upstairs to get our stuff and then headed for the metro.

Here I am standing in front of the map of the metro. It looks complicated, but it really isn’t.
As you can see, we took an umbrella with us for the pictures.
The weatherforecast was really good though. ^^
This was my favorite outfit of the week, I love that skirt!
We wanted to go see the Eiffeltower, to get a real ‘Paris-feeling’, but since the metroline we had to take crossed the Place Charles de Gaulle Étoile, where the Arc de Triomphe is, we headed there first.

This is what you see when you get on top of the escalator: a huge triumphbow,
made in honour of Napoleon. And some Japanese people taking pictures of it.
I was really surprised we got to see it immediately when we got out of the metrostation. And it is so big! I knew it was tall, but it was really huge!

I look so small! It really shows how big the Arc de Triomphe really is! It’s such a
shame those stupid fences stood there. Can you see the Eifeltower on the right?
We took quite some pictures of it. It was so beautiful!

My mom, reading my self-made folder of Paris with addresses.
She was just pretending to read it though, for the picture.
Around the square, the traffic was horrible! Men in suits on scooters, touristbusses and cars were all honking at each other and driving like crazy people! This place is famous for its busy traffic, since the Arc de Triomphe stands on one of the main passages of Paris: the Champs-Elysées.

The Champs-Elysées, one of the world’s most famous streets. It is superlong and busy,
and it has the most expensive shops you can imagine, like Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Prada.
We also tried to take a picture of ourselves.

When you’re with two persons, a picture of the two of you becomes quite more
difficult to make. I think this one came out quite good though.
After taking a picture of every corner of the Arc, we headed for the Eiffeltower.
We had to walk a while from the metrostation, but we didn’t mind at all, since we had a wonderful view of the Eiffeltower (or as the French say: ‘la Tour Eiffel’).

My mom was really surprised that the Eiffeltower is actually brown: she expected it
to be silver. You don’t really see its colour in this picture though,
but I love this photo so much!
It was really crowded underneath the tower. There were people waiting in lines to buy tickets to get on top of the Tower, and one of the pillars was closed, so the other ones were extra busy.

Two painters covered in brown paint. The Eiffeltower gets re-painted every
seven years and it takes two years to paint it entirely!
There were also men selling miniature Eiffeltowers and scarves. There were a lot of these men and they all sold the same things. They were actually quite annoying, but if you said ‘No!’ or ‘Go away!’ they didn’t bother you any further.
There were also quite a lot of foreignlooking women, walking around in long skirts. One of them walked towards me, and asked: ‘’Scuse me, speak English?’ I said yes, whereupon she gave me a piece of paper. Before I even had a chance of reading, my mom said I had to give it back and that she was a beggar. I shoved it back into her hands and shook my head, after which she walked away.
My mom told me that these types of people are often member of an organisation. Sometimes they even earn 1500 euros a month by begging people. After looking at the women, I saw that their clothes were clean and that their hair was washed, so apparently they did have facilities after all. Of course I’m not sure wether they really needed help or not, but to be sure I didn’t give them anything.

I had to buy good walkingshoes for our trip and these were the only ones I could find.
They were plain white and quite boring, but I wrote ‘Paris’ all over it. I also added ‘Lolita’ on
both of them. As you can see, this one has ‘Baby, the Stars Shine Bright’ on it,
the other one has ‘Angelic Pretty’. Now I really like these shoes!
Anyway, back on topic: we sat down in Parc du Champs de Mars, the park in front of the Eiffeltower. There my mom took some pictures of me, underneath my parasol.

This is one of my favorite pictures. We had such luck with the weather that day!
Sometimes dark clouds neared, but it never rained.
I was really glad we brought this parasol along! My mom bought it for me at a gardeningcenter. It has a wonderful shape: it’s more bent than normal umbrellas.
The parasol also says: ‘Parapluie de Paris’, which means ‘Umbrella of Paris’, so I just had to take it with me.

I love the polkadots! They give such a nice effect on pictures.
As I love to say: So Lolitable!
After sitting for a while, we walked towards the river Seine. We decided to do a crossière, a rivercruise (God, I love the French language).
The boat navigated past several famous Parisian buildings, such as the Notre Dame and Museum du Louvre.

Me, while taking a picture of the Notre Dame. We didn’t visit it, because we
thought we had a great view from the boat already.
After the cruise, we went to a terrace where we ate crêpes: thin, folded pancakes, often with something special in it. We took chocolate and they were really delicious! A bit hard to eat though, I wouldn’t suggest eating it in your finest attire. ;)
After that, we went for the Bastilledistrict where ‘my shops’ were! I couldn’t wait, but at the same time I was a bit afraid of getting disappointed…
I had it all planned out perfectly: the stores were pretty close to each other, with a metrostation right between them. But right when we arrived the first day, I discovered that line 8 was closed down until August 2nd. And line 8 was the exact line I needed…
Luckily, my mom didn’t mind, so we took the Bastillestation and asked for directions. I understood the girl just fine, but apparently not good enough, for we got lost. Now the streets where the shops are are very difficult to find on the map, because they take two maps instead of one, so I couldn’t find them anymore. Fortunately, there was a nice French woman that helped us out, and we finally found the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Store!