APP - Lola ESPOSITO-FARESE

During the summer 2015, my mom, my sister and I went in England during one week. We did a kind of road trip in the south of the country because we had already seen London few years before.
We took the plane from La Rochelle to London Gatwick airport. Our flight was late and my mom found a place to sleep thanks to a website. The host was extremely nice with us. His house was typically an english house with these windows, we liked it. That was our first night with the locals.
The next day we rented a car to visit the south of the country : it was very special to drive on the left. My mom needed several minutes before you get used to it !
From the south of London, we went to Salisbury which is the city paired with Saintes (city where we lived). It was such a good place. We had seen the Salisbury Cathedral known as thee Cathedral church of the blessed Virgin Marie and we visited the city.
I can't remember well where it was but one night and many other but especially that night, we had no place to sleep and we decided to go camping because he had brought our tent. Guess what! It was not easy to find a camping AND during the night the weather wasn't nice with us : storm, wind, rain... We were lucky because it was just during the night so we were able to build (???) the tent without any problem. Undo it was more difficult : it was the 2 seconds tent, you know : 2 seconds to build it but 20minutes to undo it.
Oh and this day, we tasted the jelly! But no, we didn't like it. It is too strange!
After Salisbury we went to Southampton, Portsmouth, Worthing, Birghton, Newheaven, and maybe Hastings (I can't remember well) then we flew to France.
It was a beautiful trip and I love this way of travelling, discovering a country because it is special. I like to be in a big city during one week but I really prefer a road trip which is, sometimes, hard because you have to find everytime a new place to sleep. It is an adventure!

It's much more difficult to find campsites in the south of England (except for the coast and the moors) because the population is very dense. In the North or in Scotland, outside of the big cities it's easier.

Because I took German in LV2, I went to Berlin during almost one week in 2019 with my class. I had an awesome teacher who was passionate about the theater and everything she did. She was very special. So she organised this travel to Berlin as she does each year. We took the plane from Bordeaux to the city of Germany.
We saw a lot of things there.
The mood of this city is so special, I don't know how to explain but it was incredibly amazing. There is a lot of pieces of history all over the city like the Berlin Wall which fall just 30 years ago. You saw its destruction, it was probably breathtaking.
I like the fact that Berlin is not trying to hide what happened in its heart because it allows the young generation to think about history, to reflect about something terrible which ended a very short time ago : it is not because we are in Europe that we are protected.
We saw the holocaust memorial, I had a strong feeling and I wouldn't live near that memorial but I'm grateful to have seen this. It was build to pay tribute to the murdered Jews during the Shoah.
We went to the Museuminsel which is on a little island, then we saw the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery and a lot of others monuments.

During the last hours of our trip we saw the Memorail of the Berlin Wall and it was very disturbing. This is the Berlin East and Berlin West from the past separting by a big wall, with watchtowers and the no man's land.
Today we can still see the divide between the East and the West even if the wall fell (not) long time ago.
How did they dod? All of these people who lived apart from their families and knowing that there was sometihng else the other side of the wall must have been terrible.
I'm so thankful to go to Germany especially with this teacher who was, again, incredible. Morover it was amzing to discover the history in German and the german in history, it makes you want to konw how to speak better.

Did you went to Germany during the cold war? Did you cross the wall at the chekpoint charlie?

No, I've never visited Germany.

So I advise you to visit at least Berlin during your future holidays when the Covid will no longer be there! It's such a beautiful country.

I did an other road trip in Italy few years ago. It was again incredible. I already knew San Remo because my grandma is such a big fan of the pizza's country : in fact she is Italian. And because she wanted to show us her country, she took us there. I also knew Rome and Florence because we did a trip with my class when I was 14.

About this road trip, we left from Saintes and we went to Italy by car. The first step was in Genoa (Genova in Italian), which is the capital of the Italian regian of Liguria. There is one of the biggest harbour of the Mediterranean Sea. We seen The porto antico di genova which is considered as the heart of the city and every other places that you see when you are a tourist.
Then we went to La Spezia, an incredible place!!! It is probably the most beautiful town ever. It has its own harbour too. It was during the second world car a naval base. It is an important commercial port, which also includes the Arsenal of the Military Navy in an important base of the Italian navy, a naval museum and many shipyards. The town is build with a special way, you'll see when you'll check some photos!!
Then we went to Florence, it allows me to see what I had previously missed during the trip with my class. We seen the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Its construction lasted one century! we crossed the Ponte Vecchio : there are many shops today but before it was used by the Medici to go from the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace or to the Vecchio Palace.

