Paris, Day 4 – The Eiffeltower, Crêpes with Midori and a Horrible Evening

Although I wasn’t tired at all on Saturday evening, I was totally broken the next morning and so was my mom. We stayed in bed for a while and then went to have breakfast slowly.
We felt better after eating, so we got dressed and my mom made herself some coffee (she doesn’t like the French coffee, so she takes her own with her). Then, we went on our way to the Eiffeltower!

Our outfits of the day! Red, white and black.
Before we went to Paris, my cousin told me that he, when he was in Paris, had been to the awesome bridge from the movie Inception. When he told me it’s close to the Eiffeltower, I really wanted to see it!
Since we were still a bit tired, we decided to take the long way to station Bir-Hakeim, via station Montparnasse Bienvenüe. That station is huuuge! It’s so big, there are even halls with moving walkways! It was a lot of fun to walk next to one, trying to take pictures while my mom was standing on it!
We took the next line to station Bir-Hakeim and walked down the stairs, after which I immediately saw the awesome bridge! It turns out we actually walked past this bridge at least ten times in the past two years, but we never realised it!
We reached the bridge somehow (there were a lot of gates, again). It was windy, cloudy and a bit cold, but we still took a lot of pictures of course!

The famous Inception bridge! Although there were a lot less people and no mirrors.
We walked underneath the bridge and took pictures, but the wind was blowing so hard! We decided to walk along the Seine to the Eiffeltower. Suddenly, I realised we hadn’t taken the picture we really wanted yet: a real Inception picture! So we walked back.

INCEPTION.
Initially the plan was to hold up a piece of paper with Inception on it, but of course we had forgotten about that. Luckily I had a pen in my bag, so I could write on my hand (and walk around with it for the rest of the day. ^^).
We left the bridge again and walked along the Seine, looking at the house boats floating in the water. We also had a nice view on the Eiffeltower, but it was so cloudy almost all the pictures turned out dark. ^^’
We arrived at the Pont d'Iéna (Hyena! XD Sorry…), in front of the Eiffeltower. It was very crowded, because cars weren’t allowed to drive there today. Apparently, there had some kind of triathlon been going on or something.
We walked up to the Eiffeltower, planning to sit down on the grass of Champs-de-Mars, but the grass was closed off by gates. :( So we walked back to the Tower itself. We wanted to take pictures of ourselves right underneath it, but that wasn’t possible either, since they were in the middle of hanging a giant discoball (?) underneath it, so more gates. Luckily, we managed to take nice pictures after all!

Hearts! We made many more poses, like waving, cute, oops and fighting!
We walked around for a bit, but I started to feel really cold! I was glad my mom had brought her black cardigan with her! ♥ I looked at some souvenirs and after we saw a man taking pictures of his children on blocks, we decided to do the same.

My mom and the Eiffeltower, I have no more to say. :)
As you can see the sky was all white, haha! Better than rain of course. ;)

Et moi! ^^
We decided to walk back to the Pont d'Iéna and then walk to Trocadéro. We almost forgot to take a jump picture!

I’m flying!
We walked up to Trocadéro, where all kinds of sports-related stalls were set up, because of the triathlon. We decided to sit in the grass and think about what to do. My mom suggested to go to Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, a big and famous cemetery, but the there were a lot of clouds and we wanted to see it in the sun. I was also really tired, although sitting down for a while helped a lot.
After a while, we decided to go Princess Crêpe again. Midori would be there to make a little event and we were looking forward to eating another Princess Crêpe, so we went on our way. But of course not without taking a picture of the Eiffeltower from Trocadéro.

Mother and daughter. =)
We took the metro at Trocadéro, after taking pictures in a photomaton (our third picture is hilariously hideous)!
We arrived at station Saint-Paul. First, we visited the chocolate shop to get some more ‘chocolate clams’: chocolates in the shape of clams (obviously). They didn’t look very special, but my mom was in love with them! My favourites were the white chocolate slices with walnut, almond and apricot.
We arrived at Princess Crêpe, where I saw Marie, the Pirate guy and another girl from the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party! It was nice seeing them again! ^^
I didn’t see Midori (I had no idea when she would arrive), so I went to order two crêpes, when she suddenly walked around the corner, wearing an adorable dress and usamimi! Sawada-san offered her a Princess Crêpe apron (I seriously want one, so cute) and she went to stand in the corner to hand over the ordered crêpes. When I asked for a picture, she was more than happy to pose with me! ^^

Midori is so cute and adorable and perfect! ♥
My mom and I received our delicious crêpes and we ate for a while. Midori ordered a crêpe too, she ate it so slowly, haha! ^^ She accidentally spilled chocolate sauce on her apron! I helped her wiping it off her hand, poor girl!
Midori walked around a lot, to promote the shop outside and talk to people inside.

