Written by Eva Barnsley.
The Summer Diaries is a series of photo journal/diary entries from my 2018 Summer trip in Europe and South East Asia. Click here to read the previous entry.
Heidi kindly drove Cindy and I to Biarritz in France. I slept for most of the car trip and it was raining when we arrived. We ate and they drove home, bringing and end to that chapter of the trip. At 8 pm I left Cindy at our hotel and met Sofia, one of my best friends from Hanoi. It was so strange to see her out of Vietnam, in Europe especially. She was travelling with her sweet friend Adriana. We sat at a lookout by the ocean and drank too much rosé.
The next day, Cindy and I moved into our Air BnB apartment. It was so funny and small, and incredibly art deco (watch the vlog to see it). We ate so much moules frites in France. I didn't photograph a whole lot in Biarritz, but Cindy and I went to the beach. Almost, or just as busy as the beach in Barcelona, I was surprised once again. We found a smaller, less populated place to swim.
Then came Biarritz En Ete, a musical festival and the reason for our travel to Biarritz. Artists such as Yellow Days, Kevin Morby and Cigarettes After Sex caught my eye when Sofia told me about the festival when we were still in Hanoi. I wore a long white skirt, white off the shoulder top, my brown Doc Martens, yellow paisley hairband and cherry earrings. Sofia and Adriana rode bicycles to my Air BnB at 4 pm and we began our (much longer than expected) walk (turned trek) to the festival. We arrived earlier than the rest of the crowd and watched a French band, Clement Froissart, finish their set. Then came Lewis Ofman, who I now love. His music was so fun and groovy. I was so caught up in everything that I just kept forgetting to photograph anything. When I took out my camera, Lewis crouched down and pointed at me. I waited until I got back to Hanoi to develop the photos, and recently discovered that the one shot with such potential wasn't even in focus...
We stood by the stage for some time, waiting for Kevin Morby to play before realising that he was already playing, just at the other stage. The three of us sprinted for the other stage. We were the only ones running. We were able to get straight to the front of the crowd. Kevin Morby and his band were amazing to watch live, so full of energy. Sofia called for "eye closing time" and we swayed to their music with our eyes closed as Kevin Morby sang 'Dry Your Eyes'.
A few hours later, Cigarettes After Sex played. Hoards of people were coming towards the stage now. The bass vibrated throughout the crowd, it was everywhere. Smoke covered the stage and created an angelic performance as the sun set behind the stage.
We sat in the grass by the stage following Cigarettes After Sex. Lewis Ofman sat with his friends in front of us, and the bassist from Cigarettes After Sex, Randy Miller, was walking around behind us. Shame it was so dark, there were great photo opportunities. Eventually the final performance begins, a duo; Agar Agar. The songs picked up over their set and everybody began to dance as huge inflatable figures rose from the stage. The lighting was incredible, flower patterns projected all over the audience. We took the bus back, walked along the beach with ice creams and slept well that night.
The following day Cindy and I took a bus from Biarritz, France to San Sebastian, Spain for the night. Our hostel was one of the cheapest places we had stayed the entire trip, and it was also one of the best.
"We wandered through the old streets, through stores filled with jewellery and crystals. We ate at pintxo bars and drank sangria. We swam in the flat, clear sea." - 28/07/18, Diary entry on San Sebastian.
I bought a brown faux leather bum bag and an orange ring that glows under the sun. The trip with Cindy was slowly ending, and San Sebastian reminded me of what a beautiful and fortunate time we had spent together. After the night in San Sebastian, we took the train back to Barcelona where we spent our last European night just the two of us.
The following day Cindy and I took a bus from Biarritz, France to San Sebastian, Spain for the night. Our hostel was one of the cheapest places we had stayed the entire trip, and it was also one of the best.
"We wandered through the old streets, through stores filled with jewellery and crystals. We ate at pintxo bars and drank sangria. We swam in the flat, clear sea." - 28/07/18, Diary entry on San Sebastian.
I bought a brown faux leather bum bag and an orange ring that glows under the sun. The trip with Cindy was slowly ending, and San Sebastian reminded me of what a beautiful and fortunate time we had spent together. After the night in San Sebastian, we took the train back to Barcelona where we spent our last European night just the two of us.
The next day, I walked from our apartment to Plaza Catalunya to meet Sofia, Adriana and Sorch. We sat underneath a tree and waited for Seb who was flying in from England. That night, we went to Park Güell but Sofia, Adriana and Sorch didn't have tickets to get in so they walked around the park itself while Cindy, Seb and I looked at Gaudi's architecture. It was beautiful.
Sorch decided to take the train back to Cabrils afterwards and the rest of us went out for tapas and sangria. We had a lot of fun. At midnight we walked by the Arc de Triomf and dropped Sofia and Adrianna off at their bus stop. That would be the last time that I see Sofia for... a while. She is on a plane to Canada, where she will study, as I write this. I cried a little as Seb, Cindy and I walked back to the apartment that we were apparently locked out of. We sat on the stairs for a while and got inside late in the night after almost checking into a hostel.
We made breakfast in the apartment and had coffee on the street before Seb and I walked Cindy to the metro station and said goodbye. The time I see her will be in Penang, Malaysia. Seb and I walked around Barcelona all day, and took a train to Cabrils in the afternoon, but you'll hear more about that in Summer Diaries 5.
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