Erasmus+ 2016/18:TPM Niort, from 16 to 20 Novembre 2016 - Travel journal

At 4.45 a.m. Mrs Roberta Tamburrino and me, Mrs Patrizia Nesi, the headmistress, left Statte by car and took the road to Taranto where Mrs Beatrice Bianchi was waiting. We took the road to the airport in Brindisi.

We passed through airport security and went to the gate. After a while we knew that the flight was delayed…at first half an hour…then three hours.

We would have missed the connecting flights to Bordeaux.

There was a long queue at the information desk of Alitalia. Our turn arrived at last, our journey was rearranged. We would have reached Bordeaux at 10,20 p.m.

It was too late to drive to Niort, 200 km along unknown roads in the dark…

So we decided to book an hotel in Bordeaux and reach Niort the day after.

We arrived to Niort late in the morning and reached the “Lycée Paul Guérin”, the hosting school, at lunchtime. We had lunch at the school canteen with all the partners of the project.

In the afternoon there was the first meeting about the project organization. We decided the dates of the future mobilities and the first details about what to do.

At the meeting there were the British teachers, Alison and Catherine, the Dutch teachers, Poul and Ritchie, the Greek teachers, Kenny and Foteini, the Italian teachers from Palermo, Carmela and Ina with their headmistress Simonetta, the two Slovak Barbara and Marcela and our French hosts Françoise, Gregoire and their headmaster Gerard.

Our hotel was very nice, we shared a triple room which was large and comfortable with a wooden loft.

Our hosting school offered dinner at the restaurant “La Détente” next to the hotel

The day after we went to La Rochelle. Roberta was very happy because she could see the ocean at last.

We visited the town and a very nice covered market where Gregoire bought oysters, cooked ham, shrimps, baguettes and butter. We walked to a wonderful park surrounded by all the colours of autumn: here we ate and drink on a wooden bench near a creek.

After lunch we went to the harbour … when we arrived there was low tide and the ocean was very far… poor Roberta!

We decided to take a walk in the centre of Niort and we went back to the hotel by bus…it was raining and we arrived in our room wet, tired but happy.

The following day we went to Poitiers and visited Futuroscope.

In the evening we had dinner in a very nice restaurant in the centre of Niort with Poul and Ritchie.

When we came back to the hotel we tried the online check-in for the flight but we didn’t succeed…we had to reach the airport at least two hours before the departure.

We woke up at 4,30 a.m. and left the hotel by car. It was dark and rainy and we were not able to find the access to the highway easily, there were no road signs to Bordeaux. So I decided to walk through the tollbooth to take a look to some signs after it … under the rain. It was the right direction, but we were really late.

We arrived at the airport at last, we checked in at first and then we gave back the rented car. We passed easily through the airport security and went to the gate ready to take the plane.

On the way back we talked about our adventure…a few unforgettable days, we were really excited about the project and our partners, a very good beginning.