Update ~ Japan & Taiwan

There will be a brief break from my regular (attempted, anyways) schedule of posts, as I will be traveling to Japan and Taiwan over the next couple of weeks. Of course, that also means there will be things to report on and photos to show you all. So stick around, and hang out with me while I wander to the other side of the globe ^_^

Also, my friend will also be in Japan (actually is already there) and is live-tweeting her own semi-simultaneous-to-mine trip, so if you like that sort of thing, check her out: https://twitter.com/KirarinSnowpyon.

Paris: Tour Eiffel

Day 2 of my trip finished with a long walk from Montparnasse over to the Eiffel Tower...  Very long walk, but very nice.  We passed a couple of landmarks and otherwise interesting things on the way. First was le musée de l'Armée.

And then this store in particular was amusing ^o^

I do not think they had in mind the implications of the store name in English... ^o^

There wasn't anything really Sioux about the products I could see in their shop window...  It looked like a pretty average cute baby clothes store.

In any case, with such amusement, the Eiffel Tower was finally reached!  I stopped at the far end of le Champ de Mars to get a pretty picture.

And then continued on my way to go up the actual tower.  Needless to say, there were hordes of street vendors with little Eiffel Tower shaped trinkets hanging on giant keyring-like things, trying to sell them for super-cheap (compared to the souvenir stores with physical setups).  It was like an obstacle course, trying to circumvent them...

As it turns out, there's a choice to take the stairs, or take the elevator.  You can only go to the very top of the tower if you choose the elevator option, although that seemed iffy, because half the time while I was looking at the sign, it said the top was "full" and therefore closed off at the moment.  It also cost more than twice as much.  I felt like just the observation deck was sufficiently high to satisfy my Eiffel Tower experience.  Soooo many stairs... but I climbed a lot of stairs in Paris, for some reason (maybe because I stayed with someone who lived on the 3rd floor?).  In any case, it was actually quite a nice walk up the tower, and the view from the observation deck was already plenty amazing, I really didn't need to crowd with the tons of people going to the very top (I hate crowds...).  I managed to snag a photo from two sides of the tower (the two most interesting sides).

Le Champ de Mars:

Trocadero:

And this is what the tower looks like, looking up from the 2nd observation deck:

WHEE!!  It was pretty awesome ^_^

And then of course we had to climb the stairs down... XD

Paris: Catacombes + Cimetière du Montparnasse

Day 2 of my trip started with a quick stop at the neighborhood bakery, where I picked a delicious pain au chocolat.  Somehow it was just more delicious than any chocolate croissant I've ever had in the US... maybe simply because it was nice and fresh.  Who knows, but it was delightful!

And then, I went to the catacombs...  I waited in line, in the burning sun, for almost an hour before I finally got in.  The tour is entirely self-guided, and goes through both a quarry section and a catacomb section.  There were a lot of pretty things in the quarry section, which I didn't quite expect.  For example, this lovely model:

We also walked past several wells, of which this one was the best lit and the prettiest.  My camera was not so good at taking photos in dark places without flash, so things in lighted areas were pretty much the only things that came out.

As we went from the quarries to the catacombs, we were greeted by this lovely entrance message:

The catacombs... they're so cool!  So many bones and skulls all piled together, complete with random concret slabs with morbid inscriptions on them.  Also, just generally dark and wet (there was water dripping from the ceiling).

There were also several interesting crypts and other structures, including this Sepuchral Lamp.

And as if I hadn't gotten enough of death, I stopped by the Montparnasse Cemetery after a quick lunch break.  The cemetery was very pretty, but pretty unremarkable - I mean, it's just like many other cemeteries.  There were some pretty crypts, but I felt sort of weird walking around being too obvious about taking photos.  I stuck to photographing really old graves, or more "famous" graves.  Including that of Alexander Alekhine, world chess champion!!

Next stop: Eiffel Tower!!

Paris: Jardin du Luxembourg

Last stop for my first day (I'm surprised I wasn't collapsing from jet lag or anything... yay malleable sleep schedule?): Jardin du Luxembourg!

I think I always had a very... childishly ideal image of this garden consisting of small children running around the fountain with their little sailboats.  Interestingly, it wasn't far off - there were in fact children playing with sailboats (complete with the poles you use to steer/poke at the boats)!  If only I was a small child and could engage in such play... T_T

The greenery was absolutely amazing (as was the case for every other garden I visited in Paris).  It's just too bad it was so hot and the sun was so bright - I probably would've enjoyed it more had the weather been a little bit cooler... alas, what can you do?