I have so many thing to tell you about this trip! I liked the Greek statues that we can meet at the Plaza della signoria and the mood of this big old town.
We also went to Pisa. During this trip, we were in very known cities and it was different from other trip that we did. But it was nice too even if there is too many tourists!

Did you visit Ospedaletti? It's twinned with Soulac and I used to leave on Avenue Ospedaletti. It's on the coast in the north.

Admin wrote:Did you visit Ospedaletti? It's twinned with Soulac and I used to leave on Avenue Ospedaletti. It's on the coast in the north.

No I didn't! It's near to Vintimille and to the french border, maybe I will go there during next holidays! I keep you in touch about that

During the summer 2017, my mom and I did a part of St. Jacques de Compostela from St Jean Pied de Port to Logrono. It was a huge experience!
We dropped off our car in St Jean Pied de Port : our trip has started. We got our shell which hung at our backpack and a map to be sure never to get lost.
We had a huge backpack which weighed 7 or 8 kilos and that's a lot when you walked every day and during a long time.
A town that I remember the most and which had the biggest impact on me was probably Puenta la reina with its bridge (you can see it if you google it). We ate some tapas and we did a little rest. In this town, we met a lot of people from everywhere and french too.

We also met, during our walking, a young man who slept next to us during a night : we shared our meal and we discussed. He was sleeping under the stars in his sleeping bag whrereas us, we had a tent.
We also slept in a spanish hostel but just two times because we prefer the nature and we felt more secure. Sometimes, in these kind of hostel, because you are in dormitory, there are people who steal your thing... even if you don't have a lot of precious thing, it is not very confortable to know that someone was in your stuff behind your back.
This trip was during the summer and some days, it was very hot, we had sunburns. Once, we missed water and it was hard but we never missed food! It is not easy to manage it.
Logrono was our last step : we didn't have so much time.
To go back at St Jean Pied de Port, we took a bus and we walked.

This kind of trip is powerful because you are alone with yourself : you don't talk a lot, you need to be alone, to think about things. It helped me a lot about a situation that I lived a month before.
It allows you to take a kind of step back and look at what you did, what you have to do, and who you are, what are your values. It was the biggest introspection to me because I took time.
You don't necessarily need to walk to do an introspection but it is probably easier.

I like to walk but not for a "religious" pilgrimage. As you say it is great mentally because you can think but also you share with nature.

After covid allows it again I hope to walk Hadrians wall with my dog (who I'll probably have to carry) and one day I'd love to walk around the whole Coast of GB but I doubt I'll ever do that.

Hi John, sorry I forgot to do my homework before holidays... So there is two works in one!

I agree with you and I don't like to walk for a "religious" pilgrinage too but it was a kind of excuse to walk, the route is already done and we just have to follow it with other people.
That's such a good idea! How long it is? And where you can sleep with your dog? Have you already done a walk with him?
I saw some pictures of the Hadrians wall and it's very impressive.
And a walk around the whole coast of Great Britain is a huge goal and a great idea. If you wish to do it you have to do it!

We can talk about a trip today that I did again with my little sister, my mom and some of her friends. We went to Spain during one week. We had our car, our tents and we road the whole coast of Spain.
We went from Saintes to Ferrol.
We visited San Sebastian
We visited Bilbao and its huge musuem which is the Guggenheim musuem. It is a weird place where I discovered a strange artist who was mentally disturbed : Louise Bourgeois. She was a plastic artist and she had a lot of other talents. In the Guggenheim museum, there was an exhibition of her work : there was mainly huge, black and terrifying spiders. An other artwork which had an impact on me was a kind of cage with scaring thing inside. It was like a prison cell with disturbing things like a miror in front of a something looking human hanging.
She did a lot of cells in which she used mirors to reflect again and again the pain. She said : "Art is the guarantor of mental health. Suffering is the price of formalism."
You can find in her artwork a lot of emotions, of feelings which belong at the suffering, which are synonym of soreness. Her childhood was probably not so easy this is why she transcribed every single feeling in art. Everything became visible.
Outside of the Guggenheim museum there was a big spider which was called "MAMAN" by the artist Louise Bourgeois because she considered her mother as a spider : friendly, protective. It was an ode to her because she was a weaver. I agree, everything can be subjective, but art isn't it subjective?
You probably saw it at the opening of the Tate Museum in 2000s.
This exhibition had a impact on me because everything was overrated and bigger than me. There was a strange mood too which was there, a strange tension. Her artwork is totally nightmarish and uncomfortable.

