Paris, Day 1 – Travelling and Lolita Shopping

Hello everyone! I am back from my trip to Paris! I’ve had an amazing time and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I am still sparkling from happiness! It will take a lot of work to write everything down in reports, but I will do my best! I hope you will enjoy my reports! ^^

On Thursday, July 4th, I woke up really early. I was very excited, for this was the day I was going to Paris! I had packed all my things in advance of course, so I quickly got dressed into my Ladurée x Uniqlo macarons shirt and put the last things into my big bag. I dragged the bag and my Lolita suitcase downstairs and said goodbye to my brother and dogs. My dad drove me and my mom to the train station, where I said goodbye to him. We bought a ticket for my mom, dragged my luggage up the stairs and waited for the train. It didn’t take long for it to arrive, after which we got seated and sat opposite of each other. Both my mom and I were really tired, because it was still really early (before 7 am, muhhh), so we didn’t talk a lot. Despite my tiredness, I was still happy, but also a little sad. The reason was: I was going to Paris for the fourth time, but for the first time without my mom! During our last trip to Paris, in July 2012, after the Tea Parties, my mom had suggested that Emilie and I should go to the next Parties together, just the two of us. After lots (and lots and lots) of planning, we managed to book a hotel together, arrive in Paris around the same time and be invited to both Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty’s Tea Parties! I was super excited to go to Paris with my dear friend, but the idea of leaving my mom behind made me so sad. Luckily, we could plan it in a way Emilie would leave Paris again on Monday and my mom would join me then again until Thursday, yay! Everything was perfect (it took an epic amount of planning and waiting, but it was worth it).
My mom and I arrived at Amsterdam Central Station and took the elevator down and up again to arrive at platform 15b, where lots of people were already waiting. My train would leave at 8:19 am, so we waited for a while. A female staff member walked up to me and asked to see my ticket in English. When I replied in Dutch, she was surprised, ‘because I looked so foreign’. Haha, thank you? XD

Waiting for the train with my tired face, ahha!
Luckily not long after, the train arrived. I said goodbye to my mom (*sniff* ;_;) and entered carriage number 15. I managed to lift my suitcase on the rack myself (I was quite impressed by my strength since my bag was very heavy) and took my window seat. Not long after, a guy took place next to me. Unfortunately, he was not the good-looking, curly-haired French guy I was hoping for, but oh well. At least he didn’t bother me in any way since he slept during the whole ride. I waved at my mom (we actually phoned each other while looking through the window, haha) and then the train started driving.

On my way to Paris~! ♥
We passed Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam (strange to arrive there and not leaving the train like I usually do), Antwerp and Brussels. I had breakfast, looked out of the window and read a little. We were 30 minutes delayed in Belgium (yay, go Belgians), so I wanted to text Emilie I would arrive later, when suddenly my texts didn’t want to send anymore! A little panicking I tried to call home. Luckily, that did work, so I tried to do it again. Then suddenly my texts got sent after all. Weird phone. -_- Then finally, after a quiet ride through the fields of France, we arrived in sunny Paris! I got my things ready so I could get out of the train quickly.
The train finally stopped at Gare du Nord and slowly people got out. After I left the train, I quickly checked my black suitcase. Because it’s such a common color, I wanted to make sure I got the right one. But seeing a part of the print on my Baby dress reassured me this one was mine. ^^
I walked all the way down the platform (and the platforms at Gare du Nord are loong) and I looked around for a girl in the same shirt as mine, only in white. Suddenly I spotted a familiar face and I could hug my dear Emilie again~! ♥ She had actually already spotted me, I am just blind, haha!
We took our stuff down the escalators, passed the immense row of people in front of the ticket counter and walked up to the deserted purple machines where I could charge my dear, faithful Navigo again. After that, we dragged our suitcases down the stairs and took the metro to Jules Joffrin. I loved hearing and reading French all around me again. I love the French language so much~! ♥ I can’t really explain it.
It wasn’t hard to find our hotel, since we had booked the hotel where my mom and I have stayed two times already. We entered the hotel and checked in at the desk. It was great to have Emilie with me who speaks French, since I wanted to explain to the lady at the desk Emilie would leave on Monday and my mom would join me. We could also ask about the breakfast, whether it was included in the price or not. Unfortunately, it was not the case. ^^’ Oh well.
We took our luggage up to the first floor, to room number 12, and installed our things a bit. We bought some things at the pharmacy across the street, got money from the bank and then went on our way to the Lolita shops!
We took the metro to station Madeleine, to transfer to line 8. But while we followed the signs, suddenly they were gone! Emilie and I both understand the metro very well, but we were lost all of a sudden! Eventually, we decided to take the metro and transfer one station later, at Concorde.
We arrived at station Ledru Rollin a little before 1:30 pm. We followed the street and quickly spotted the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright shop’s purple colour.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Paris, one of my favourite places in the world!
I was so happy to be back! I didn’t cry (as I did the first and second time, ahem), but I felt my heart skipping a beat. I was so happy to be back at the Baby shop after a year, together with Emilie! The dresses in the windows looked amazing and we quickly entered the shop. We were happily greeted by adorable shop girl Claire. I was happy to see her again! We walked up to the counter to get our tickets for the summer Tea Party that would take place on the next day. Claire quickly found them: Emilie had number 32, while I had number 35.

