Paris 2016 - Day 1 - Shopping

The last two days I travelled to Paris again for the annual Lolita events and shopping! This year I had to travel alone because none of my friends wanted to go or they had different plans than me. And because the AP Tea Party was announced so late (just 1 month before), the hotel rooms were so expensive that I only stayed for 1 night. Usually I stay longer, and I thought really hard about it if I only want to go for one night, but in the end I'm happy with my decision because I was so done with Paris yesterday evening xD

I arrived around 10am with the Thalys train and quickly went to the hotel to drop my luggage. I chose the Maison du Pré hotel and the man at the front desk was so nice and really loved my outfit (I was already fully dressed in Lolita). Luckily I could already enter my room, even if it wasn't check-in time yet.

Then I headed quicky to the Metro and unfortunately I got scammed by one of those gypsies when I wanted to buy a Metro ticket, she used a trick so I could only found out about it later, but when I realized it, I was so angry and sad. For 2 hours I was mad like hell, but at some point I overcame it and could enjoy Paris again.

Some part of my outfit :)

My first stop was Angelic Pretty of course. I arrived a little before the opening time and started to talk with a girl who also could speak german, because she is a teacher for this language. The time flew by and we could finally enter the store. Of course all the amazing Lucky Packs were completely sold-out, but I found the beautiful Shadow Dream Carnival special set for 180€.

It was the only item which had an appropiate exchange rate price (23000 Yen = 180€), everything else was marked up (Strawberry Whip OP for 27000 Yen = 300€, however I bought this exact dress with a shopping service just 2 weeks ago, and because the exchange rate dropped so crazy, I actually paid 315€ for it because of shopping service fee + Paypal fee + shipping, so considering the bad exchange rate, it is currently cheaper to buy the dresses in Paris xD). I also bought the matching socks for my Strawberry Whip dress. Because I spend a certain amount of money, I also got a Baked Sweets Parade totebag as a gift.

I actually planned to visit the Japan Expo after shopping at AP, but I hadn't eaten anything yet and considering the hot weather, I really shouldn't visit the convention with an empty stomach. However the only thing I had appetite for was a crêpe from Princess Crêpe, so I decided to go there. When I arrived, I remembered that Princess Crêpe doesn't open before 1pm, so I went to the Axes Femme store. I asked them if they have any shoes in size 40, and they actually had one pair of shoes in special size 40/41. When I saw them I was really happy because they were really pretty, however when I tried them on, they were to small! They were size 39 at best...

Since I still needed to kill time, I went to the Btssb store. I always thought that the store is overpriced, but now that I was in Japan and could visit the Btssb stores there, I feel even more bad for the Paris store, because it is quite empty and doesn't really get all the nice stock like the ones in Japan :/

Then I finally could go to Princess Crêpe and ate a delicious strawberry whipped cream crêpe. Btw they changed their Btssb decoration into more Manga related decoration, they even draw new pictures on the walls and filled everything with Manga figures...

Afterwards I was just so tiered and exhausted by the heat, that I decided against visiting the Japan Expo, because it is always extremely hot there, and I wasn't eager for the packed trains and long queues either. Instead I went to the hotel to refresh myself and get rid of most my Lolita outfit, I just kept on the dress and shoes. Paris is hell for wearing Lolita, you get comments every few minutes, and if you make the mistake and come too close to a tourist attraction, all those gypsies come to you and make stupid comments, and one of those souvenir sellers even screamed after me really loud because I didn't answered her dumb comment.

After getting refreshed, I wanted visit the Angelic Pretty store again, because I was thinking about buying some wrist cuffs and I also felt that I didn't checked everything out enough when visiting the shop in the morning. So I went back there and took more time to check everything out. Funnily when I arrived, Maki, Asuka, Honda-san and the shop manager were also there, but they looked so tiered that I didn't asked them for any pictures. They were just hanging up the Antoinette Decoration special set there and I was the first costumer to see it hehe. I decided against the wrist cuffs, but instead bought the beautiful Holy Sheep necklace. It would perfectly match my new outfit and I acutally already thought about buying it when I was in Japan. I wished I bought it there because in Paris it was much more expensive, but whatever the necklace is still very beautiful and I will wear it very often, so it will be worth for me! I also got a postcard + pin set as a present, the last one!