Here's the palace and the fountain all in one shot:

And the lovely lawn where we relaxed in the shade for awhile (did a crossword puzzle):

There were so many people there just hanging out (particularly in the nice shaded areas).  It was pretty interesting just people-watching and trying to eavesdrop on conversations.

We also saw the Medici Fountain, which was in a lovely tree area, except that ducks in the trees kept either dripping (from the fountain) on us or peeing on us (we couldn't tell).  We didn't hang out there long...

Paris: Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

The second landmark was the Notre Dame Cathedral!  I didn't end up actually going inside...  There was a huge line, and I didn't realize that was for going to the top of the bell tower, not just walking inside the cathedral.  Oh well, now I know?  I would've liked to see it from the inside, but it was nice from the outside too!

Here's me with the cathedral:

I also walked around to the back of the cathedral (there's quite a nice little riverside park around the cathedral).

So there you go! That's Notre Dame ^_^

Paris: Pont Neuf

The first landmark stop of my trip was the Pont Neuf!!  Ironically, since I was *on* the bridge, I didn't actually get any landscape shots of the bridge itself... oh well XD

Here's the commemoration plaque:

I did remember to take a couple shots of the river from the bridge though!  Here's the nicest one, of a neighboring bridge ^o^

And here's me with the bridge, sort of!

This was coincidentally the day of the gay pride parade in Paris, and while we were wandering across the bridge, this awesome person offered to take a picture with me:

So there ya go! That was our adventure on the Pont Neuf! ^_^

[Outfit Post] Paris + London

Long hiatus was long... I didn't mean for it to be, but I've been lazy about posting T_T  End of quarter + Europe trip franticness = frazzled Kyttyee.

In any case, I recently got back from a trip to Paris and London.  And it was such a lovely trip, I kind of want to still be in Paris.  In any case, I discovered that my French abilities are still vaguely functional, and probably better than I think they are (yay lack of confidence).  In any case, I had a lot of fun over the Atlantic and met some great new people (and old acquaintances). ^_^  If only I'd thought ahead to meetup with my Sekai no Melody girls, but oh well >_<

My goal was to pack light, and I apparently managed to do 9 days worth of outfits all in my little carry-on-sized rollaway.  Which incidentally is now broken, and I had to get a new one just a few days ago T_T  But yes, all in one small suitcase, with room to spare (good thing too, since I ended up doing a bit of shopping).  My strategy was to pack 3 JSK/SK and then a bunch of shirts, tights/socks, and accessories to mix and match.  Plus one cardigan and one light jacket.  And one (yes, only one) pair of shoes that were comfortable for walking, but also dressy enough in case I went to a fancier venue.  I ended up bringing my ETC Victoria Print JSK, Metamorphose Music Notes JSK, and my new BTSSB Fairy Night skirt.  And then some shirts and my random pink shift for my traveling/rough-and-tumble clothes ^o^

Here's an outfit dump, sort of.  I didn't bother taking real outfit shots, nor do I have one from every day, but you can sort of get the idea.

These were my airplane clothes...

Catacombs day.  Didn't want to risk messing up nice clothes.

JSK: Metamorphose

Hairbow: made by Oli, my Lolita mentor

SK: Baby

Halter: AP

JSK: ETC

JSK: ETC

It was soooo hot in Paris for the first four or so days, so I basically stuck to wearing ankle socks rather than tights.  The last day, when we went to Versailles, was the only really nice day (in my opinion).  I apparently have a different definition of "nice" than most Parisians? Or at least than our host?  The only day I actually wore a petti was when I wore the BTSSB skirt, because it kind of needs it to not look weird XD

I didn't actually do that much shopping in Paris, and even in London most of the things I bought were little  souvenir gifts for other people, or stuffed animals.  Haha yes... stuffed animals >_>;;  I did buy an amazingly cute pair of shoes from the Galleries Lafayette though!  They're made by Geox, and they're just so dainty.  I think I'm sold on European shoes, all the ones in the shoe department were just so dainty and nice, almost like wearing dance slippers or something.  And they're not at all flimsy, they're perfectly sturdy and even have sufficient padding/support on the insides. They're just not clunky!  I love my Stride Rite shoes, and they're cute in their own right, but really, the new Geox shoes just totally crush them in daintiness XD  I need more European shoes!!  Also, they're pink and have flowers on them :-D

Anyways, that's the fashion-related portion of my trip!  The next posts will focus more on the actual places I went and saw, and of course there will be pictures ^o^

[Outfit Post] Spring Break

As previously mentioned (I think), I went to Boston for 4 days over spring break =3  And of course, I brought my little Lolita heart with me, but also didn't want to get too fussy or complicated in my packing, so I ended up wearing some casual Lolita-inspired outfits during the trip.

