Düsseldorf, a place to call home

It all started with a trip to Düsseldorf after I was finished with my school on friday the 29nd of may.  The sun was shining and I was wearing my dreamdress to class since we would be going to Düsseldorf for the whole weekend. It was going to be a lolita extravaganza for me with shopping, delicious food and even a lolita meet with the German girls. So exciting!

This wasn't the first time that I was going to Düsseldorf or Japantag but every time I visit Düsseldorf it feels like my home. I don't know how it comes, it just feels like the right place for me to be. We arrived in the afternoon at our little apartment, brought all the suitcases upstairs and went out for the first evening. I was really surprised that I tried to talk in German to our host from the apartment but quickly I switched back to English. Not that I don't understand them when they speak German though. When I found my tourist guides we headed out for some shopping since we forgot to bring some essentials like a hairbrush.

So Primark it was! There I also bought the cutest drinking bottle that was my best friend during the whole weekend, a super cute Unicorn tote bag and a pyjama cause I love cute printed pj's. Ofcourse I needed to get myself a starbucks coffee, maybe that's why I love Düsseldorf? It's just that you can't go wrong if I can get a Soy Latte and extra special bonus points if they have a caramel sirup! We had quit some time to spend in the afternoon so I decided to go to the Galeria Kaufhof where I found the most cutest plush ever! I was so in love with it, I was really torn up when I decided not to buy the cute plush. It was to expensive for something that would end up on the guest bed in our house. But ooh boy what was he cute, he even had the teary eyes when I placed him back on the shelf and said goodbye to him. It was such a sad moment, I didn't knew you could get so attached to a plush in the first place.

Just like every time when I walk alone with my husband down the streets whether it be here in Belgium or in an other country. People just stare at me, talk behind my back and just giggle as they see me. Most of the time I don't see it since I'm pretty blind when I walk down the street, I'm lost in my surroundings I think. But it was really nice to walk around and make some outfit pictures in the middle of the streets. First I thought it was weird to make pictures like this but when I look into the Kera magazines I always love the vibe of street photography and I wanted to try it out with my first coord of the weekend.

Dress: Milky Planet - Angelic Pretty
Wig: Lockshop
Rest: offbrand

In the evening we went to Okinii, a sushi restaurant that has a special place in my heart as well. At our second trip to Düsseldorf for the Japantag we went there for the first time. It was the first time that we went to a sushi restaurant and it was magical! So I couldn't go home without a visit to my favorite restaurant in town. But this time I did my research on what I was able to eat, going to a sushi restaurant when you are a vegan can be a bit strange don't you think? I was really happy to see that they had plenty of options for vegan people as well, how awesome is that. I've made the reservation about a week upfront so that we had a table on the evening before Japantag. Since it was going to be way to busy on the day after. That evening was one to be remembered, that's for sure! 

I was feeling face that day so I order us a bottle of wine to go along with the sushi, but after about an hour the owner came to our table and telling us that they had a happy hour coming up with their cocktails. My husband and I warn't paying that much of an attention to him but we smiled and said that we where fine with the wine we got. After some time the cute ober came back with a list of the cocktails and the explanation why they had a happy hour. There was one cocktail that got my attention it was the Mojito Apple cocktail and that was what I got with two trows please since I wanted to share it. Time passed by, we ordered some more sushi till the owner walked by again and started talking to us. Since he was talking in german pretty fast and I couldn't follow him that well, he talked about the cocktail I had and asked my husband why he didn't got one. I was like, I got one for the both of us which ended with a big smile of him walking to the bar and ordered two shot of peach liquor and told the barman it's from the house. OMG, what just happend?! I think my german isn't that good after all. I had lot's of fun that evening and it was time to head back to our apartment since it would be a short night after all.

On the second day it was time to get ready for Japantag. There was so much on the program that I just couldn't stay in bed any longer. As soon as I was awake I got ready, it was really nice to have a lot of time. The event would start around 12 a clock and since we were already at the right place I had plenty of time! All my coords where planned up front so I just needed to figure out how to put everything together to get the final result. I was going to wear my Milky planet special set for this day, it was the first time that I made a coord with it so I was really excited. In my handbag for that day I had put all my accessories so I didn't loose any of them in my suitcase. So when it was time to do my accessories I dumped it all out on our bed. It looked like a rainbow, all the cute things laying there on the bed super adorable. It really brought me in the mood of the day, playful, sunny and with a happy vibe. The only thing what I didn't do upfront was deciding how I wanted my hair for the day, this is something that comes up in my mind when I have everything done and I have my wig on. This day I wanted to combine some braids into it, just to make it more interesting. Adding the bows and jewelry to my coord to make it all complete and I was ready to go. Off to Japantag! 

Dress: Milky Planet - Angelic Pretty

Wig: Lockshop

Accessories: Angelic Pretty, Cocomint, Moon Bunny

Bag: Angelic Pretty

Shoes: Secret Shop

Rest: Offbrand

We went straight to the fair this time since last time we didn't see everything and I was really sad about it back then. So this year I would do it differently, we had some time before we needed to meet up for the lolita meeting. I took my time to walk around and find some food stalls that where vegan friendly, it was harder that I thought it would be but we managed to find some dishes that we could eat. I stocked up on some Onigiri for our afternoon snack and walked around towards the park aria where all the cosplayers where picnicking. There I saw a furry and I was impressed by his suit so I walked up to him and asked for a photo. It's a bit sad that the photo din't turn out that great but it's the memory that count's right? I also took some pictures of some cosplayers as well but I find it really hard to walk towards someone and make photo's under pressure. Even though they mostly won't see them in the end so I don't really get what the problem is. Lately I've been really into cosplayers and I'm getting a different view on there efforts when it's a stunning coord. 

The weather that day wasn't that great we left our apartment without any coats but after a hour we went back to get our coats. The rain had come twice already and I wasn't planning on getting soaked before the actual meeting. It was a good thing that we went back towards our apartment. There was a huge rain storm when we where walking back home so we decided to take shelter in the church. The only thing was that we weren't the only one with this idea. It took quit some time before the rain settled a bit and we continued our quest to get our coats. It wasn't a trip without any stops since a lot of people asked me for photo's which was really nice. They must have liked my coord I think. At least I liked it that I could make people happy with my outfit of that day. 

3PM it's meeting time! We headed towards the meeting point and I quickly discovered some of the familiar faces which made me feel really good. I was still super nervous since I'm just not that good with this whole meeting thing. Even though I'm going to meetings for almost 8 years! But talking to strangers is not that easy. Especially since I was a bit scared of the fact that most of them are German, it has nothing to do with the fact that they are German but more of the fact that I'm new into the group and they could think that I'm from Germany as well. So they mostly start talking to me in German, which is ok if they don't assume that I'm fluent in German. In the end it all worked out really well and I even met some new people! Like my unexpected twin, Liz. She came straight to me and asked if I would like to make a twin photo together, it was the first time she had seen someone with the Milky Planet Special set in real life. I felt so happy since she looked super cute! I also took some pictures with Nina, Siri, Vanessa and Jennifer. They all looked amazing! I wish I had made some more pictures with the other girls but it just didn't happen. 

Left: Liz 

Right: Jennifer 

Left: Nancy

Middle: Vanessa

Right: Siri

Shortly after I saw Rosalynn, Iris, May and Miriam. They looked amazing as well, I was really happy to see everyone again especially Rosalynn! And I asked them if they wanted to make a picture with me. Since we lolita's don't do other things than making photo you know. We chatted a lot about all the good things in live and lolita of course! I also met another new girl, her name is Wlada she was so sweet I can't wait to see her again in Hamburg next week! We talked a lot actually which is pretty weird for me since I tend to be really shy when I meet new people. 

Left: Miriam

Right: May 

Left: Rosalynn

Middel: Wlada

Right: Iris

Groupshot by Anh Binh *click for full version*

After the meetup we decided to team up with Rosalynn, Iris, Wlada, May and Miriam to find the cosplayers that we desperately wanted to meet! I was a real journey with ups and downs, rain storms and human traffic jams. These things are insane and super scary. We were all so exited, alright maybe Rosalynn and I were really excited to meet Reika for the first time but we projected our happiness to the others. Like I said before the journey was with ups and downs, the biggest downside was that we didn't knew where the Amazing Japan booth was! And since we needed to find this booth to meet Reika and the others it was pretty annoying that no one knew where the booth was. We walked for half an hour and it started to rain really hard. But we continued our quest like real fans, we did seek for some shelter behind a booth till the rain stopped since it wasn't smart to walk any further in that weather. Rosalynn wanted to close her umbrella but she failed big time which ended in a super funny umbrella pop with rain drops flying everywhere and mostly under and in my dress xD She felt so bad that it happend but I didn't really noticed that much of it! 

When we continued our quest to find the booth we got stuck in a human traffic jam. Like a real pro I found our way out with Rosalynn by my side, the others where lost in this human sea. It took several minutes to find each other again and the mood of our excitement was dropping drastically. We couldn't find the booth where Reika was going to be and still no one knew where we needed to be. The internet connection of Miriam's phone wasn't really fast at that time, she wanted to find out if there was some information about it on the internet. In the mean time I went out of a mission since everyone was desperate at that time we walked for almost an hour, so sing of the booth and the German girls were saying that we reached the end of the event. I walked towards the cosplay stage to asked where Reika and the other International cosplayers would be for the meet up but they told me they are probably gone by now. This was just the cherry on the cake. Walking for almost an hour, tortured rainstorms and human traffic jams to find out that they are probably gone! This felt like the end of the world since I was looking forward to see them but especially since Rosalynn wanted to see them as well. She came all the way from Holland to Germany to see them, also for the Japantag as well but this was her firework moment of the day. 

When I told her the sad news she started to cry, my heart broke into pieces! This wasn't the news I wanted to bring but I convinced her to walk a bit further, a couple of meters further we asked the First Aid but they didn't knew it as well. Then I found another booth with some information stuff it was my last hope. And guess what! They did knew where the Amazing Japan booth was, I could jump into the sky of happiness but I thanked everyone there and went back to the group. In the meanwhile some of the girls got lost so Rosalynn, Iris and I went to the booth where they should be signing. We saw the booth from under the bridge to I took Rosalynn's hand and started running! This must be the funniest thing to see for everyone else that was walking there.  And then there was that moment where we all saw Reika standing behind a table being all cute with everyone, whaaa so cool!

We could finally meet her, she is just as amazing in person as she is in her pictures. I'm falling more and more in love with Cosplay these days which is pretty funny since I wasn't a big fan of it before I started to watch Anime series after my operation in Februari. Maybe it's a side effect of my anesthesia but I don't mind at all. When it was my time to meet her I was so nervous and started shaking but I managed to unlock my phone for a selfie. This is really hard when you have shaky hands. I also bought a photobook with the pictures of her Ren Jinguji and Tokiya Ichinose cosplay. They are stunning, it was really hard to choose between all the photobooks but I ended up with this one since I can use it for inspiration as well. 

Reika ❤︎

After our meet with Reika we stood in line to meet Liui another cosplayer, I didn't knew him only from the one picture that was posted on FB. But Rosalynn was a big fan of him. When she was standing next to him he noticed Iris and me and wanted to make a group selfie with us how adorable was that. I noticed that Kodama Kozue was standing next to him, I couldn't stop smiling! I'm such a fan of her work it's colorful and unique. And like always I went to the sales table to see if she had some new postcards and I saw that I didn't got any of the ones that she was selling separately so I asked for the set package of this collection. I got so many things in it, the postcards of course but also a puzzle, school folders where you can put your paper in and some other stuff. 

It was time to bring Rosalynn and Iris back to the station, we learned a lot during this walk. Especially that a German isn't that good with estimating the time vs distance, it took us pretty long to walk towards the station but we talked a lot to kill the time. After Rosalynn and Iris left their stuff with her dad we went quickly to the Burger King so they could eat on their way home. I can tell you one thing, don't go to the Burger King at the station if you don't speak German. They just don't help you when you try to explain things and they keep mixing onion rings up with spiral fries or just regular fries how is this even possible? I had so much fun with these two girls and it was the first time I actually talked to Iris, I was a bit shocked when I noticed this. Since I've seen her many times before. 

With my love

My husband and I walked back to the fair, it wasn't time to leave I wanted to see the fireworks. So we walked around saw some pretty outfits and ate some dinner as well. But I wanted to walk back towards the Amazing Japan booth to see if the cosplayers and Kodoma Kozue where still there so around 8 we went back to their booth and I was really happy to see that they all where still standing there. At that time I wanted to have a selfie with Liui and Misa since she was also there and cute as hell! Omg she is so adorable! But I was super shy and it took me some time to ask them for a photo. Liui recognized me from the afternoon with Rosalynn and Iris, he called me the cute girl when I stood next to him. I didn't knew where I needed to look, I think I was blushing big time. He also made Baymax out of a white balloon so I asked if Baymax also wanted to be on the photo. Of course he wanted lol. When we took the polaroid photo Liui said to Baymax "I hope you smiled for the photo" that was so cute! Misa was also super friendly and I really hope I will meet them again in the future they are true artists and wonderful persons. Seeing them makes me want to cosplay as well but I think I'm not suitable for cosplay. Maybe for the Amazon.jp box figure, hihi. 

It was till pretty early in the evening so we walked a bit more down the fair and spotted some more amazing outfits one of them was a super colorful flower fairy inspired outfit with neon colors and the other one was a punk couple, they where singing in the middle of the street. But the most impressive thing about the last couple was the impressive hight of the shoes that the man was wearing. This was unbelievable it must be 30 cm I think it was so high. 

We also found some more cosplayers that I though where pretty amazing. One of them was Assassins Creed and the other one was Kakashi *squee* I always love a good Kakashi cosplay, I saw many at Japantag but this one of the best for that day. When I asked him if I could make a pictures of him he was really happy to pose for me and when I found the courage to ask for a selfie with me he said yes! *squee again* I got a selfie with Kakashi (I'm totally not a fan of this character lol) 

This was one of the many highlights that day. It was a long day and while we were watching the fire works I really wanted to go to our apartment. But I didn't want to miss the fireworks as well so I ended up watching the whole show with the cute smiley, lucky clover leaves and cats fire works they where so adorable. 

Left: Assassins Creed

Right: Kakashi

Our last day in Düsseldorf was a short one, we left our apartment at 11 in the morning and I wanted to walk around Düsseldorf a bit more so we parked our car at the boulevard where the Japantag was the day before. When we got out of our car and walked towards the Museum Kunstpalast and later on to the park. One of my favorite places in the city! It's so beautiful, but I quickly noticed that I was to tired to walk around for hours again after two days of walking and fun things. So after we took some outfit photo's and ate some pizza we went back home. I'm really happy that I was able to go to Japantag this year since it wasn't possible if my colleague from work wanted to work for me in the weekend. Most of the events are in my working weekend so when I attend an event I need to switch shifts with her or if that isn't possible I just can't go. It's hard to deal with but I'm really thankful that I went this year. I'm looking back at this experience with a big smile on my face and I have lots of memories in my heart. 

Next week it's time for the Grand Lolita Tea Party in Hamburg, so hopefully I see you there!

And if not you can read my post about it shortly after the event. I'm going to try to vlog it as well so stay tuned. 

Big hug!