Hiii, my mom asked for a picture too! ^^
Then, Sawada-san asked Midori if she wanted to make a crêpe herself! Every Lolita around gathered at the pink kitchen to take pictures of Midori (XD). First, the ‘crêpe man’ showed her how to do it, then Midori tried it herself. It looked easy, but it was clearly harder than expected!

First, pour the batter onto the hot plate. Then, divide it evenly. Scoop the crêpe up to
flip it over. Make a heart pose. Fill the crêpe with whatever you like.
Now you have the perfect crêpe!
As you can see, poor Midori had a bit of a hard time. ^^
It was so funny: we were constantly taking pictures, squealing over Midori’s cuteness and applauding every time to encourage her. My mom, who was standing behind us, noticed a couple coming in (we didn’t). At first, they were a bit annoyed, because they couldn’t order and they didn’t understand what was going on. Midori’s first crêpe wasn’t of course the best advertisment for Princess Crêpe either. ^^’ Luckily, my mom explained to them she’s a Japanese model who made a crêpe just for fun and they understood. ^^
We had sat down for a while, when my mom asked if I wanted to go. Since I was still tired, she suggested I would stay at Princess Crêpe while she explored the streets around a bit. I didn’t mind at all, I didn’t want her to be bored because of me!

Midori is too cute to be true!
We all talked a bit to Midori and she asked for a picture with a little girl. The child was jumping around in her chair, haha!
After a while my mom came back and she showed me a purchase she had just made: a bag she had really loved the year before, but couldn’t find in the right colour. I took it out of the shopping bag, looked at it and said: ‘Oh I like it! It says ‘New York’..!’ after which my mom looked at it and said: ‘Dang it, I wanted the Paris one!’ and she went back to the shop! XD
Because of all the Lolitas standing outside of the shop, lots of people went inside for a crêpe, so cool! Meanwhile I talked a lot to Constance, one of the girls I was following the day before to the Baby shop! It was really nice to talk to her this time, haha!
We decided to take a group picture in front of the shop. Even though I wasn’t wearing Lolita, Midori wanted me to be in it too! ^^ Poor Sawada-san was asked by everyone to take a picture, he was holding at least six cameras!
I found two pictures with me in it on Midori’s blog.

Pictures from Midori’s blog, yaaay!
Then it was time for Midori to go. We said goodbye and she told us she hoped she could come back next year! Marie (the girl wearing Milky Berry) had taught her some words in French, maybe they’ll help her some day, haha! Then, Sawada-san went on his way with Midori to her hotel.
I talked some more with Constance and her friend, until my mom arrived (with the right bag this time). She told me there was a nice shopping street just a little further, so I said goodbye to the girls (after Constance wrote down her Facebook for me) and we went on our way.
It turned out we were walking around in le Marais, quite a fancy neighbourhood. We went into Sabon and tried some amazingly smelling stuff for our hands (we had to pump water into a beautiful sink ourselves, haha) and I tried on a nice dress in a busy shop. The dress was lovely, but not really on me unfortunetaly.
After a while, we went back to the metrostation (after buying more chocolate, bad us) and we went back to our hotel to rest a while. There, I discovered I had lost my badges from the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party! I turned the whole room upside down, but I couldn’t find it. I emailed the shop if maybe they had found it.
We decided to try to go up the Eiffeltower that night, since we knew from last time that it’s not so busy at night. We rested until the evening. My mom slept, but I couldn’t. We had internet, so I could chat with my friends about the Angelic Pretty Tea Party the next day. I decided to wake my mom up eventually and we decided to have dinner at Café d’Albert, just across the street. I had a delicious carpaccio, while my mom had tagliatelle with grilled salmon. My food was great, but my mom’s salmon had fish bones in it, so she was a bit afraid of eating it.
Although I don’t remember the exact time we left the café, I do know it was later than planned, but I read the metros would ride until about 1:30 am, so it would be fine.
We took the metro to Trocadéro. God, the Eiffeltower is so pretty at night…

♥
We went on our way to the foot of the Tower, which took a while because of the stupid traffic lights that took ages to become green.
Okay, I’ll be honest: our memories were a bit confused. We thought the Eiffeltower sparkled more than just once every hour. We were a bit upset over the fact it only sparkled for a little while (we were both not feeling so well and somehow we couldn’t really take this). We walked to the pillar with the only working elevator (did I mention the Eiffeltower had technial difficulties? Only one out of three elevators was working, while there were thousands of tourists in Paris at that moment!), but I noticed on the sign that the sommet (the top floor) was closed already. I still wanted to go up, so we walked to the queue, but then we realised the gate was closed! An arrogant French man was standing next to it, so we asked why it was closed, as the closing time was midnight and it wasn’t midnight yet. He either didn’t speak English or felt repulsed by the idea of speaking to us in English, because he mumbled something about it already being midnight and that we weren’t allowed to go in anymore, with that ‘stupid-tourists-every-damn-day’ look on his face. Horrible, arrogant pr*ck! I wanted to slap him so badly (don’t worry, I would never do that)! The fact it was closed, okay, but his attitude, argh! I hated him. We asked another woman, who did speak English, but she said the same. We were both so disappointed, since we had really been looking forward to it! Even when the Tower started sparkling, I couldn’t enjoy it. We still couldn’t sit on the grass, which made it even worse.
We decided to go back to Trocadéro, but when we crossed the road we realised there was something going on. After us, people weren’t allowed to cross the bridge and there was a big car with lights attached to it! It turns out they were shooting a car commercial!

