Hi everyone! How are you all doing in these trying times? I was hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia and finally decided to finish this Paris series! It’s been ages since my last blog post, so I wonder if anyone still reads these..? Oh well, here we go.
Monday July 9th was our last day in Paris, so we had breakfast, packed our things and checked out. As our bus wouldn’t leave until late in the afternoon, we still had plenty of time left to do something fun. As my mom and I had wanted to go up the Arc de Triomphe for years, we decided to do so this time! We left our luggage at the hotel and went on our way to the Arc de Triomphe.
Our outfits of the day.
We arrived at the Champs-Elysées and went through the tunnel to cross the road. The ticket office for the Arc de Triomphe is also there. I’d heard that in order to go up the Arc de Triomphe you have to climb many stairs and as my mom can’t do that due to various reasons, I asked whether it was possible to go up through an elevator before we bought tickets. Luckily this was fine, so we got our tickets (mine was free because of my age)! We walked up some stairs, which led us to the Étoile square. The weather was absolutely beautiful, perfect for our goal honestly!
Tickets for the Arc de Triomphe!
We went to stand in line and got a body- and bag scan, the whole works! After that, we were led to one of the pillars, away from the poor people having to take the stairs, and were allowed into the elevator. The elevator was super cool, with a glass roof showing the endless inside of the pillar stretching up above us. Also, the lady taking us upstairs was very kind!
Once upstairs, my mom and I stepped out of the elevator and arrived in a huge room, probably right under the top of the Arc. There was a gift shop and various wall paintings and art works related to the Arc. We went up the last couple of stairs and found ourselves, finally, on the top of the Arc de Triomphe!
The view upon Paris was absolutely stunning! We could see all the way down the Champs-Elysées to the Louvre on one side and all the way down to la Défense on the other.
The view upon the Champs-Elysées and one of the other streets to the left, seen from the Arc de Triomphe.
We could also see the Eiffeltower in the distance, rising from the Parisian buildings and striking against the blue sky. The view was so amazing and thew weather just perfect!
This view was just so stunning…
Honestly, there’s not much to say about our visit. We looked around for a while, which my mom and I both absolutely loved. Many people took pictures and there was even a very big film camera present, which was cool. My mom and I sat down for a while, took selfies and just enjoyed the view a bit more. We were very happy to have achieved this goal!
Maybe not our best selfie, but we look so happy! ♥
Finally, we decided to go back down the stairs and check out the gift shop. It was fun to look at all the Paris- and Arc de Triomphe-related articles and my mom ended up buying a book about Napoléon for me, which was really sweet of her!
Goods to satisfy all your Napoléon needs!
We took the elevator back down again, said goodbye to the nice lady and ended up taking some very nice outfit pictures with the Arc as a background. I felt very extra, standing on a small pole, posing in the wind in front of the Arc de Triomphe! It was very fun and the pictures ended up really nice! ^^
I felt like such a model!
We then walked down the Champs-Elysées and visited some shops, like the Swarovski store to take more fancy pictures, haha! Eventually, we ended up at Ladurée again! We wanted to have actual pastries this time, so we took a look at the pastries for sale to choose and then asked for a table. I ordered a raspberry pastry while my mom went for strawberry. We also got iced tea drinks, but they were quite bitter and not very great. XD The pastries however were heavenly!
Delicious pastries at Ladurée.
It was nice to just sit, chat and eat for a while, but eventually we had to leave and pick up our stuff at the hotel. I quickly got changed there, as a long, flowy coat wasn’t very practical for dragging luggage around. Unfortunately, even though we wanted to avoid it, we ended up having to hurry for our bus. We made it in time, but it was stressful. The bus wasn’t full at all however, so we could take up a lot of space and even sleep a bit! The journey was long and uneventful. My dad picked us up from the bus stop and once home, we were greeted by happy dogs. It had been a great trip! ^^
A year and a month or two late, but here is my report on the Angelic Pretty Tea Party of 2018!
Sunday July 8th started with a quiet morning of breakfast and preparing my outfit. As I had feared, it was going to be hot. Great. If you remember from last year, it was also hot and despite my preparations for the way back to the hotel after the Tea Party, it wasn’t great. However, this time I was determined to make it work, so I prepared well again. Also, getting dressed while using the hairdryer which happened to have a cold setting as well which really helped!
