Day3: Sunday the 3rd of July
We slept a ton... we slept all through the night and morning and woke up a bit late. We didn't have a deadline this time so I guess we just took advantage of that freedom.
We had decided to go to the
Lolita Convention by foot because according to google maps it was "only" 22minutes from the hotel to the location.
So we got dressed up really fast and left. We hadn't had the chance to walk around our area a lot before that so we had to rely on the map.
We decided to go through this huge avenue and after walking a while we realised we were on the opposite side of where we wanted to go! Also we were staying next to the famous Paris
Père Lachaise cemetery which is the resting place for also a big number of celebrities. Apparently as we discovered the one that gets more visits is
mr. James Douglas Morrison (Jim Morrison) and so we saw a lot of people dressed in black (not sure why) and some people wearing Doors tshirts etc. People saw us and because I was wearing gothic lolita people pretty much assumed that I had gone to visit his grave as well. One of the oddest people I talked too during this strange event was actually Portuguese! He heard us talking and was surprised that we were Portuguese so he engaged in a tiny conversation with us during which he said "Be careful while visiting. I came here a long time ago just to visit and it meant so much that I never left. I still come ere from time to time." Crazy huh?
So we went back to where we had come from and finally started heading over to the convention site. We came to the conclusion that walking that much in heels (regardless of how small they were) was more complicated than we thought. haha
We finally found the spot and it was a very normal and not very appealing street. It was also pretty much deserted and we were starting to wonder if we had gotten the place right...when we finally saw a parasol from afar which was enough to dissipate our doubts.
The ticket "booth" was a small table in the doorway but the people who were there were very nice to us. The ticket price was also very reasonable. It was of around 10 euros for the two days if i remember correctly.
We went in and the first room we saw was pretty goodlooking and confortable looking. There were tables in one side of the room and photography and artwork in the opposite wall.
There were stalls for the organization that put up the convention, for local artist/writer
François Amoretti and the japanese store
Chantilly.
There was also a small coffee stall with cake, snacks, coffee and drinks.
The one thing i noticed was that it was rather empty at this stage. At least I was hoping for more movement. But then it kinda hit me... the Angelic Pretty tea party was taking place at that time somewhere else so it was natural.
There was a small tunel connecting that room to the next. This room was very bright as the ceiling was made of glass in a section which made it also incredibly hot.
This room had a small section with tables and chairs that the visitors could use and the rest were all stalls with several western indies shops/creators as well as private stalls for other items. The ones I liked the best were
Lusty’n Wonderland(French), and especially
Clara Maeda(Spanish) and
Fidel David(Spanish). I drooled over their designs so much! They are incredibly talented and have great taste. I'm really sad you can't see that from this photo. Do check out their work if you have some free time.
Finally you had the bottom floor. On that floor there was a small space with some other sellers with pretty handmade necklaces and brooches as well as fabric samples, a tiny room for second hand sales and the concert hall which has the merch for the bands and two other stores. One of them was making market studies for how well a store in france for mainly Putumayo and BPN would do. Gosh French lolitas have access to so much, it's really positive that lolita is spreading there. I often feel as if its not happening because I'm stuck in a place where it doesn't.
I met other people i never met in real life there too even though it wasn't very full on sunday. Especially Sarah and Nella.
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| With the lovely Nella, part of the organization for this event and representing Chantilly. |
I had lunch with our new spanish friends and also left with Cris to go meet them (they wanted to visit a place before it was closing time).
I have to tell you something, the plate dosages in Paris are HUGE! I can't believe those salads. They really struggled to eat more than half of those haha.
A positive aspect is that when you ask for water they just bring you a whole bottle of tap water without complaining even. I think that's very considerate.
I had a good time.
After lunch we went back and after a little while we started so see the place get more visitors. We knew that there would be a
Lolita Komplex soon so we waited for that.
I have to say that they all seemed really nice. I admit I only chatted with the vocalist and she was really charming and nice. I was happy to see that she wasn't one of those people who's talent raises up to her head (not sure you get what I mean) and that she was really focused as well. I wished them the best and told her I admire her for fighting for her dreams, which is true. We all know I know how much that can bite you in the ass for several reasons so I am really glad others still have the will to fight agains all that. Again, if you have some time, check out their myspace and work.
Finally the girls that were at the Angelic Pretty started to arrive and it was really fun because they are really lively and fun to be around with.
The girl from the new store project joined us and even gave us candy. She was adorable too. I swear I'm not sugar-coating anything, everyone was just really nice. XD
This photo was taken after the gig finished. You can see Sarah in the corner there, she was also super nice and it was awesome to meet her after all these years.
After this we got together with our spanish friends (yeah we did a lot of stuff together XD) because Cris hadn't seen a lot of Paris and the rest of us all had been there before. We decided to head over to
Notre Dame. We got a bit lost and ended up at the Bastille instead and now me and Vania have a sentence for when we get lost that's related to it haha. But we eventually got there. Cris was delighted and it was really cool to be there again. We didn't go in, we just took some pictures, sat and chatted a bit. It was great.
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| Beautiful Notre Dame cathedral. I actually like it better from the back but everything is incredible. |
After this I tried convincing the whole group to go party but two of the girls were beat and we split. We got in the metro and headed over to an area that has a lot of bars and night activity. I didn't know where the place was exactly so we got a super tasty kebab and I asked the clerk where it was. Turned out it was just two streets from there so it was super close. Where was I taking them? To dance to
dj Sisen. When I heard he was in town i couldn't miss it! I always really liked his style for some reason and i love dancing (a-ha! bet that was news for you!) and plus I thought we needed to go out at least one night. We got to the place and were looking for the poster to make sure it was the right place and the bouncer looked at us, smiled and just said "yes, you're in the right place" haha.
We went in and Vânia and Cris were like... "wth? This guy is... weird" which was hilarious.
We danced, drank 4 euro!!! beers and had fun. When the set finished he finally came out after a "while" we finally got the chance to switch some words and take a picture with him.
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| Me & Sisen. Tired but super happy. It's not every day you get to dance to him dj-ing. haha |
We then got in a Taxi and took Cris home and then returned to the Hotel. Another super busy and super tiring day. I can't believe I walked in those boots the entire time.
Hope you liked reading. I'm a bit lazy but hopefully I'll find a way to post the remaining 3 days soon. Every day longer I take means information that I leave out because I am very forgetful.
<3