The car with lights on it turned out to be a filming car! This is the
last picture of the evening by the way.
I think it was either for Renault or Peugeot. A beautiful, shiny red car drove up and down to the Eiffeltower, sometimes followed by the filming car. Other times the red car drove past the filming car with an incredible speed, only barely missing the front of the other car. My mom and I were fascinated and kept looking for a while, after which we went on to the metrostation.
From this point, there are no more pictures, because here started our evening from hell. Maybe you think: ‘What, that’s all?’, but to us it wasn’t at the time. Although writing about it or looking back makes the situation seem not so bad, the moment we lived it was really frightening.
We walked up to the entrance of the Trocadéro metrostation, but as soon as we had walked down the stairs we realised we had a problem: the gate was closed. We couldn’t enter the station. I started panicking, but managed to follow some other people to another entrance that was, thank God, still opened. The only thing I could think of was: ‘We need to get to our station taking the shortest route as possible!’ We ran to the platform where the metro would arrive to Pasteur, where we could take the metro that would go straight to our hotel, but instead of indicating what time the next metro would arrive, the sign only showed Xs, indicating no metro would come. We ran to the opposite platform, that would take us to Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, where the Arc de Triomphe is. That metro did come, pfew! Our hearts were racing: how on earth could we get to our hotel if the metros didn’t ride anymore? Taxis would be so expensive at night! We arrived at Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, where people were running as fast as they could to catch the last metro. We ran to the platform of line 2, but I realised we would have an even bigger problem if we took that line: we would have to get out at Pigalle, a neighbourhood you don’t want to roam around at night. We were doubting about getting on the metro, when suddenly two strict-looking ladies showed up and started yelling in French. I understood them, but I wanted English! They told us the last metro had left and that we had to leave. My mom and I were a little relieved: at least no Pigalle. We got out and the Arc de Triomphe was so different than usual: it looked spooky and deserted, without the hundreds of cars driving around it. We had to take a taxi, but we had never done that before. We didn’t even know how to stop a taxi! I saw an older couple standing a little away from us and they looked as if they were going to stop a taxi, so I walked up to them. The man had ‘American’ written all over him, he even wore a cowboyhat! And I was right, the couple was American! I asked if they ever took a taxi before and they said no, haha! But the man held out his hand and a taxi came right over, so it clearly wasn’t so hard. I told them we had never taken a taxi before and the woman asked where we had to get out. When I told her, her face clearly showed she had no idea where that was. ‘We’re getting out at Lamarck,’ she said. ‘Oh really? That’s one station away from ours!’ I said, surprised. The sweet couple then offered to share the taxi, so kind! ♥
While my mom was sitting in the front seat, I sat in between of the man and woman. I felt so much better, knowing we’d at least get back to our hotel in the middle of the night. While my mom was still recovering from our bad adventure, I had a lovely conversation with our fellow passengers. They live in California and had come to Paris for their anniversary, but they too were too late for the Eiffeltower and they had also missed a boat ride and a tour through the catacombs with just one minute! Speaking of bad luck! =( We had a lovely conversation about Paris and other stuff and the woman complimented me on my English, yay! *^^*
Our driver was very fast, haha! But of course, there wasn’t so much traffic anyway. We arrived at the couple’s hotel and when they got out, the price was so low compared to what we had thought! And the American man gave the driver 10 euros, almost the entire amount! They were so, so nice! I wonder if they’re doing well…
We arrived at our hotel too. We were very grateful: the driver didn’t use a night rate for the price, so my mom gave him a big tip!
We were sooo happy to be back at our hotel! We could finally smile again, we were so stressed! We went to sleep at 2:30 am, wow…

Paris, Day 3 – Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party

On Saturdaymorning I woke up early, because I was very excited! Today was the day of the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party! Lots of other things happened on this day too, but otherwise the title of this entry would have been too long. ^^
The day before I had talked to my friend Sydney on Facebook. A couple of months ago we met there and we became friends within a short amount of time! We would meet each other at Baby’s shop before the Tea Party for the first time in real life and I had told her I’d arrive there around 10 am.
My mom and I had breakfast downstairs and then, it was time to get dressed!
After I did my make up (which took a while), I did my hair. The day before, I had worn braids and also during the night, so when I unbraided them I had cute, Cleopatra-ish waves in my hair! I put my white, maid-like Baby bow on my head (that I once won in a contest), made two small ponytails with little clips to create the effect of having more hair, put two off white flowers next to them and finished it all with a pink dangling star clip.
Then, it was time to put on my Lolita clothes! I put on a white tanktop, Baby bloomers and socks and then my blouse. Then I put on my two petticoats, my dress, shoes and my accessories! Here is my outfit:

Me in my pink Tea Party outfit! I felt like a princess!
After I had checked if I had put everything in my bag (camera, wallet, ticket, etc.) it was finally time to leave! I was 10 minutes later than planned, but it wasn’t so bad. There was plenty of time.
We left the hotel and we made some outfit pictures.

Our outfits. ^^
I’ve had a lot of first esperiences on this day (I call them simply ‘firsts’) and it already started here! I’ve never really been out in Lolita, except for walking to the park while no one was outside. So being out in full Lolita was completely new to me and now I was in Paris! So many people!
First, my mom and I went to the bank to get some money and then we went to the metro. It was interesting to see how some people where surprised to see me, others were clearly ignoring me. My mom, who was walking behind me, said it was funny: as soon as people passed me they often looked back with a ‘Huh!?’ expression on their face. Although I wasn’t scared at all to walk through the city, it was nice having my mom with me as my bodyguard (haha).
While waiting for the metro, I noticed a man on the other side of the station subtlely taking a picture of me with his phone. To be honest: I didn’t really mind. I can understand Lolitas must be like some kind of phenomenon and I actually felt flattered (although I do prefer when people ask. ^^).

Waiting for the metro. I felt a little like Momoko from Kamikaze Girls!
While standing in the metro, an old man took a picture of me with his phone. I smiled at the camera, after which he smiled and came up to us. He looked at me and asked my mom: ‘Why is she dressed like that?’ I was like: ‘I’m standing right here…’ So I just answered him myself. He wasn’t unfriendly or something, but it’s still a bit funny. ^^’ Oh well, this was the first time someone asked me that. Or my mom.
Later my mom told me she thought it was a weird question, ‘Why are you dressed like that?’ ‘You don’t go up to other people and ask that either’, she said. We arrived at station Ledru-Rollin, where my mom and I took pictures again in the photomaton. They turned out so cute! ^^
Just when we were finished, I saw three lovely Lolitas walking by! I walked after them and managed to catch up while they were waiting for the traffic lights.

I was too shy to talk to them, but walking behind them did result into this nice picture.
While we were walking, a woman with a little child in a stroller passed us and suddenly, the baby pointed as us and laughed! It was so funny. XD
Then, we reached the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright shop! My heart was pounding again: now I would meet Sydney! When I looked through the windows, I recognised her immediately of course and I went to greet her! It was so nice to meet her! ^^ She was much taller than I expected (but then, she was wearing platform shoes), haha! She also introduced me to her friend Yumi, who, just like her, studied in France for a while. Then suddenly, when I looked outside, I saw Emilie already! She had told me she would arrive between 12 and 12:30, but she was early! I was so happy! Of course, we had to take some pictures together!

Emilie, me, Sydney and Yumi. ♥ It’s so cool: three times pink plus one time blue!
We went inside again and browsed the shop some more (because we hadn’t seen everything already of course). It was my first time being in the shop while dressed in Lolita, yaaay! I had the courage to ask someone for a picture, yay! During the Tea Party, the courage grew more, luckily. ^^
I was constantly smiling so broadly, but I couldn’t help it! Everyone looked so pretty and I felt pretty too! I loved feeling that way.
After a while, Claire (the shopgirl) had to ask us to leave the shop, since they had to close. My mom took some more pictures of us outside, in front of the shop window. There, I met the beautiful Diana!

Me and Diana! I was so in love with her coordinate and her beautiful hair!
A woman with two small children passed us, and the little girl was so cute! She was really shy when looking at us. There was also a woman who asked us for a picture, ‘because we looked so pretty!’ ^^

Pink girls! ♥
Picture by Emilie
We spent some time in front of the shop (luckily we weren’t the only ones). Emilie told me there would be a special event at Angelic Pretty the whole day, including something very special at night: the girls of 6%Dokidoki would come and also Kyary Pamyu Pamyu! I was so excited! I consulted with my mom for a moment and she was okay with going!