Then we visited Oviedo, Ferrol and a lot of other cities.
During this trip, we slept always in our tent and in the morning we drank a mint tee with fresh mint collect near from where we slept. To take a shower, we had a king of portable shower. To eat, we had a gas stove.

I have a strong memory of this trip because there was just women who have to manage all alone. There was Melody, a friend, who spoke very well spanish. One day, we built our tent in a place where it was forbidden but thanks to her negociation talents, they allowed us to stay. She was so positive and she was a lover of nature, of trips.

Because our trip was on the coast, we went to the ocean but it was impossible to swim in the sea because it was too cold.

It was a great experience. Everything was huge, great, beautiful and incredible. I consider myself as a lucky person because I had experiences that no one could have as a child. I saw, I lived, I met people and I received a lot. I'm so grateful today and I hope nothing will change.

It sounds great.

As a group of women I think I'd be frightened to camp in places that I don't know (although as a young man I did it a lot). Looking back on it do you think it was a little reckless? Your Mum sounds fantastic, have you ever discussed her thoughts on the safety aspects with her?

San Sebastien and Bilbao are very nice cities but I must confess that I've never been to the guggenheim. I'm not a fan of modern art (I don't dismiss it, I just don't like it). Have you ever been to Figueras for Dali?

Maybe it was a little bit reckless but when we are in a group we are reassured. Moreover, when we did these kind of trips, I was younger and carefree this is why I never think if it was reckless or not. But now, I guess it was! However that's a chance to be among a women group who breaks the rules and the ancestral idea of a woman stuck in her house or with her child. We were like the modern version of the explorer. It was like the exploration of ourselves in unknown (to us) places.

She totally is and we never discussed about that. Now you're asking the question, I will ask her!

No I never been there but I would like, it seems to be interesting!

Hi John! Did we have others personal APPs to do last week and this week ? Because I already answered some people and they didn't know...

you are supposed to do 7.5 hours before the 23/11

Okay, so maybe I need one more...
This one is about my trip to Reunion island during the summer 2020.
I went with my little sister and Romain to Reunion island during one month. It was incredible, we did a lot of things. We took the plane from Bordeaux to Paris, then Paris to La réunion.
I already knew this island because I lived there 7 years and I have still friends there.
We went to my father's house.
In July, it is the southern winter, so the temperatures are 20/25 degrees, for metropolitan people, the lagoon doesn't seem cold but for people living in Reunion it is. We couldn't swim in the sea because of the sharks risks... We have still lagoons around the island where we can swim and see the underwater nature.
I remembered a much more lively lagoon maybe because of the season. I remembered much more colorful fishes, more corals, more turtles.

We visited the island from above, from a helicopter and it was amazing. It was at the end of the trip to see what we did, where we went with an other point of view.
We went in the mountain, in Mafate, on the top of the island : le piton des Neiges, and the view was just breathtaking! On a side we were above a sea of clouds and on an other side we went just above the whole island.
We went to le Piton de la Fournaise too. The hike there was easier than at the Piton des Neiges.
We did canyoning with a great instructor. It was a funny experience even if I was frozen because of the water temperature.

We've been flying paragliders. It was my second time. We fled above the ocean,

We rode a lot too, because we took our bikes of course.

I really love this island because it is where I grew up and because there is always hot temperatures and sun. Moreover, there is the ocean which is just beautiful. There is eveything on a little island : mountain, ocean. You can hike a little bit in the morning, then going swimming!
We also had a fantastic experience when we went in Mafate. It is a place accessible by foot or helicopter. You can't go there with your car : it is just impossible. And this place has probably a strong history because people who were there in the past, needed probably to hide themselves.

It was a wonderful travel again. It was completly different from the others but still amazing.

Thanks Lola

All of your posts have been very interesting. Reunion island sounds like a dream place to live, surely there are negative points to (apart from the fact they speak a minor world language).