Life to do list #42: Spontaneous European Vacation

Check.

So. Mediterranean beach vacation anyone?


We decided to go gallivanting off to a town in southern France (Agde) along the Mediterranean sea a grand total of one day beforehand. Jarrod found a cottage for six that wound up only costing 22 Euros apiece, so we ended up taking twelve people (filling up two cottages). It's a funny story, actually, it was a mere hours after we bought the tickets and booked the cabins that someone rustled up this little gem... as it happens, Agde is the naturist capital of Europe. So... we headed off with backpacks and a hope that we wouldn't see too many naked people. Or at least that we wouldn't see more than your average number of naked people on a French beach.

Turns out we needn't have worried. The entire weekend was a resounding success, from start to finish. Example:

1. Get to train station and have to stand in absurdly long line in order to pick up an already purchased ticket. Would have missed the train, but it was delayed.

2. Due to the delayed train, we missed our connection (sidebar: is that word used when trains are involved???), but we arrived exactly two minutes before a second train left for Agde and managed to get ALL of us on it and accounted for (all of us coming from different cars on the first train) within that time.

3. Arrived in Agde, myself and three others took off to find a grocery store for supplies to make a nice family dinner, only to find ourselves in the only store three minutes before it closed. We managed to find everything we needed (pasta, sauce, and baguettes for dinner; coffee, yogurt, milk and cereal for breakfast) at a cost of only 5 Euros per person.

4. Managed to call a taxi after leaving the grocery store. This was only a success because we actually called two taxis because the first one said it would take fifteen minutes, and we didn't want to wait that long, so we called a second without considering the awkward possibility that the two might arrive at the same time. They didn't.

5. Had a wonderful family dinner in an adorable and quite comfortable cabin with 11 other friends.



6. Slept in a little, then made our way to the beach, a lovely hour long walk along a nice bike path. Fresh air galore.

7. Met up on the beach, then headed to lunch, where we found cheap Moules et frites (Mussels and french fries), Agde's specialty. It was a little cloudy when we first got there, but by the time we had finished our leisurely lunch, it was sunny and beautiful.



8. Spent all day relaxing on the beach, looking out at the Mediterranean, with no fully naked people in sight.


9. Stopped for crepes, and then meandered back to the cabins and jumped directly into the enormous pool.

10. Took a relaxing shower, and then had a second family dinner, equally delicious and enjoyable, followed by exhausted sleep.

11. Had a nice morning walk into town after having successfully cleaned the cabins ourselves and gotten back the deposit. We were closer to the train station than we thought, so we didn't have to pay for another taxi, and we got to do some shopping in the central market before having a wonderful lunch.



12. Headed to the train station, and found that we can all just hop on an earlier train that goes straight back to Toulouse, as opposed to having to transfer in Narbonne.

13. Spent the ride back enjoying the scenery and sharing music with Andrea.

14. Arrived safely home in Toulouse and discover that it has been raining there all weekend.

Now really, who could ask for anything more?

(More pictures, if you're interested.)

Bryna