Once it was time, we headed for the Place Vendôme, where we would meet Emilie. Once there, we took pictures of our outfits while we still looked fresh and with natural light, which was absolutely lovely.
For this year’s outfit, I really wanted to wear my beautiful wine red Cameo Window JSK, bought during my trip to Japan (no, I haven’t written about that yet), as it was new, beautiful, very Parisian and would suit the location well. I combined it with white and gold and several pearl accessories. My outfit wasn’t overly spectacular, but I ended up really liking it and it was fairly comfortable! ♥
Here are some pictures, I hope you like my outfit:
♥ La Dame de Paris ♥ My outfit rundown:
Tiara: Forever21
Blouse: Primark
JSK: Angelic Pretty’s Cameo Window
Socks: offbrand
Shoes: Bodyline Feather hair clip: handmade
Earrings: offbrand
Necklace: Angelic Pretty
Bracelets: Primark and offbrand
Rings: Primark and offbrand
Bag: Primark
Emilie wore a different outfit, which she described as ‘a very simple and cute maid outfit’ with her cute French Café jsk. She looked so perfectly French! I totally loved her outfit!
Please take a moment to appreciate Emilie’s beauty! *_*
As my mom was there too and she was happy to take some pictures for us, I could have a little photoshoot with my dear Emilie! ♥ I was very happy we were attending together like old times! ^^
I love these pictures of us together. ♥
We said goodbye to my mom and headed for the Hôtel Ritz. My first Angelic Pretty Tea Party also took place at the Ritz! I had a really good time there, so I was happy to go back there! Especially since there had been a big fire at the hotel a couple of years before and it had been closed for two years for renovation! I was eager to find out what it looked like now.
The entrance to the Hôtel Ritz.
Several Lolitas were already waiting at the front door, but not long after we arrived, we were allowed inside. Even just the entrance was so different from the last time I was there! In 2012, we immediately had to go right and go into a beautiful side room, where the Tea Party took place. I didn’t see much of the rest of the hotel at all.
Like walking into a fairytale castle…
We waited around for a bit at the end of the hallway when we were allowed to go on further. We walked down a never ending hallway, lined by expense shops (Shops! Inside a hotel!) and ended up at another waiting room (How big is this hotel exactly!?), called the Salon de Vendôme. There, Emilie and I ended up totally alone, as only we had received those directions! XD So we walked back and ended up having to go back again to the waiting room. It was quite funny.
Waiting for the Tea Party to start.
We waited for a while. But honestly, I was quite happy about that, as we could take pictures, chat and admire each other’s outfits. I started to feel very overwhelmed and could take my time calming down and breathing, which helped. And when we were allowed to proceed to the Tea Party room, Emilie and I were the first to arrive!
Having my name checked to receive a numbered card.
Picture by Emilie.
Our names were checked by cute Marine and Emilie and I received numbers 1 and 2 respectively. We then walked down some stairs and arrived at the Tea Party room. The room was simple yet very elegant: Round tables were lined along the cream white walls, with a low podium in the middle on the left wall. Chandeliers decorated the walls and there were several big mirrors. Big, pink Angelic Pretty bags were placed on every chair and every plate also had a voting sheet on it. And the best part? There was great air conditioning! I really was so happy about that. XD
Our first look into the beautiful Tea Party room!
Picture by Emilie.
As Emilie and I were the first to arrive, we had first pick for our table! We chose one at the right wall, across the stage. We were soon joined by more and more Lolitas in the room and ended up with lovely table mates.
Naturally I immediately wanted to see what was in my promising pink bag! We got really spoiled this time! A badge, a tote bag, a RinRin postcard and an amazing British Crown plate! I loved everything so much! ♥
One of the amazing tables and a Lolita opening her gift.
Upper picture by Emilie.
We had quite a bit of free time before the Tea Party really started, which was nice as this was something that was a bit lacking at previous editions. I walked around and was able to chat with several people and admire the dozens of outfits I was surrounded by. It’s always so fun to see what kind of outfits people have come up wit hand this party as well brought fort hso many different styles! Everyone looked amazing!