Then I decided to visit the Ladurée café, I always wanted to go there but never came around. I chose a rose petal cake and a hot chocolate. The cake was very delicous, but the hot chocolate tasted aweful for me ^^''' Many people love the hot chocolate because it is very thick and rich, but I didn't knew it was made from bitter chocolate, and I really dislike bitter chocolate ^^'''

Afterwards I wanted to go shopping for make-up and my first stop was the Lafayette. However the selection was very small there, so I continued my way to the Sephora at the Champs-Élysées, because I read that it is the biggest one in Paris. It indeed was very big, but the brand selection was nothing compared to London or Japan. I especially looked forward to buy more Ladurée make-up because I loved it in Japan, but the selection there was VERY underwhelming >_<. Luckily I discovered Sleek, which is a quite cheap brand, and could satisfy my make-up needs (I desperately wanted to buy something xD).

I wanted to visit more shops, but someone left a bag at a tree, so the police blocked some part of the pedestrians walk and I thought it was a better idea to go into another direction (btw at all shops you have tons of securities and often you get your bags controlled at the entrace with a metal detector). So instead I just walked down the part of the Champs-Élysées without the shops to have a beautiful view over Paris. I really love the long streets and huge places in Paris where you can look to the horizont. I spend quite some time there just strolling around, but then I got hungry and decided to visit the Kawaii Café for dinner.

I wanted to go to the Kawaii Café because I hoped that I don't get weird looks and can eat in peace, because the café is made by and for Japan-fans, and indeed the staff was very lovely there and I felt very welcomed! I think there was not a single guest which was not a Japan-fan and most seemed to have visited the Japan Expo. I ordered a Burger and a Sake peach cocktail and both were very delicious! I didn't expected it to be that good, but I definitely want to visit it again the next time I'm in Paris.

The Wii case is actually their menu

My trip to Japan - purchases

Like everyone I also have to share all the stuff I bought! It doesn't look like a lot for the amount of money I spend haha D-: I didn't took a picture of my Prisila wigs and 15 magazines and tons of pencils xD

My trip to Japan - Osaka (Day 12-15)

1st day Osaka:
We arrived quite early in Osaka. Since our luggages were at Shin-Osaka station, we drove back there, just to decide that it wouldn't make sense to take our luggage, go to the hotel, and then go back again, so we tried to go outside to find some shopping mall. However there is nothing around Shin-Osaka, so we decided to go to Osaka station and visit two shops I wanted to see. I didn't print out a detailed map of Osaka like I did for the other cities, so it was a little struggle to find everything. Luckily there are small maps everywhere, even in english, but you still need some time to find the right direction.

First we went to the Jesus Diamante store, however we arrived so early that it was still closed. But you could see nearly everything through the windows, and I could never afford something from there anyway. I found it interesting that the store also sold other luxury brands, I guess otherwise they couldn't finance themselves?

Then we went to the HEP 5 mall, where you can find Axes Femme and many other shops. The mall also has a ferris wheel. We got hungry, so we visited the restaurants of the mall to eat some typical japanese food we hadn't tried before, and what is more typical than Omurice :D. There was a shop which had tons of different variations of this dish, and I took the traditional ketchup rice filling with an untraditional burger bun on top xD.

After this it was already time for the hotel check-in, so we picked up our luggage and went to the hotel. Unfortunately all the good hotels were fully booked, so I had to take an okay one, and it was indeed just okay. The important stuff like bed and toilet were clean but I wouldn't spend there any extra minute xD. In the afternoon we went to the big Abeno mall in Tennoji, since our hotel was close to it. This mall is huge and has for example a second Shibuya 109 and a big supermarket. The supermarket had a huge selection of bentos, I swear around 100 different versions, however we bought something for dinner there (acutally the first time I bought sushi in Japan xD) and it really didn't tasted good.

We also ate a Crêpe at the Abeno mall

2nd day Osaka:
Today we visited Osaka castle. The sun was burning really intense and I regretted to not take my umbrella with me. Osaka castle is nice but also quite small. The inside is quite boring because there is just a museum inside, no traditional rooms. But you get a nice view over Osaka from the top, so I still recommend it.