Emilie’s ticket, number 32.
We browsed the shop for quite a while, admiring all the beautiful items. We inspected all the cardigans, blouses, bags, jewelry, head bows and bonnets, hair accessories and socks, skirts and dresses. Emilie chose a beautiful pair of black wristcuffs with a pearl attached to them to maybe wear with her outfit for the Tea Party the next day (which didn’t happen after all, but yeah) and we both doubted about buying a pair of black hair bows (which we both didn’t buy, haha). I fell in love with a beautiful blue lace dress, but 300 euros was a bit out of my price range. ^^’ They also had two skirts of the ‘Juicy Baby Love Love Berries’ series (that name though) that I really loved, but since I only wear dresses I wasn’t really interested in them (they were sooo pretty though). Juicy Baby Love Love Berries is a print series I really adore, so maybe some day..?

Some pictures inside the shop.
Even though there weren’t any dresses I fell head over heels in love with, Emilie encouraged me to try something on anyway. I chose a very princess-like, black Alice and the Pirates jumperskirt and a flowery Baby jumperskirt. I think both dresses were quite lovely and looked nice on me, but there was no love, so they were both a no for me (Emilie even thought the black dress was a bit too big on me, whoa).

Some detail shots.
After browsing a bit for one last time, I chose to buy a pair of white and red socks to match my Milky Berry jumperskirt at home. After doubting between two pairs, I bought the one with a lovely lace design and a little red bow at the top. We thanked Claire and finally left the shop. After taking pictures in front of the shop windows with our bags, we went on our way to the Angelic Pretty shop, which is located not so far away.

Me with my shopping bag! Emilie wore the same shirt as me, but in white.
Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures together.
After a little walk, we arrived at Rue Keller. I always have a bit of trouble finding the Angelic Pretty shop, because I always forget how far it is located into the street. But suddenly, I saw Dominique (the AP Paris owner) standing in front of the shop! He is always so nice, so I was looking forward to see him again! ^^
We entered the shop and browsed the many beautiful Angelic Pretty items. We knew there would be a special event at the Angelic Pretty shop with the designers on Saturday, but we wanted to see if there were any items we really wanted to buy in advance. After a while, I decided to buy the Freshly Picked Strawberries necklace I really wanted and a Heart Lolly ring, while Emilie chose a cute a red barrette bow and pink OTKs. We also both payed for our Angelic Pretty Tea Party ticket! The Tea Party would take place in a very special location, but more on that later. ;)
We thanked Dominique and left the shop again (after purchase pictures of course). Since we were hungry, we decided to have dinner at McDonald’s (so sophisticated. XD). Initially we had wanted to go to Princess Crêpe, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright’s own crêperie, but luckily we remembered it’s closed on Thursdays (so sad…). We both ordered a simple menu: burger, fries and coke. I actually ordered all of my food in French during the week, I was so proud of myself! ^^

Food~!
After our food (which was really nice), we went on our way to the Manga Café to do some Purikura! I had never been there before, but Emilie knew the way.
After taking the metro, we arrived in quite a modern part of Paris I had never been before. I was glad Emilie knew where to go, because I would have been totally lost! We arrived at the Manga Café, which is a really nice place: not only can you buy manga (and many other things), but also for a small amount of money you can read any of the manga the Café has to offer! Along the wall were cute seats where you could read your book, while enjoying a coffee from the machine. So nice! The only downside was: the Purikura machine was out of order! x) We were quite sad, but nothing could be done about it. Oh well. We looked around in the bento corner for a while and Emilie bought a pair of cute, Shinkansen-shaped chopsticks for her brother.
We left the Manga Café to go to the Japanese bookshop Junku (another place I had heard about but never visited). So Emilie led the way and I followed. We took the metro again and not long after we stepped into Junku. It was quite interesting to hear staff members speaking Japanese in between all the French and English I had heard all day.
Emilie and I browsed the many magazines (I was secretly hoping we would find the Angelic Pretty mook somehow) and then went downstairs, where we found a huge room filled with all kind of things for creative use, like pencils, brushes and lots of stickers. I bought an adorable sticker sheet with tiny macaron stickers. So cute! ^^
We left Junku again and decided to return to the hotel, since our feet were hurting from all the walking. We sat down in the metro and I looked at the big posters on the walls. Especially ‘Lone Ranger’, the new Johnny Depp movie, was getting a lot of attention.
We finally arrived at Jules Joffrin again. We went back to the hotel, where we took a shower, changed into our pajamas and prepared our outfits for the Tea Party the next day. Then we went to sleep. It had been a tiring, but superfun day!

Pictures are either taken by Emilie or by me.