A few pictures of the many beautiful girls walking around. ♥
Pictures by both Emilie and me.
I walked around some more and took videos (while Emilie took pictures) and took a look at the prizes for the raffle (which were amazing as always).
Some of the wonderful raffle prizes!
Picture by Emilie.
Finally we were asked to take our seats and we were welcomed by the manager of the Angelic Pretty Paris shop. The program consisted of a fashion show, a special cake, a raffle and of course the election of the Best Dressers.
I think we had a bit of time before the fashion show, so we chatted and had delicious tea, juice, small pastries, cookies and sandwiches. When the fashion show started we could still continue to eat and drink, which was amazing. ;0;
The fashion show started and I can tell you: it was amazing! Unfortunately pictures weren’t allowed, but luckily they appeared on the official site (quite late, so good thing I waited forever with this blogpost, right? Ahem).
Special guests RinRin and Risa Nakamura modelled twice during the show.
Pictures from the Angelic Pretty website.
Risa Nakamura’s dress, the last one of the show, was my absolute favourite!
Pictures from the Angelic Pretty website.
I loved seeing RinRin, Risa Nakamura and my friends (Marina! Camélia!) model, but none of the dresses really caught my eye. That is, until RinRin and Risa showed the last outfits of the show, which were both floor length and total princess gowns. Especially Risa’s was to die for, as it was long, pink and so incredibly sparkly! Pictures don’t do it justice, I want to get married in that dress!
If you want to see my genuine and on-the-spot reactions to the outfits shown in the fashion show, I suggest you take a look at the video my amazing, stunning and wonderful table mate Roxane made of us reacting to the fashion show! I’m in the video myself and even I think it’s super funny, so do take a look if you have the time!
Maki and Asuka, dressed in elegant pink and white outfits, and later RinRin and Risa, still wearing the beautiful gowns, greeted all the Tea Party guests and hoped we were enjoying ourselves.
Maki and Asuka, cute as always! ♥
Picture by Emilie.
After that, the special Angelic Pretty cake was presented. It looked lovely and everyone wanted to pose for a picture with it, which is always fun! It’s not very common everyone jumps up to pose with a giant cake, right?
Posing with the special cake.
The cake was taken away again and every chatted and took pictures some more. We were joined by the girls who had been modelling and I was happy to take pictures with some friends and beautiful people!
I’m happy to have a picture with Marina, Mila, Liona and Dorith!
We all received a piece of cake and had a lot of laughs eating it. It was absolutely delicious, but a disaster to eat as it had to be completely dissected before you could balance it on your fork. Emilie ended up cry-laughing, it was so funny and cute! XD But again: it was totally delicious! Just hard to eat.
The tragic Cake Disaster of 2018. May he rest in piece.
Then we had more time to walk around. Unfortunately, Maki and Asuka left right after the fashion show again. I had hoped they’d walk around and you could take pictures with them, but alas. I did chat a bit with my fellow Dutch Lolitas, who all looked so lovely! I also took pictures with Emilie on a lovely couch just outside the Tea Party room and our picture ended up on the Angelic Pretty website! That made me very happy. ♥
I am so happy Emilie and I appeared together on the website! Making a heart even! ;0;
Pictures from the Angelic Pretty website.
Then it was time for the raffle, which is always an exciting moment! Maki and Asuka returned and drew numbers fort he winners. There were many prizes and every time someone won everyone applauded, which is always so lovely I think. The Angelic Pretty Tea Party participants always seem genuinely happy for one another! ^^
Our table was quite lucky and I ended up winning some as well: a super cute Angelic Pretty Paris cutsew, which made me super happy! ;0; Girls who didn’t win anything received a lovely pink bag as a consolation prize.
After that, it was time for the Best Dresser prizes. Two girls won 2nd Best Dressed, among which Noke from Finland who had come up with the brilliant idea to create an ice cream-themed outfit but with a wintery print! It was so creative! The other girl looked like she had walked straight from the night sky, amazing!
The two Second Best Dressed winners!
Picture by Emilie.
The Best Dresser prize went to Pink Cupido herself, who had fluttered around the room during the whole party with her cute wings and bow and arrow. She totally deserved it! ^^
The Best Dressed winner!