After this, we visited the famous Dotonbori shopping street. I read in another blog that the @Cosme shop whould be better than the ones in Tokyo, and indeed I felt like it had a better selection, I bought several items there which didn't came to my attention in Tokyo.

After this I was a little hungry, but I wanted to eat some dessert. So we went through the long Dotonbori and Shinsaibashidori but only found normal restaurants, and when we were almost giving up, we found the cheese cake café "Pablo" which also seemed to be very popular! (Later we found out, we just should have walked into the other direction of the streets xD). I choose a Mango cake and my mother some Takoyaki-inspired cake, turned out it had real cheese in it! But the mix of the sweet cake with the salty cheese was actually really delicious.

After this I tried to find the Prisila store and we searched for it at least half an hour, only to realize it was closed down for good(?), since the building where it should be wasn't accessible.

Then we tried to find Angelic Pretty, Closet Child and Maiden Clothing, and again since my Osaka maps were super undetailed, we needed a lot of time to find them and found them more by accident xD. I have to say the Closet Child and Maiden Clothing had a better selection than the ones in Tokyo, because all the popular items don't get sold-out so quickly. I didn't wanted to buy something big, but I found the Metamorphose Bubble Bath skirt I always wanted for sooo cheap! There was also an AP dress I liked, but I didn't wanted to spend so much money anymore, so I didn't bought it (but now I regret it a little because the AP Tea Party in Paris got announced and I could have worn it there xD).

In the evening, we wanted to try the Alucard Vampire restaurant, because we heard that the food is delicious there. However the restaurant was a complete FAIL for us! The waiter only could speak japanese, and the menu was also only in japanese with no pictures. Only the categories like "noodles" and "meat" were in english. With my basic Katakana skills we managed to order a spaghetti dish and something with meat, which turned out to be just a small piece of meat with sauce, which was super expensive. And did I mention it wasn't decorated at all??? Well I guess if you would take the several-course dinner for 3000-5000 yen you would get something, otherwise don't go there if you don't speak japanese xD.


3rd day Osaka:
Since we didn't knew what to do, I decided to visit the Tennoji temple, just because it was close to our hotel. The temple is not really impressive but well it was something xD. After this we went to the Keitakuen Garden which turned out to be really beautiful! However suddenly we got attacked by mosquitos and my mom got more than 30 mosquito bites, while I got like 1? xD But there was a small wood building which seemed to be mosquito-free, so we went inside and it was really great because it was directly build at the small lake, and all the turtles and fishes were swimming under the window in hope to get some food. The turtles were really staring at us!

The hungry turtoises D:

 After the garden we were in need for some refreshment and went back to the Tennoji station, were we found a delicous looking shaved ice with real strawberry topping.

Then we saw an advertisement for the "Museum of Housing and Living" and decided to go there. I couldn't really believe that it was on the 8th floor since I saw pictures of actual houses on the flyer, but it was indeed inside a building! You could also try on a Kimono for only 300 Yen, and take as many pictures as you want inside the museum, but the next available time slot was in 2 hours, and the museum was really not big enough to wait so long, so we didn't do it (but if I would ever go there again, I would definitely try it, you just have to make your own hair and make-up, but you can take pictures in the traditional buildings!).

We got hungry and decided to return to Dotonbori to eat some Okonomiyaki. We just took the first restaurant we found and it was a good decision, because when the Okonomiyaki got served, the waiter drawed cute pictures on it with the sauce! The restaurant really didn't looked like this at all xD.

4th day Osaka
This was our last day in Japan, and we had to leave very early because the flight was early in the morning. Our Japan Rail Pass wasn't valid anymore, so we had to buy extra tickets for the train. However I didn't knew that you have to pay an extra fee if you take the express train, so when the conductor came, we were missing 200 Yen to buy the extra fee, because we spend all our last Yens in Osaka. But a very nice japanese man saw our situation and gave us the money so we wouldn't be in trouble. I was so grateful ;_;

My trip to Japan - Oji-Nara (Day 11-12)

For today we planned an overnight stay at Gyokuzoin, a temple ryokan (a ryokan is a traditional japanese hotel where you sleep on tatami mats etc.). It was such an amazing experience and I recommend it to everyone!

