Paris ’17, Day 1 – Sick on a Bus

From Barcelona we go straight on to Paris! I hope my travel posts don’t drive you crazy yet, because there’s still lots to come! I had quite an eventful time in Paris, so let’s just start! I try to remember everything as well as I can, but my ability to remember details has declined quite a bit. I’ll do my best though!

My mom and I would visit Paris from Friday July 7th until Tuesday July 11th and we had quite some plans: visiting the Angelic Pretty store and check out the amazing special sets and lucky bags they would sell each day prior to the Tea Party, I would attend the Tea Party, we would shop for a final singing exam dress for me and of course: sight-seeing! We would take a bus to and from Paris, so we would have to wake up very early on Friday. However, on Friday morning something terrible happened: I woke up feeling absolutely, terribly sick. I had been stressing a lot about my packing and the upcoming heat in Paris during the days preceding my trip and on Thursday evening I went to bed rather dizzy. ‘It will be fine,’ I told myself, but it wasn’t. I woke up and thought I was going to die. I could barely stand up straight, the world was spinning around me with every step. I spent the time before leaving sitting next to the toilet, afraid of vomiting and then sitting in the shower, afraid of falling over. I somehow got myself dressed and dragged myself onto the couch. Naturally, my parents were very worried. What now? We only had two choices: to go or not to go. We had to decide quickly and decided to go for it. We hoped it was just a temporary state caused by nervousness.
My dad drove us to Amsterdam where we waited for our bus. I tried to look as healthy as I could, since I was afraid the driver wouldn’t allow me on the bus, but the world turned upside down with every movement I made. Luckily, the bus came not long after and my mom and I found some seats. Stupidly, we ended up with seats next to the toilet (haha), but I was just grateful I could sit. Finally, we left for Paris!

On our way to Paris!
It’s unbelievable how much and little happens on a long bus ride. It was fascinating to observe our fellow passengers. Many visited the toilet at least three times before we even reached Antwerp. There was a big family with a young child that had so much food with them! Their child spent half the journey eating, half the journey sleeping. x)
We arrived at Antwerp, which looked absolutely ghastly despite the beautiful weather. At least, the streets where we drove. We picked up some people across from the station and that was quite a nice place.

The ferris wheel in front of Antwerp Station.
Then, we continued our journey to Paris. I was feeling slightly better by now, as in, I could turn my head slowly without feeling like I was on a carousel. I spent the bus ride listening to the Elisabeth musical I had put onto my mp3 player and eating sandwiches.

Nutella sandwich and listening to Elisabeth. If I hadn’t been
feeling so bad, this would have been the best bus ride ever.
After many hours we got closer to Paris. Initially, my mom and I felt reenergised by this news. However, we ended up in heavy traffic. Our driver had a really annoying style of driving (which didn’t do my dizzy state much good) and he talked really slowly, so his announcements annoyed us as well. The last part of our journey was quite a challenge
so to say. -_-
Finally, we arrived at our destination: Quai de Bercy, from where we had to walk to the metro through the heat (summer in Paris, yay) and take two metros to our hotel. I won’t bother you with the details, but it took quite a lot.
When we arrived at our hotel, we had some room issues. Not that our room wasn’t ready, but it was on the top floor, aka the hottest floor. We could switch to the first floor, but once we got there the room was so small and stuffed I almost immediately fell into a panic attack, after which we returned to our initial room. The hotel had no air conditioning(!), so we kept our French balcony doors open as much as we could.
It was at that moment I cracked. I was still feeling miserable, it was as hot as I had been fearing during the days in advance and it was getting late. I just really wanted to go to the Angelic Pretty store to see whether some interesting things were left for that day, but it was getting late and we were tired. My mom however said: ‘Let’s go anyway!’, so I put on a hat and sunglasses to hide my terrible face and we went on our way.
Luckily we arrived on time at the store. I was happy to be able to look around, say hi to the shop girls and hug Mila. During the days before the Tea Party, Angelic Pretty had special in-store events where they sold special sets and lucky packs each day. I was half and half hoping one of the dresses released the previous day would still be there, but I also knew it was quite impossible and it was indeed long sold out. However, I had told myself: if it’s not there, it is not destiny. Plus, the next day there would be new sets and there was one particular dress I had my eye on: Harlequinade. I discussed a bit with the shop girls what would be the best approach and my sweet mom actually agreed to come to the store early to stand in line! How awesome is that?
We were just about to leave when suddenly, Maki appeared with a cute Japanese shop girl. I was so embarrassed to stand there looking like a mess. I hope she didn’t recognize me, it was humiliating!
We left the store and I quickly snapped a picture of the front, which looked lovely as ever. ♥

Angelic Pretty Paris. ♥
My mom and I briefly visited the candy store next to the Angelic Pretty store, where my mom had spotted an adorable cookie jar and then we discussed what to do for dinner. We eventually decided to go to the restaurant Marina had introduced again. We love that place and the food is guaranteed good, plus there would likely be air-conditioning.
The air-conditioning was not as strong as we’d hoped, but the food was indeed great! No regrets. ^^ Although I did spend a bit of my time just lying on the couch.

Food, glorious food~!
We paid for the food and took the metro back to our hotel. Once we got there, I thought Paris looked so beautiful in the setting sun; I had to take a picture!

Ah Paris, you are so beautiful…
Back at our hotel we spend some time resting and eventually went to bed. I was hoping I would feel better the next day.

Thank you for reading! ~☆~