Yumi and me. ♥ She is so adorable!
Then my mom and I said goodbye to each other: we would see each other after the Tea Party again. Sydney and Yumi went to eat some sushi, while Emilie and I decided to go to the Angelic Pretty shop. But first, Emilie introduced me to the other Lolitas hanging around, including one of my inspirations: BloodyQueen, who was wearing a beautiful yellow, Marie Antoinette-like dress. She told me it was by the brand Clara Maeda. They were going to a Tea Party for that brand later that day. She looked so pretty! I loved meeting BloodyQueen so much! She is so sweet and beautiful!
After some talking (both in French and English) we all went to the AP shop! Walking with a group of Lolitas was so awesome! It was like a small, pretty army parading through the street!
We arrived at Angelic Pretty, where we had to wait outside for a while, because otherwise it would get too full inside. Suddenly, I saw Maki and Asuka helping customers! For a moment I couldn’t breath! It was like pictures on the internet came to life! Finally, I was allowed to go inside and Emilie not long after me. I browsed the entire store, because it had changed a lot since I had been there last time. Everything looked adorable! And almost everything was on sale! I saw the navy version of Fancy Box, but I decided not to buy it. Emilie wanted to buy the special, limited t-shirt, so she had to stand in line for a long time. In the meantime I met Dominique, the owner of the Angelic Pretty/Boddywood shop. It was so nice to finally meet him in person! He is so nice and kind and he speaks three languages! He was interested in where I came from and was happy I would come to the Tea Party on Monday.
When Emilie was done, we could finally meet Maki and Asuka!
To be honest: I was a bit afraid Maki and Asuka wouldn’t be happy to see us wearing a different brand than Angelic Pretty. I’ve heard stories of Lolitas saying they are fake and uninterested, but they were so nice! We took pictures together and they could have left it at that, but they asked us where we came from (Me: ‘Holland… er… Oranda?’ They: ‘Ah, tulips!’ It was so cute! ♥) and they were happy to hear we would come to the AP Tea Party! I was so happy to meet them! And they both looked so pretty!

I got pictures with Maki and Asuka! I’m so happy!
It was time for us to go: we were already running a little late! We said goodbye to Maki and Asuka and Emilie, Tro-Tro, Madeline (who we met at the Baby shop), BloodyQueen and I left the shop.

Tro-Tro, me and BloodyQueen! Tro-Tro’s skirt is one of my favourite
Baby prints and just look at BloodyQueen’s dress! *___*
We walked back to Ledru-Rollin and after we were asked for a picture (which took a while, the poor girl had a stupid camera), some girls bought their metro tickets while I waited. We proceeded through the gates and took the metro. BloodyQueen and Tro-Tro exited some stations before for their Tea Party and we went on to Opéra! There, we had to walk fast: it was almost 2 pm, the time the Tea Party would start! Emilie and I hate arriving late (Emilie is Swiss. Being on time, you get it? Haha. XD), so we almost ran to le Grand Hôtel.

Le Grand Hôtel, the location of the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party!
Of course we arrived on time after all and I called my mom to say we were at the hotel, but when she picked up she was panicking a little! This was the first time she was all only in the metro and she didn’t understand the system after all! She always follows me, because I understand it perfectly. So I tried to help her, without having a map with me and I managad to guide her back to our own hotel. Then, as soon as I hung up, we were allowed into the hotel!
I had seen pictures from the Tea Party in February, which was at the same hotel, so I knew what it looked like, but seeing it with your own eyes is always different! I have one word to describe everything: expensive! We walked through a hall, past the reception and then we arrived in a beautiful room with a glass roof. We walked through the room (we drew quite some attention from the people having tea there) and then went left, into a small hall with a reception desk. Emilie and I somehow ended up almost at the front, so we were the first to get checked on the list and receive our present: a set of four cute badges with details from prints on them! We waited for a while, while hotel staffmembers walked in and out with food, until Sawada-san (Baby Paris’ owner) opened the doors and it was finally time to go inside ourselves!

The beautiful Tea Party room! I’ll be honest: this is a picture from after the Tea Party,
but I just wanted to show you what the room looks like when it’s empty. ^^
Emilie and I entered together after some people, while a two violinists and a cellist started playing beautiful music. They were dressed in Baby, the Stars Shine Bright dresses and I wondered if they were asked to do that or if they were really Baby fans..
Since we were some of the first people who got to enter, Emilie and I could choose a table and we kept two free spots for Sydney and Yumi, who were a bit behind us. Madeline joined us too, and some adorable other Lolitas. We were also joined by Marlessa, from Russia, who I’ve seen on Tumblr before and who looked stunning as always! Soon Sydney and Yumi joined us while other people sat down too.

My ticket, number 17.
We talked for a while, after which everyone slowly became quiet while Claire stood in the middle of the room. She thanked us all for coming (everything she said in French was repeated in English, yay) and she told us the program for the party. First we would have cake and tea, then there would be the lottery, then there would be Midori’s (the TP guest) book signing and then there would be the prizes for best dressed. In the meantime you could just chat and take pictures with each other. Claire also told us that, unfortunately, Midori had only about ten books, so there would be a small game to decide who could buy the book and get an autograph. After she was done talking, we clapped and the Tea Party had started!
Everyone went to the table in the back to get a pastry! There were thee choices: chocolate, raspberry or a millefeuille. After some doubting I chose chocolate (I can never withstand its sweetness). The girl who was standing next to me (I can’t remember who it was) was gave me a pastry first, so kind! Then, when she wanted to get one herself, she accidentally flipped it over! Luckily it wasn’t so bad.