In the morning we took a Shinkansen back to Osaka and left our luggage in a coin locker. Then we drove to Oji-Nara and took a local bus to the temple. The bus drove up a steep hill on narrow streets, and it drove so slow I had fear it would just roll backwards. Since there wasn't any description on how to get there by bus, I had to find it out through Google Maps and japanese websites, so we ended up at the wrong bus station. Well it wasn't completely wrong, it was even closer than the right bus station, however the street was VERY steep. I still can't understand how a car could go up this street but there were 2 cars at the top of the hill!

When we arrived at the temple, I wasn't 100% sure if it was the right one, however we were directly greeted by a monk and he told us to take a seat and then brought us Matcha tea, a mochi biscuit and a cold tea. I didn't even had time to ask xD. Two monks tried to explain everything to us, they barely spoke english but they were laughing all the time because they didn't found the correct words etc. xD. They were very relaxed and funny. Then they showed us the facilities and eventually left us alone.

We decided to explore the temple area. It was at the top of a hill and completely covered in small shrines, gates, statues etc. every few cm! It looked just stunning. You can also visit it without staying at the temple, I can really recommend it if you are in Nara and have time left, it doesn't cost any entry fee, only the bus ticket. There were almost no other visitors, only people for praying.

There were also turtles and even frogs in the little lake!

Then it was dinner time, we choosed the vegetarian dinner course and I was impressed how many different things you can make with tofu. I also ate some vegetables I have never eaten before. We had to sit on tatami mats, it was a little uncomfortable ^^' Next to us was the only other guest sitting, a japense women, she started to talk to us and it turned out she now lives in Amsterdam. She explained the food to us and asked us when we want to go to the Onsen, as she thought we might be uncomfortable being naked there. It was really nice of her and I was happy she asked, because it would be the first time ever for me in an Onsen.

So after dinner we went there (because it was also the only place to take a shower) and I have to say it is really relaxing. Our 2 hotels before had Onsen too but I was too shy to use them, but if I will ever have the chance to visit an Onsen, I will surely do it. However I couldn't stay long in there, barely 10 minutes, because it was just too hot for my Onsen-untrained body. After this we walked through the temple area again to view it by night. All paths were covered by stone laterns and we had such a scenic view. We also had the best view over Nara by night.

We also had green tea and cookies at our room, which we ate during the evening. The tiger is the symbol of this temple, so you can find it everywhere.

We went to bed and woke up very early to attend a fire ceremony at 5am. We thought all the monks would be there too but we were the only people besides the "priest". They have so many shrines there I guess every monk prays somewhere else. The ceremony was great and worth attending. I was amazed by all the movements the monk did. I think there was a very specific way how to lay everything, how to put on the fire, when to wait and do prayers etc. Everything looked like a piece of art. The ceremony took 45mins but the time flew by because it was so interesting. After the ceremony, the monk asked us where we're from, and it turned out he could speak german a little and even was in my hometown to learn the language.

Then we went back to bed for around 2 hours to wait until breakfast. The breakfast was delicious too. Afterwards we left quickly because the bus was coming soon and only drove once per hour.

My trip to Japan - Tokyo (Day 9-10)

5th day Tokyo:
Today we first went to the Imperial Palace and wanted to visit the East Garden. However it is closed on mondays so we couldn't enter it. So we strolled alongside the outer walls to see the huge space infront of the palace area and watched the turtles, kois and swans in the water. I found the contrast between the traditional palace and the modern business district directly next to it very interesting.

Then we decided to go to Asakusa and visit the temple there. I didn't wanted to go there because I heard there were many tourist scammers, but we didn't saw any of them. We went through the long souvenir shop street and bought a black sesame icecream, very delicious! Btw I think this is the nearly the only place where you can buy souvenirs in Tokyo (in Kyoto you find such shops at every street corner). Then we continued our way to the temple. It is nice to watch but smaller than I expected.

