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..?