The gorgeous pastries! Choosing was hard!
Picture by Sydney
I went back to our table, while making sure I wouldn’t drop my chocolate pastry on someone’s dress and sat down. After a little while I was joined by the others (somehow we got split up in line or something). I looked around while waiting, since I didn’t want to start eating without them. There were so many beautiful outfits! I couldn’t tell which one I loved most. And there were a lot of people! When I looked at pictures later, I sometimes found people I hadn’t even seen! There was even a boy who was completely dressed like a pirate, so cool! I also saw the most complicated hairstyles! And I was surprised to see some parents too.
Finally, our table was full again and butlers were walking around, asking what we would like to drink. I was in a chocolate mood, so I chose hot chocolate. I was a bit afraid of my dress: all that dangerous chocolate! I was glad Sydney showed me to use the napkin that was lying next to my plate as a protective shield by putting it on my lap. I guess I miss basic etiquette, ahem.
My pastry was delicious (even the small piece of… tinfoil (?) on top of it) and I loved chatting with my friends. Sydney and I talked about ‘famous’ Dutch products. It took me a while to realise the cookies with caramel she was talking about were actually ‘stroopwafels’, a very popular Dutch product. If she ever comes to the Netherlands, I’ll buy her a bunch of them! ^^ Then I asked her if I could be in a picture with her little Totoro! Totoro is Sydney’s friend and together they explored Paris! He even has his own blog!

Me and cutie Totoro! He was all dressed up for the occasion!
Picture by Sydney
We finished our treats and Emilie and I decided to walk up to the table with pastries to take some pictures, since there weren’t many people around there.

I felt like a true princess in the beautiful room with all the other beautiful girls!
During the Tea Party, Emilie and I acted as each other’s photographers, so we both have quite some pictures of ourselves and with others!
Emilie introduced me to her wonderful friend Tiya, who wore one of my Dream Dresses: Creamy Soda Pop in black. She had created a beautiful and fun coord with it. We started talking and her English is so great! And she’s also a super nice and fun girl! I asked her for a picture and she said it would be a pleasure. When Emilie had taken the picture, Tiya asked me if I wanted to take a ‘stupid’ picture with her. I loved the idea and it resulted into this:

Princess Fight!
It was so much fun taking this picture! Lolitas are always pretty and elegant and I love that, but this was so contradictory with that image, haha!
I also took a picture with Claire, who was wearing one of Baby’s upcoming prints, the one with the trains, in lavender. I noticed that her waist ties were attached to the dress with safety pins. When I asked her about it, she laughed and said: ‘They haven’t designed buttons for the dress yet, so I had to pin them to the dress!’ I thought that was so cool! I suggested buttons with trains, that would be very unique!
We were asked to sit down again. When we were seated, the musicians started playing. Me, with my slow head, asked what was going on, when the guest of the party came in: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright model Midori! If her name doesn’t ring a bell, you probably know her anyway from pictures. She wore one of Baby’s new prints and she looked absolutely stunning. Emilie and I had wondered if she would look like her pictures (you know, Photoshop and stuff) and she absolutely did! She was so beautiful!

I hate taking pictures with flash, but it’s my best picture of her when she arrived.
She moved a lot. ^^’
Claire translated what Midori said (thank you for coming, etc.) and then the raffle started! I wasn’t one of the lucky girls who received a prize, and neither did Emilie, Sydney or Yumi. Oh well. ^^’
Then, the lights went out and I was so surprised, I let ou t a little cry, haha. ^^’ Suddenly, the door opened and a huge, white Baby, the Stars Shine Bright cake with firework sticks in it was ridden inside by butlers (I like calling them butlers, sorry). Taking a picture was impossible, so I took some when the lights were switched on again.

Midori and the gigantic cake! It had a BtSSB logo on it!
We went to stand in line and even though the cake was huge, we got quite a small piece, haha! Not that I minded though, the chocolate pastry was quite heavy. With my piece of cake I also got a little orange berry, which was sooo delicious! The cake itself was very sweet.
When we finished our cake, Emilie and I went to the bathroom. Not because we had to, but because it was so beautiful! Expensive hotels have beautiful bathrooms, wow!