Afterwards we went to Yurakucho, which is famous for the many tiny restaurants build under the bridge. However we might have gone in the wrong direction, because the part we found wasn't really impressing. Then we didn't had much to do anymore, Tokyo really doesn't have that many sightseeing objects, so we were just strolling around a mall in Ginza with a huge Sanrio store, of course including some expensive Hello Kitty stuff (Ginza is famous for its luxury shops).

Then we went to Shinjuku again because we were searching a restaurant and I could remember that at Lumine Est they have many nice ones. We wanted to eat something typical japanese and ended up in a Hawaii restaurant eating a taco dish xD. But it was really delicious!

Then we went back to the Clothed Child in Shinjuku because I saw a beautiful AP dress I wanted to try on. It was still there but sadly didn't fit by a few cm. We also went inside a Pachinko hall because I wanted to show my mother that famous game (of course we didn't played, just watched). The halls are always so loud, you can't hear your own voice D: On our way back to the Shinjuku station we saw a street which looked exactly like Yurakucho was supposed to look. We decided to come back here the next day for lunch. Then we went back to Harajuku because we wanted to go to Daiso again and I also stopped at Laforet to visit the Angelic Pretty store because I wanted to admire their newest release (Antonette Decoration - sooo beautiful!). We also visited the cat-themed store again where I already bought a shoulder bag. My mom and I fell in love with the cutest coin purse ever and bought the last 2 ones available!


6th day Tokyo:
Today we went back to the Imperial Palace East Garden as it was open today. The garden is HUGE and you can easily spend 1+ hour there. The entry is free and it is sooo beautiful, even better than the garden in Yoyogi park which I also already loved.

Then we drove to Shinjuku for the Omoide Yokocho street we saw yesterday, which is full of tiny Yakitori restaurants. In the restaurant we entered there were three old man sitting and they waved at us and wanted to talk to us. But they only could talk japanese and the waitress told them something like that we only speak english and don't want to be disturbed xD. The food was delicious thought quite expensive for the amount of meat you get (and you have to pay a table fee where you have to buy a plate of soy beans). But if I would speak japanese I would go back there just to talk to the people, I think it's normal there xD.

Then we went to Tokyu Hands to buy another travel bag, since we only brought 1 extra bag for shopping stuff, but it seemed it was too small and I didn't wanted to squeeze my stuff. Usually luggages are very expensive in Japan, but I found one for 20€. Since we still didn't had any plans, we went back to Harajuku again because my mom wanted to buy a purse from that cute cat-themed shop for my sister too, and when I was thinking about buying the matching make-up bag, she gave it to mee as a present too *_*. Then I wanted to visit Kiddyland, which has merchandise of EVERYTHING, but I didn't found anything interesting. We also ate another delicious crêpe!

My trip to Japan - Tokyo (Day 7-8)

3rd day Tokyo:
Today our first stop was Shibuya. I wanted to visit Ruby Rose at 109, but it closed not long ago ;_; And I wanted to visit Punyus, the plus-size store, but the clothes looked so boring that I didn't even entered it xD. However I bought several items from the My Melody shop. Then we went eating at Sweets Paradise. It is a cake all-you-can-eat, the food tasted good but wasn't overwhelming. But I loved the curry xD.

Then we went to Maxicimam, and it was like PARADISE for me. I'm chubby so I can't find many Lolita clothes that fit me, but some of their items even were too big for me. So if you have size-problems, check this store out, I think they even have more items stocked in plus-size than in regular size (they also have a description on their door, that their "lovely size" is for americans and europeans xD).


4th day Tokyo:
Our first stops were the Meji shrine and Yoyogi Park. There we visited a beautiful scenic garden with turtles and Kois in the lake, lillies (this was the main attraction of the garden), and a real water spring. I loved the calm atmosphere there. The shrine itself is not that interesting (compared to the ones in Kyoto).

Later we went back to Closet Child because it was Saturday and I wanted to check out if they have any new items in their store, and if they have a matching skirt for my new Maxicimam sailor hoodie. They didn't had many new things, but this time I took more time to check everything out and I ended up with 2 dresses, 2 skirts and 1 cardigan. All brand for cheap :D. We also went back to Prisila to buy 2 more hair pieces. The rest of the day we spend strolling through Harajuku again.