The Tea Party was running way longer than planned and Emilie was getting anxious, as she had a train to catch, but luckily it was time for the group picture. Emilie and I were super smart this time and sat down on the side of the stage, so no painful legs from squatting for way too long for us! After a lot of shuffling, we all managed to fit into the frame!
The Angelic Pretty Tea Party in Paris 2018 group picture!
Picture from the Angelic Pretty website.
It was time to leave and we managed to take pics with Madame Pretty! She looked and was lovely as always.
Emilie and I then hastily grabbed our stuff. We were quite sad about not being able to see Maki and Asuka. I had even brought gifts for them! It was when we got back to the Salon de Vendôme that I noticed the door to the backstage room. I don’t remember how, but I managed to ask if Maki and Asuka could come out for a brief moment and Emilie and I ended up being able to give gifts and take pictures! We were so happy! ;_; ♥
I am so happy we managed to see Maki and Asuka before we left!
Emilie and I then ran to the toilets and got changed. Emilie for her way back home, me for… my mental sanity. x) On our way to the hotel’s front door, we passed RinRin and could say goodbye to her too, which was lovely.
Outside we met with my mom, who was just chilling in the shade and I believe RinRin passed us again and we hugged again? Ah it was a lovely day…
I said goodbye to Emilie (Aaah, it had been so lovely being with her again! ;___; ) and went back to the hotel with my mom. At night we had dinner at the lovely restaurant next to our hotel, with the doors open and a soft breeze passing by.
Having dinner across from Gare du Nord.
As it was our last night and we really want to see the Eiffeltower sparkling, we were crazy enough to actually go to there! We ended up having to wait for a very long time (although entertained for a while by some amazing street performers), but got to see the sparkling Eiffeltower in the end, which made me very happy!
The sparkling Eiffeltower at night.
It had been an absolutely lovely day! I am so happy I got to attend that Tea Party, as it was a bit like ‘the old days’, having fun and being together with Emilie. It was so nice! I am very grateful I got to go. ♥
On Saturday July 7th we woke up at a decent time and had breakfast downstairs. I don’t remember what we had planned for that day, but whatever our plan was, we ended up changing it. On that day, Angelic Pretty would release some special sets, including one Romantic Rose Letter. I have loved that print from the moment I saw it online, but I never had the chance to buy it, until now. I wasn’t planning on buying it this time either though, due to some other circumstances. However, since I had been talking a lot about it, back at the hotel room my mom said: ‘Are you really sure you don’t want to buy it? Because I think you should.’ I was still in doubt... And that would mean we’d have to leave for the Angelic Pretty store within a few minutes! But my amazing mom was totally fine with it! ;0; ♥ So we jumped into some clothes and went on our way to the Angelic Pretty store!
Once we arrived there, there was only one Lolita there already. I’ve met her before and she always looks amazing, but unfortunately I forgot her name… I’m sorry, beautiful Lolita! We waited for a while until we got pieces of papers with numbers again and again I had number 3, since number 1 was gone again. XD
Lucky number 3, again!
Soon more Lolitas gathered (I looked so plain compared to literally everyone, but well, I had to hurry) and we all looked into the store longingly. Some of my fellow Dutch Lolitas came by as well, which was really nice, as we had a nice chat and they were very excited to go to the Tea Party the next day as well. ^^
What will be for sale..?
The pink shutters opened and we lined up according to our numbers. When I entered I immediately dashed for the Romantic Rose Letter sets. I had planned on getting the sax blue set and when I looked at the other option, the lavender, I knew it was the right choice for me!
I looked around in the store a bit more, but there was nothing else I wanted to buy, so I paid for my beautiful new dress. And because I spent over a certain amount of money, I got to pick one of two options for a free notebook! I chose the adorable white version. It even came with a pink Angelic Pretty pink that even has pink ink! Filled with happiness I left the store.
Happy with my new dress!
At one point, Marina and Roxane joined us! I gave them the gifts I had brought for them and Marina gave me something too: a CD of the musical Roméo et Juliette! I was so surprised and so happy! It was just the best gift! ;0; Marina is just too sweet! ♥
I really love this picture of me with Marina and Roxane!