Emilie in her beautiful Princess Honey jsk! She really made me fall in love with this dress.
Two women walked into the toilets and complimented us on our fits. ♥ Then we walked to the big room with the glass roof, to take some more pictures. But we realised something was going on in the Tea Party room, so we went back.
Claire and Midori went to stand in the middle of the room again and Claire told us they were going to decide who could buy Midori’s book through a game of rock, paper, scissors. Anyone who wanted a chance had to stand up. We wanted to try it, so we joined too. The first time we played it, a lot of people lost already, including me and Sydney. Since there were less than ten people left, it was already decided! Emilie was still standing, so she could buy the book and get it autographed by Midori! While Emilie was writing her name down and got the autograph, I took pictures for her. ^^ I was so happy she could buy Midori’s book!

Midori signing Emilie’s book!
Midori was sooo sweet! She signed all the books and thanked the girls, gave them a hug and posed for pictures! The girls who didn’t get the chance to buy the book, received a postcard with her autograph, a hug and the opportunity to take a picture too!
Since the line in front of Midori’s little desk had gotten really long, Emilie and I decided to take some more pictures first before I went to stand in line. Sam from Fancymelody joined us! We went back to the toilets to take more pictures and after that, we sat down on a beautiful emerald couch for more.

Me and Emilie. ♥
We also discovered a nice hall, where we took pictures too. After that, we walked back to the tea room with the glass roof and asked someone to take our picture together.

Emilie, Sam and me! I love how different our are! So many lovely styles.
We went back to the Tea Party room, but the line was still a bit long. We asked some more people for pictures!

Me with the beautiful Marlessa. ♥ Her outfit was so gorgeous and full of details!
Then I went to stand in line for an autograph from Midori.
Although I really liked Midori’s postcards, I had brought my own picture with me. I’ve never been to a Tea Party before, so I didn’t know if the guest of honour always brought something with her to sign. I had decided to take my favourite picture of Midori with me: the one where she’s wearing Merry Sweet Castle. It’s one of my favourite Lolita pictures, so I loved getting a signature on it from her!
When it was my turn, she was really surprised I had my own picture with me. I think she was happy with it. ^^

Me while writing down my name. You can see a bit more of
Midori’s and Claire’s beautiful outfits!
Of course I also got a picture with the pretty Midori, thanks to my personal photographer Emilie!

Uunnnh, she is so cute!
After I was done, Emilie and I went to take some pictures with Emilie’s friend Emeline, who wore a beautiful Alice and the Pirates dress that I had never seen before!

They asked me to take their traditional ‘hôtesses d’accueil’ picture.
Look at Emeline’s dress! ♥
We took some more pictures down a beautiful staircase and then went back to the Tea Party room, because it was time to choose the winners of the best dressed competition! Midori was given the choice and she walked around, looking at everyone separately. She chose a lovely girl for Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and the gorgeous Marlessa for Alice and the Pirates! So well deserved! I couldn’t agree with her more! Lucky Marlessa (who had also won something in the lottery) received an AatP dress and bonnet in wine red!
Then the Tea Party had (almost) come to an end. Don't ask me how, but in an unexplicable way I got the chance to buy Midori’s book after all! I was so happy! I asked Midori to sign it for me and she asked me if I had bought it on Amazon. I didn’t really know how to explain, haha. ^^’

Us with our books and Midori! I was happy I could buy her book after all! I love it. ^^
I put down my bag on a table to check if I still had everything and then we asked Sawada-san for a picture! We took multiple, because he tends to have his eyes closed on pictures, hihi. ^^

Sawada-san’s Angels. ♥ Don’t ask me what I’m doing to Emilie’s dress…
Then, it was really time for us to go. We thanked Sawada-san, Claire and Midori for the wonderful party and walked back to the doors of the hotel, where my mom was waiting for us.
We said goodbye to some people and then it was time to go to Angelic Pretty’s shop for the special event! First, we walked up to the Opéra to take pictures, but since it was raining we didn’t stay for long.

Despite the rain, my mom managed to take this wonderful picture of the four of us!
We walked to the metro station and went on our way to Ledru-Rollin again.

Lolitas in the metro.
We arrived at Ledru-Rollin and walked to Angelic Pretty’s shop. Emilie and I were walking behind the other three girls. We walked past two loudly talking man at a restaurant, when one of them suddenly wanted to grab Sydney’s skirt! But Madeline, walking just behind Sydney, threatened to sting him with her parasol in one smooth movement! It was so awesome! Who says Lolitas can’t defend themselves?
We were almost there when we walked past another restaurant. Suddenly, a man walked up to me and asked me why we were dressed like that, because he had seen a lot of girls like us pass by. I told him there had been a Tea Party for a certain brand that makes this kind of clothes and that we were going to another event now (I totally forgot to mention it’s a Japanese street fashion, whoops. XD)! He thanked me for telling him. He was so friendly! Now that I think back, it’s possible he was actually from my country. He had a bit of an accent like me.
My mom and I arrived at the AP store, where we went inside to browse some more. Quite some things were sold out already, but the shop wasn’t empty yet. ^^
My mom looked at all the things too and she told me she had fallen in love with a red with white polkadots cutsew dress. I liked it too, but I hadn’t really looked at it well. Now that she mentioned it, it was really cute! I decided to come back some other day to see if it was still there, when it wasn’t so crowded anymore. Moreover, I wanted to try it on first, but since I was wearing Lolita, I didn’t think that was such a good idea! I talked some more to Dominique and I promised to come back to the store later that week. Sydney and I also talked a bit with Maki and Asuka! They had been in the shop all day (so long!) and said they felt hot, so I offered them to use my fan. ^^
After a while, we had to leave the shop, because the staff had to prepare some things for the guests who would arrive! I chatted with some people outside and more and more people were arriving.

So many colourful people! There weren’t just Lolitas, but also 6%Dokidoki fans!
After a while, my heart skipped a beat, because I recognised someone I really wanted to meet: Kitch! And if Kitch was there, it meant my ultimate Lolita-idol Lunie_chan would be there too! And then, I suddenly saw here standing in the crowd! My heart, it was racing so fast! She looked so perfect as usual, another picture came to life! I didn’t want to walk up to her immediately, but then she saw me! She came up to me and we started talking and I was so happy! She had told me on her Livejournal that her English wasn’t good, but it was actually great! She said that she had recognised my mother first, so I was like: ‘Huh!? My mom?’ ‘Yes, from your blog!’ I was dying! Lunie_chan, my idol, reads my blog! I was so happy! My mom took a picture of us together!

I’m smiling like an idiot, but I was so happy! I just met my Lolita-idol! *_*
We waited for Kyary and the 6%Dokidoki girls to come, but it lasted a looong time! Dominique said they were supposed to arrive around 8, but they arrived much later! They got stuck in traffic! I was glad to talk to Dominique a bit more though, he is so kind. ^^ He told me there would be a television interview with Kyary and that she would hand out autographs.
In the meantime, I met some more adorable people, like Angélique (who saved my Baby’s umbrella from complete destruction) and a really sweet girl with cute short hair, but I don’t know her name.

Some of my favourite French/Belgian Lolitas together!
There were so many lovely people around! I didn’t talk to everyone, but it was fun to just look around!

I love this picture! The girl on the right is the sweet girl I was talking about.
Then, after a looong time, a bus drove to the shop and stopped! I saw the colourful haircuts of 6%Dokidoki’s Yuka and Vani and I started screaming a little (I was almost the only one! O_O Was I the only one happy about this?). They exited the bus and then we saw Kyary! Whaaaaah! There were also camera people. Dominique guided Kyary through the crowd, but away from the shop! Turns out she had to go to the toilet! :3
I didn’t walk up to the 6% girls yet, because I wanted to keep my place in front of the shop entrance. I wanted to be able to get inside as soon as it was possible.
Kyary returned and entered the shop, where she looked at the clothes and got interviewed.

Kyary Cuteness! I was lucky to stand in front of the door, so I could take nice pictures.
Some girls were asked to come inside to get interviewed. These were all the colourful, 6%Dokidoki-like girls. ^^ You can find the interview and report about Kyary on YouTube. You can even see me for a few seconds! ♥
After a while, I decided I wanted to go take pictures with Vani and Yuka. I wonder if Vani recognised me from October..? My mom told her I had been to their shop, hihi.

With Yuka and Vani. ♥ My dress looks pale next to them!
I also asked my mom if she could take another picture of me with Maki and Asuka, who were standing outside with us too.
Suddenly I saw two familiar faces: Annso and Vief! It was nice to talk to them in my own language, although we accidentally spoke a lot of English too.

Me and Kyary! She was so cuuute!
Well, I did get my picture with Kyary after all! But I felt so bad for all the people who didn’t get the chance to meet her… Dominique was so angry at the Japanese! Well, I can’t blaim him.
We said goodbye to Maki, Asuka and Dominique and went on our way to Emilie’s hotel. We talked about our fun day and what we didn’t like and after a while, we arrived at the hotel. We said goodbye and my mom and I agreed to pick her up before the Angelic Pretty Tea Party on Monday. Then it was time to go.
My mom and I arrived at our station. I was a bit hungry, so we went to get a pizza at the Italian restaurant accross from our hotel. I felt a bit weird in my Lolita clothes, waiting for my pizza, around 11 o’clock. XD
When we got back to our hotel, the owner told me I looked pretty, hihi. ♥
We bought two cans of coke and a bottle of water and went upstairs. I could finally take my Lolita clothes off. I had been wearing them for over 12 hours! When I took off my petticoat and bloomers, it burned! XD
We ate our pizza (which was really delicious) and read for a bit. Then we went to sleep: we were so tired!

My mom has been so sweet and kind and patient throughout this day. Thank you so much mom! ♥

If there are any picture of yourself you don’t like, please just tell me and I will either remove it or block your face out! ♥