Firstly, for the airplane ride (both there and back), I stuck to a t-shirt under a JSK with a bolero, since this layering system made it easier for me to stay the right temperature between outdoors, airport, and airplane.

JSK: Bodyline

Beret: Handmade (by me!) with Metamorphose bow

Else: Offbrand

I brought only two skirts and two sweatshirt/cardigans, with different shirts to mix and match with them for the four days I was actually in Boston.

Skirt: Metamorphose

Else: Offbrand

Skirt: Rose Melody

Else: Offbrand

Skirt: Metamorphose

Else: Offbrand

Skirt: Rose Melody

Else: Offbrand

And of course, the only place where there was a tall enough mirror happened to be elevated such that I had to stand on the bed to even see myself fully in the mirror T_T Oh well, so it goes :-P  Also, on the way there, the stewardess told me that I looked "like a little doll."  ^o^

Visiting the Gibson House Museum

I was in Boston for the past week, and on Friday I went to the Gibson House Museum.  It's a historical house from the Victorian period that was preserved by its owners as a museum piece.  It's located right in the heart of Boston, and sadly is the only one that is left preserved, as its neighbors have been renovated into apartments or college dorms.

Here it is!

Image from: http://www.thegibsonhouse.org/index.asp

We got a one-hour tour of the house, which consisted of the basement, ground, 2nd, and 3rd floors.  I took a couple of photos of things I found particularly interesting to me, but feel free to visit their website to find out more if you're curious!

We saw the dining room first:

 The tableware was very pretty, and there were several more sets stored in cabinets around the room!

The next picture I have is from the music room.  The piano is a Mason-Hamlin, and it has a butterfly hinge design, meaning that it's symmetrical, and the lid can be opened to either direction.  That's pretty cool!!  If only I could have played it XD

Next, we went up the back staircase to get to the 3rd floor.  There was a really cool-looking telephone on the wall:

And the third floor had... a study room, which I didn't take any pictures in... and a bathroom!  Which incidentally didn't look all that different from bathrooms nowadays.  The toilet is prettier?

And next to that was the bedroom, with beautiful furniture.  I only took a picture of the writing desk, because that was my favorite:

Oh, apparently the Gibson House was particularly awesome for a Victorian house, because it actually had sort of a central heating system.  There was a big circular channel going up through the middle of the house from the 2nd floor up, which apparently would help all the hot air circulate up the middle of the house and into the living areas, and allow the cold air to go down the back/side staircases, creating a nice airflow and distribution of heat.  I tried to take a picture, but the sun made it kind of hard:

Last but not least, we went into the basement to see the laundry room and the kitchen.  There was an awesome call-bell system that was still in place:

Also, I thought the rice jar and its matching littler cousin was pretty:

So there you go!  A brief whirlwind through the Gibson House.  There were lots more things in there that I didn't take pictures of, partly because my camera was giving me the low-battery warning T_T.  For example, there was a cabinet Victrola in the music room that was really cool, and there were sooooo many books all over the house!!  Also, the butler's pantry had awesome teacup sets - including a pastel-colored set, where all the cups were a different pastel color <3<3<3  Such an awesome idea... I totally need one!!

Anyways, a more fashion/outfit-related post pertaining to my trip will be coming soon, but I thought the Gibson House was too awesome to not share (^o^)/

Little linguist in Pittsburgh-land

I've been busy busy busy lately, going essentially straight from my winter break travels straight into the long drive to Pittsburgh for the annual Linguistics Society of America meeting.  It was my first LSA, and boy was it exhilarating (and exhausting)!  It was like a gigantic buffet for my brain, and I'm pretty sure it over-ate :-P

In any case, it was tons of fun, I learned about lots of new research, and I got to meet a lot of fellow linguists!!

I'm planning/writing a more fashion-related post that is relevant to the LSA and my academic life in general, but for now, here's a couple of snaps of Pittsburgh scenery that I took from our hotel room window.

The river:

Heinz Stadium:

"The Point":

The outline of Fort Pitt:

The bridge: