Day 103-108: Marseilles and Tour de South France

Wednesday, April 28, 2010: Marseilles, France

Today we set out for another big trip in Europe. All semester we had been desiring to escape the blistering cold of de Nederlands and retreat to a warmer place. While we originally anticipated this taking place in Spain and Portugal, we had to change our plans when we booked in March to go to Marseilles, France instead, as RyanAir airfare was out the roof for Spain and Portugal during the block of time we were planning on going....guess everyone had the same idea we did!

So we booked airfare from Eindhoven to Marseilles, and planned accordingly. This time, the three musketeers were taking our first big trip together, and our Dutch friend, Arlette, also joined us. We boarded the train early early that morning and headed to Eindhoven (after waking up Bali who had overslept...surprise, surprise!), happy to be on the first leg of our journey that we knew would eventually land us as the beach!

We took the bus to the Eindhoven airport from the main train station and later boarded the plane to Marseilles. It was a longer flight (by European standards!) but it passed by quickly, as we slept most of it. We landed and took a bus to the main part of Marseilles (as the airport was on the outskirts). We then boarded the metro and took it to nearby our hotel.

After a few turn-arounds, we found our hotel and decided that it was a keeper! It was really small and super cute. The receptionists told us that our room was not ready, but let us pay and put our things in a storage room while we headed out to begin exploring the city. I should back up a sec and mention that Arlette did most of the talking here. Arlette was the only one of us that knew any French (besides my like five phrases!). While she is not fluent, she was very good at saying and asking basic questions in French and getting us where we needed to be! I could not have imagined the trip without her...France is one of those places that you really need to know the language to get around!

Hungry and tired, we headed out of the hotel to look around for a bit until our room would be ready. We walked down the street a ways until we reached the harbor. We stopped for a quick snack at, where else, McDonald's! Bali and I ordered a kit kat mcflurry (since they don't have stroopwafel mcflurries in France), but it was far short of enjoyable! For some reason it tasted really gross....still not sure why! We disregarded the foul taste of the Mcflurry and decided to enjoy the city of Marseilles. We walked around and came to the ruins and an abbey. The weather was great, the city was gorgeous and the company was excellent. What more could we have asked for?

After soaking in the city (and sun) for a bit, we started to make our way back to the hotel, making a pit stop for lunch first. We stopped in a small French bakery, reminiscent of my trip to Besancon when Ashley and I visited numerous bakeries and ate some great French pastries and baked goods! We ate a yummy lunch and continued down the street, stopping at Lidl, a European grocery store. Here, we did something we are best known for as a group: bought fixings for sandwiches and other lunch/snack items for the next few days. Arlette had the clever idea to start a 'communal pot' in which we would each add the same amount of euro and spend it on things that we would all take part in, such as this grocery bill.

After our trip to Lidl, we went back to the hotel, where we were able to settle down and put our things in our room. We relaxed for a few minutes and got settled before changing to head to the beach!

In our attempt to save money, we decided to walk to the beach, as it was not too terribly far from the hotel. So we began our trek across Marseilles to the beach and were super  happy upon arrival to see sand and water! I was shockingly reminded that France is home to nude-beaches when I saw topless women laying out on the beach. It was quite different than at home! This beach was small and man-made, but it was nice to be at a beach and able to just relax! We laid out our things and set up camp on the sand. The warm sun felt so good on my pale, sun-deprived skin. We laid out for a bit, then took turns going into the water in pairs. Bali and Arlette went first, and came back and told us how cold it was! Mateja and I then ventured out into the small waves and were startled by the cold water as well! Despite the crummy temperature, I was so happy to be in the water again! And in the Mediterranean Sea! Much cooler than the Gulf!

We headed back in to meet Bali and Arlette. We chatted for a bit while laying out and watched some people nearby play badminton, before promptly falling asleep! I think we all slept for nearly an hour before Mateja woke us up and we all decided to get up and head back to the hotel before it got too dark (and cold!).

Back at the hotel we made dinner with the goodies we had purchased earlier at Lidl and some fresh baguettes that we picked up on the walk back. We enjoyed a quiet dinner in the room and afterward headed back downstairs to roam the city a bit more before bed. We stopped while out for a quick cup of coffee at a cafe. Exhausted from our long day of travel and sunshine, we plopped ourselves back in the hotel room where we watched French Idol in the hotel room and took turns in the bathroom getting showers (in the green shower!).

Thursday, April 29, 2010: Marseilles, France

Although Mateja and I had both set our alarm clocks for 9AM this morning, we mutually and unspokenly decided to let all of us sleep in a bit. About 10AM, Mateja woke us all up by saying, "Should we get up now?". With this, we all rose and got ready for our second day in Marseilles. We did not have breakfast at the hotel, so we went across the road to a small cafe across the straat for cofee and hot chocolate. We sipped the warm beverages and decided on a plan of action for the day. We then headed down the street to another bakery where we bought pan au chocolat for breakfast....my French favorite!

Today we decided to venture over to the other side of the harbor to explore and visit a museum we had read about on our map (and Mateja had previously researched!). On the other side, we stopped first for some shopping at local shoppes and H&M kids where Bali and Mateja both bought something!  We got incredibly lost as we headed to the museum and nearly gave up on finding it, as our map was not helping us get there at all, before finally stumbling upon it! We were glad to find it and spent an hour or so viewing its exhibits and taking pictures inside. It was really interesting architecturally, which was the feature I enjoyed most about it. I also enjoyed the exhibit with all of the Mexican masks. It was very interesting and colorful!

As the day progressed, we got warmer and warmer as the temperature rose. We decided to lose some of our layers so that we would cool down a bit. Mateja performed a skilled change by putting on her new dress from H&M kids so that she could remove her leggings from underneath her shorts. All of this took place in the middle of the street! It was quite comical :)

After all this, we were quite hungry so we stopped in a small take out restaurant and got baguette sandwiches to go. Arlette ordered her favorite, chevre (French for goat cheese). We walked over to an area with benches by the big Cathedral and sat down to enjoy our yummy sandwiches. After eating and relaxing for a bit, we ventured into the Cathedral to look around and admire the structure before walking back along the harbor to return to the other side.

On the other side, we stopped long enough for me to get a crepe, another of my French favorites! I ordered a crepe with Nutella, despite the intense heat of this sunny spring day. It was so tasty, and Arlette captured on film how much I enjoyed this scrumptious French creation!

We walked back up the hill to the straat of our hotel and noted the continuation of horrid French driving that we had observed earlier today and yesterday. It was kind of scary watching people drive here! You had to be really careful crossing streets and amid traffic.

Back at the hotel, we prepped for the beach and retraced our footsteps from the day before, arriving at the beach late in the afternoon again. We laid out again and swam for a bit, although the water was still quite cold. I think we might have caught a few zzz's again as well!

When  it started getting a bit chilly, we packed up and said farewell to the beach before embarking on our mini-pilgrimage to Notre Dame. This Cathedral rests high atop a hill in Marseilles, so it was a bit  of a trek up to it. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to actually go in and see, as the gate was already closed for the day when we reached the top. However, we decided that the view from the hill was admirable enough in and of itself, and decided to rest a bit on the steps of the hill and enjoy the sunset and view of Marseilles. It was really a Kodak moment....so picturesque!

After the sun had settled for the night, we descended and headed back to the hotel for the evening. We rested for a moment before heading out again to go to the train station in order to buy our tickets to Aix en Provence and Avignon the following day. This turned out to be quite an adventure, as we had to go all the way to the main train station and had some issues buying the tickets. We thought we may have even missed the metro as we attempted to head back, as we had to wait quite some time for the train to come to get us back to the hotel for the evening. We entertained ourselves in the meantime by taking pics and playing thumb war!

Back at the hotel (at 11PM!) we decided it would be a good idea to eat some dinner and made our baguette sandwiches again with the things we had leftover from the previous day and the new baguettes we had picked up that day. We had also bought some wine and uncorked the bottle  as a celebration of our last night in Marseilles. Apparently the wine worked its effect on us, as we became a bit rowdy and received a call from reception asking us to quiet down. Except the first time the phone rang, I answered, "Bonjour", and the man said something in French so I hung up. Arlette answered the second time it rang, and informed us that we were too noisy! We laughed and quieted down before getting showers and heading to bed for the evening.

Friday, April 30, 2010: Aix en Provence and Avignon, France

We woke up a bit earlier this morning to begin our trek across southern France and explore some other great places the country has to offer. We began the morning across the straat at our favorite cafe for coffee before hitting the "Retro Metro" and heading to the Marseilles Train Station. Here, we had to figure out our faux pas from the night before and make sure our tickets would get us where we intended to go. After getting it all resolved, we chilled at the Mac's at the train station while waiting for our train to depart and enjoyed the perks of cheap breakfast and free WiFi. This was the instant the we made the revolutionary decision that we could not have survived in Europe without McDonald's and became ever so grateful for the golden arches.

A bit later, we headed down to the spoor to board the train to Aix en Provence, our first destination for the day. We stood waiting for a bit for the train to be ready to board and finally realized that it was indeed ready, we just needed to walk down further to the cars that were actually departing. We boarded, and were surprised by the luxurious quality of the train...it was brand-spanking new! We made ourselves comfortable in a four-person seating area and busted out our goods for the journey. Arlette made a small sandwich for snack with the sliced cheese we had purchased (which resembled Kraft Singles, except in white) and commented, "I really like this cheese, even though it tastes like nothing and a bit like plastic." To which Bali responded, "You're Dutch". Needless to say, we entertained ourselves on the train journey with our cheese, silly comments and the beautiful views of France from the train window.

We got to Aix en Provence where we first decided to find the bus station so that we could purchase tickets for our afternoon trip to Avignon, where we would be staying for the evening. We found it pretty quickly and were disappointed to find that there were no lockers at either the bus or train station. We came to the hard realization that we would have to carry our backpacks (and all our luggage) around with us all day. This was aggravating, as it was a perpetual dillemma in France to not have day lockers available. We sucked it up and decided to enjoy the day, bought our bus tickets and were on our way to explore Provence!

I had been in touch before we left with a Facebook friend of mine, Sheila, who had actually sold me my bike in Tilburg when I first arrived. I had never actually met her, but she was currently studying/working in Aix en Provence and so we decided that we would try and meet up while we were there. I texted her to see if she could meet us, but unfortunately she had to work all day. She did, however, send us a few suggestions of things to do, eat and see in Provence, so we took advantage of those! We first visited the Tourist Office to see if they could store our things for the day (which they couldn't, but told us that in the next few years they would be getting lockers....how helpful!) and found out that the guy we spoke to at the desk actually spoke some Dutch! We got a map and were on our way.

Next, we began looking for a crepe place, Crepes A-Go-Go, that Sheila had suggested. It ended up being right in front of us, we just had to go underground one flight of stairs. Observing the menu, my mouth started watering....they had sooo many yummy options!  I decided on a jambon and chevre crepe which turned out to be absolutely amazing! We walked back upstairs and into the square to sit down and enjoy our crepe lunch. Arlette also took an apple from our communal food stash, and Bali noted that in every picture we took, it was always, "Arlette and an apple".

After lunch, we began wandering the quaint streets of Aix en Provence. Soon enough, we came to a shopping street where we took advantage of the opportunity to stop and look around a bit. We visited this cute shoppe called Pimkie where each of us tried on about 10 things, cause they were having a fabulous sale! I bought a skirt :) After our shopping fill, we continued through the streets and watched the clouds begin to gather and darken in the sky above. Soon it started to rain lightly and we sought cover for  bit to wait it out.

Our cover just so happened to be at a small cafe, L'extra Cafe, where I had a nice iced coffee and we sat and chatted for a bit. It was nice to relinquish our backs of the burden of our luggage for a bit and chilax. After the storm subsided a bit, we decided to venture out again and headed to some sites suggested by the maps we had gotten at the Tourism Office.

We came to an incredibly old Church and got to view the Roman Baths, now behind glass. It was really neat to see some of the history of the city. However, we were in desperate need of the restroom, so we made our way toward the University in the city and looked around. Afterward, we continued heading back towards the city centre and stopped along the way for pictures with the beautiful buildings and I with a fountain. I  decided that I wanted a picture of myself tossing a coin into this huge fountain and asked Bali to be the photographer. She agreed and on the first attempt of the photo, I threw the coin and missed the fountain!! How embarrassing! So we retook it, and I made it the second time :)

Near the end of the street, we stopped in several shoppes selling lavender and other fragrant soaps. Provence is famous for the huge, beautiful lavender fields, which we unfortunately did not get to see on our trip, as they are not in full bloom until June. But we did see lots of lavender soap, and each bought some as gifts for friends and family back home.

Reaching city centre, we witnessed another random thing in Europe. As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, it seems as though we are always surprised by something out of the ordinary when we visit a place. This time, it was a huge Oreo truck with a crowd gathered round receiving free mini packs of Oreos and petit glasses of milk to dip the American cookies in! I got excited and we all took advantage of the free and yummy snack. It was really funny, because the people were dispensing milk in backpacks that they were wearing on their backs!

We made our way back to the bus station to catch our afternoon bus to Avignon. Knowing the ride was going to take some time, we decided to find a restroom beforehand. The public ones that we had to pay for were not working, so we asked around and finally found free restrooms at the local Public Library, a short walk from the bus station. We quickly used the toilets before boarding the bus to Avignon. We snacked and slept on the bus.

Arriving in Avignon, we followed the directions I had printed for the hostel. We entered the walls of the city and were surprised at the splendor and beauty of Avignon! It was quite different than the other two cities we had visited on our trip so far, and looked great! We walked through the main street toward the hostel, crossing a bridge over the river and climbing down a long flight of stairs to reach our hostel. It was an interesting place the we had chosen to stay, as it was a combo campground and hostel. We found reception and checked in with the woman at the desk. She was very long-winded, but super friendly and told us all about the hostel and answered all of our questions. Bali later commented, "Its really hard to concentrate on her niceness", since the woman was kind of overly helpful!

We retreated to our room, which was small and quite humble. Arlette commented that the place looked like it was out of a murder mystery film, which made us all feel super safe. We sat for a bit and ate the colorful macaroons we had jointly purchased in Provence. Deciding it was not worth sitting around too long, we left our luggage (glad to have it off our backs!) and headed back across the river inside the walls of Avignon to explore the city.

We walked around for a bit and visited a few shoppes before listening to our tummies and finding some dinner. We decided on kebabs- the delicious, filling and cheap alternative! We ate outside and enjoyed the lovely evening. When we finished, we headed back to the train station to use the automated ticket machines to look at the options for purchasing train tickets for the next few days. Mateja and I wanted to visit Pont de Gard the following day, so we looked up trains there, but had difficulty finding the information we needed. We decided to head back into town and use the WiFi at (where else?) Mac's to figure out the information we needed to plan our trips for the next few days. Unfortunately, this Mac's did not have WiFi for whatever reason, so we were unable to access the net. Bali messaged one of her friends from home and asked him to please look up a couple of things for us. We enjoyed a late night cappuccino before heading back to our hostel to rest for the evening.


Saturday, May 1, 2010: Avignon and Nimes, France

Saturday morning, we decided to part ways for the day so that we could each do what we wanted. Bali and Arlette decided to hang around Avignon and go for a bike ride on the city rental bikes, while Mateja and I boarded a morning train to Nimes, France where we spent the day roaming the city.

We packed sandwiches and lunch material before we left, in our usual spendthrift way. The train ride wasn't too long, and we road again on a fancy new French train....very classy! We got off the train with the intention of heading first to the bus station to find out about timings for buses to Pont du Gard, as this was the main city where buses departed for the aqueduct. The bus stations were all closed, as it was a public holiday, so we went out the other side of the station to the city to see about finding the Tourist information center. We stopped in a hotel shortly down the street and got a map of Nimes and asked where the T.I. center was.

Upon arriving at the info center, we were informed that there were no buses running to Pont du Gard anymore that day. There had been one, but it left earlier in the morning and we had already missed it! Disappointed, we headed out to explore the city and see what Nimes had to offer. We checked out our handy map and decided to check out three main features indicated on it. We had to weave our way through the streets carefully, as there was some kind of French marathon going on...another random thing encountered in a European city!

Our first stop was the Tour Magne and surrounding gardens. This was a beautiful area of gardens and wildlife where we ascended a hill to a tower at the top that gave a panoramic view of the whole city. It was quite breathtaking, and definitely worth the hike up! We enjoyed the view for a few minutes and read about the history of the structure before heading back down the hill and into the city.

Next, we decided to visit another highlighted item on our map, the Castellum. This was noted as an aqueduct, and we figured since we did not see Pont du Gard, we would walk over and view this smaller one. Well, smaller it was! It was not very impressive, but we took pictures nonetheless and laughed at how tiny it was!

Next we made our usual move to the McDonald's to use the toilet and catch a cup of coffee. It was really warm inside, so we took our coffee out and sipped it on a bench nearby. While sitting down, we observed a strike going on just down the street. A crowd of people were demonstrating (something about salaries) and blocking the whole street. It seemed rather innocent, although there were police there to monitor the situation. I thought it was rather intriguing, after hearing so much about the notorious French strikes!

After finishing our coffee, we ventured into an indoor French market and decided to walk the perimeter of the city (in a circle) to see the whole thing. We stopped along the way in another Roman building turned into a theater in which we watched a 3-D movie about Roman soldiers and bullfighting. It was an interesting and entertaining half-hour film and gave a good picture of the history.

Afterward, Mateja and I journeyed into an internet cafe where we each bought a half hour to check our e-mail and update Facebook...you know, all the important things in life! We left feeling hungry and found a super cheap lunch for only 1,90 euro! We ate our chicken sandwiches on the doorstep of a building in one of the windy French alleys, since it was rainy and there was no where else really to sit! Not glamorous, but definitely memorable!

Next we made our way to a cluster of museums that we hoped to visit, but found out upon reaching them that they were all closed for the public holiday. Dismayed, we decided to continue walking around Nimes and see what else there was. Mateja overheard some other tourists speaking in Slovenian nearby us as we walked...funny how small the world is!

As we continued our exploration of Nimes, we came across a great cathedral which we viewed from the outside and made our way to the Roman Amphitheater. The Amphitheater is very similar to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, but I believe they said this one was in better condition. However, the Italian is the original, so that is why it gets all the hype!  However, this one was really cool, and we took the walking tour with the audio guide. It explained every aspect of the history of this ancient structure and even some about Nimes in general. However, it turned out to be extremely long and drawn out, so we did not listen to the entire thing.

After we left the Amphitheater, we walked back to the train station and returned to Avignon for the evening. Mateja and I stopped for a crepe in the city sqaure of Avignon and split a crepe with jam on it that we bought to support a charity fundraiser going on. We sat for a bit and enjoyed our crepe while watching a skit in French that was going on. Afterward, we headed over to the Pope's Palace, which Arlette and Bali were currently touring. We milled around the shoppes nearby and bought postcards of Avignon.  We sat for a bit, wrote postcards and waited for the girls to meet up with us once they finished their tour.

Once we all reunited, we decided to find some place for supper and made our way to this place that Bali and Arlette had found earlier in the day as they explored the city. It was called Creperie du Cloitre and it was delicious! We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed a true French meal! I had what was essentially  a "crepe omellette". It was yummy! We enjoyed our dinner together and chatted about the day's adventures.

Afterward, we headed in the direction of the hostel and stopped at a small icecream place, Amarino, where Arlette and I got icecream. I had chocolate and amaretto....yum! We crossed the bridge and descended the hill back to our horrible hostel where we began to get ready for bed. In the dining room, International Karaoke was going on. We heard it as we walked in, and decided not to take part. Although Mateja did comment that she could rap in Slovenian for it (C, S, Z)!

Somehow, we all ended up sitting outside on the steps of the hostel outside our room window later on in the evening. These guys approached us that worked at the hostel and we spoke to them for a few minutes. They convinced us to go to Karaoke for a bit, so we went.  We were going to do a song, but unfortunately, the event had already ended for the night. We listened to a few sour singers, before heading back and hitting the beds. We all said good bye to Bali, as she would be leaving in the morning to go back to Tilburg. She had to be back for a class on Monday, so she had to leave a day earlier than the rest of us.




Sunday, May 2, 2010: Avignon and Arles, France

We woke up early in the morning on Saturday hearing Bali's name being called. It turned out to be Arlette, who was calling Bali to make sure she was awake on time for her train to the airport. Bali did make it to the airport okay and boarded her flight just fine. She was also able to text us some tips about getting to the airport and the duty-free shopping there!


We rolled out of bed a bit later and packed our things. We headed to breakfast at the hostel, where we had super cheap pan au chocolate and coffee. After hearing about Bali and Arlette's adventures with the Velopop bikes the day prior, Mateja and I decided to rent them and ride for the first part of the day.

Arlette took us and showed us how they worked and we were on our way! We cycled over to Villanueve where we followed a pre-made route on our map of Avignon especially for walkers and bikers. We stopped along the way to get views of the towers and fortresses that we passed by and take pictures. We cycled through the small, scary mountain roads with the tiny bike paths! We were not accustomed to this kind of treatment on bikes, as we were used to the luxurious bike paths in Tilburg and the flat terrain of the Netherlands. However, we managed to get through without getting hit by any cars and had a great time! We parked our bikes for a bit and hiked up one hill to get a nice view of Avignon and see the fortress at the top. On the way back to meet Arlette, we stopped in a small grocery store and picked up some more things for lunch, since our food supply was getting low.

We met Arlette about noon back on the other side of the river. She had spent the morning exploring some more the interior of Avignon and went to one museum that was really nice. We walked back toward the hostel and got our things from the storage room we had left them in for the morning. Then we sat on the riverside and made a picnic lunch with our sandwich fixings (and five tomatoes) that we needed to use up before leaving the city.

Around one, we headed to the train station to catch our afternoon train to Arles, France, the last stop on the trip. When we reached Arles, we were surprised how far  the train station was from the city centre. We made the trek to the Tourist Office on the other side of the city to see about storing our luggage for the day and they gave us the name of a hotel that stored luggage for travelers back on the other side of the city. We made our way back through the city and were so relieved to finally set down our luggage in the hotel, despite the 3 euro/bag charge!

Next we headed to a cafe down the street for our afternoon cappuccino pick-me-up.  We sipped our coffee and mapped out our plan of attack for the afternoon. We decided to mill around and see as many sites as we could in the small city. We made our way past the Roman amphitheater and down to a nice park in which we rested for a bit and enjoyed the nice weather.

We came to the psychiatric hospital where Van Gogh stayed,  and viewed an art exhibit there and marveled at the gardens. Funny to find Van Gogh in France as well as the Netherlands! We walked some more and came to the Rhone river, which we walked along, stopping to take pictures. We also came across the Roman Spa which was cool!

Down some random street, we came to a nice icecream place, Soleileis, where we stopped for a double-dipped cone each. I enjoyed two of my favorites, cinnamon and hazelnut! After some more walking, we began to search for a dinner spot and found a great little pizza place called Snack du Soleil. Here, we each ordered a fancy pizza for super cheap! They were really tasty and cut very interestingly....into diamonds!


The sun was beginning to set, so we decided to see the last few things we could in  Arles before heading back to the train station. We climbed a hill to a great viewing point, awed at a cathedral  and walked all around the Arena. We noted that Arles was much quieter in the evening....almost seemed like a ghost town without all of the tourists cramming the streets. It was  a peaceful walk back to the hotel, where we retrieved our luggage and headed back to catch our train.


We took the train to the Vitrolles Airport stop, where we got off and hopped on the free shuttle bus to the Marseilles MP1 and MP2 airport. Along the way, Arlette gave us a quick Dutch lesson by having us read her text messages that were (of course) in Dutch, and critiquing our pronunciation! It was fun and productive :)


We arrived at MP2, the part of the airport for smaller airlines, such as Ryanair. As our flight was actually early the next morning, we would be spending the night in the airport. We walked in and looked around and felt incredibly uncomfortable. The next flight was to Istanbul at 2 in the morning and everyone in the tiny airport waiting area was a middle-eastern male wearing a turban. As we were three girls, we decided to venture down to the larger, International part of the airport and see if there was a better place for us to rest for the next few hours. We found  a quiet area in the back of the airport, right by the security office. It was perfect! We took turns washing our faces and brushing our teeth in the bathrooms (which were actually really nice since it was a brand-new airport) and then we all attempted to sleep for a few hours. We would head up about 5AM to begin checking in for our flight.

While we did not get very much sleep, sleeping in the airport was not the worst thing ever. It was definitely a memorable moment and even humorous to look back on! Not that I would necessarily want to do it again anytime soon...


We made it back the next morning to Eindhoven Airport, where we took the bus and train to get back to Tilburg West. We were home mid-morning, and all promptly crashed as soon as we got back!


The trip to Marseilles, as we have come to call it, was one of my favorite of the entire semester. I think one reason was that we were going primarily to RELAX! Not to sight-see or meet up with people, but just purely for relaxation! It was so nice to go to the beach and catch a glimpse of coast again! And of course, the girls I traveled with are my best friends from Tilburg, who I will always keep in contact with :)