I said goodbye to everyone and see you later to others, as that afternoon I would have my meet&greet with RinRin. My mom and I returned to our hotel. At our transfer station, we heard the music of a group of Eastern Europe musicians we’ve come across before in Paris and my mom loves them, so we went to have a look. I ended up buying my mom one of their CDs!
Back at the hotel we rested for a bit and got changed into proper, nice outfits for the rest of the day. We had brought way toon ice outfits for them not to be worn!
Our outfits later on the day.
We then went on our way to the Champs-Elysees. We love to just stroll down this long, beautiful street and more importantly: the Arc de Triomphe is there! At station Charles de Gaulle - Etoile we walked past a cute tourist shop that had really cute key chains: pink macarons with all the letters of the alphabet on them. My mom got an ‘E’ for herself and an ‘R’ for me!
Aren’t these keychains super cute!?
We went up the escalator and saw the beautiful monument surrounded by busy traffic right in front of us. As the sky was our favourite kind (blue with white clouds) we couldn’t resist taking many pictures of and in front of the Arc.
My favourite tourist spot in all of Paris: the Arc de Triomphe.
If you are ever in Paris, I really recommend going to see the Arc de Triomphe. You don’t even have to go up to the top to appreciate it (although it is very nice, more to come later). It’s so beautiful and detailed, it’s really my favourite tourist spot in Paris! Also, it has a connection with Napoléon so yeah. ^^
Detail shots.
We even asked someone to take a picture for us! We honestly don’t do that much, as it can be such a hassle. Even though there’s another man in our shot, I’m happy to have a picture together with my mom there! ♥
I really like this picture of us! If only that man wasn’t there… XD
After that, we strolled down the Champs-Elysees, looking at some shops and the many tourists surrounding us. Eventually, we decided to have a little luxurious moment for ourselves and went to have ice cream at the terrace of Laduree. Of course it’s quite expensive, but we wanted to treat ourselves. We had to wait for a bit until we were seated and looked at our options. At Laduree you can have some of their pastries in ice cream version in summer, which I can honestly recommend. Both my mom and I had an Ispahan, which contained raspberry sorbet, rose ice cream, raspberries, lychees, chantilly cream and meringue. It was, so good!
A Ladurée Ispahan in summer style!
Unfortunately, I had misunderstood the circumstances of the meet&greet with RinRin a little, so we hurried back to the store, where I was able to meet RinRin again, chat with her a little and have our picture taken. I am glad she liked my outfit, despite it being not Lolita. The picture was then pasted onto a cute Angelic Pretty Paris paper and RinRin wrote a little message on i tand signed it. It was an absolutely lovely encounter! ♥
After the meet&greet we all took a picture together in front of the shop and RinRin took some videos of people’s outfits, including Marina’s and even mine! I wonder if she still plans on making a full video about it someday.
Cute pictures from RinRin’s Instagram. Can you spot me and my friends?
Meanwhile, my patient mom had been sitting a bit further away from the store and just observed. She took a lovely picture of everyone taking a group picture as well, that really shows you the gorgeous location of at Angelic Pretty Paris store.
Taking pictures in front of Angelic Pretty Paris.
After saying goodbye, my mom and I then went on to station Opéra and to boulangerie Aki to meet my friend Emilie! She had just arrived in Paris and had asked if we wanted to have dinner together, which we did. We went on to Aki’s other restaurant a little further down the road, as I think the small one was closed? Something with a power failure? If I remember correctly…
Anyway, we picked some really nice food!
This food was so amazing! ;0;
We had a lovely time just eating and chatting with the three of us. I was so happy to see Emilie again! She had even brought me gifts! She’s too kind. ;___;
Taking selfies with my dear. ♥
After our dinner, we also got some bubble tea across the street. As Emilie is a bubble tea expert, she has to try many different ones anywhere she can to give her opinion. I believe the ones we had were acceptable. XD
Two pictures I really like. The one from behind is so precious!
Finally we said goodbye and my mom and I returned to our hotel. I would see Emilie again the next day, at the Angelic Pretty Tea Party! So it wasn’t goodbye for long.
I prepared my things for the next day and we had a chill evening until we went to bed.
