Nantes, the Magical City

Cathedral.

We got back from Italy, and we had the travel bug! No, no, we didn't eat anything nasty or sit next to infected people on the plane--we just wanted to see more of the world! Thus, Aaron started some research on northwest France and found Nantes, a city that many people had suggested we visit and that's about an hour and fifteen minute train ride from Rennes. We plotted our trip wisely, staying home and sleeping in on Veteran's/Remembrance Day, and going overnight from Saturday to Sunday. We stayed at a very inexpensive one-star hotel, the Hotel Saint Patrick. It was a little rough around the edges, but clean (which is important) and amazingly-well sound-proofed (which is even more important when you're staying in the center of the sixth-largest city in France!). The desk clerk was also quite friendly. As Lisa said, the place had a kind of Hotel Conneaut feel to it, which was nice.

Castle, with moat, without alligators.

We should have gone to this
museum before making cookies.

Nantes was the historic seat of the Dukes of Brittany (the region where we live), although since the 1960s, Nantes has been located in a different administrative region (the Pays de la Loire) and so Rennes has been the capital of Brittany. It's confusing, I know, but the point is that Nantes has a lot of historic Breton sites, including the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany. It's a pretty big space, but it's not the sort of medieval castle you might expect. It was finished in the late 15th century and then, shortly after completion, the Duke of Brittany was defeated by the King of France and his duchy absorbed into France, meaning the Dukes never really got to enjoy the current incarnation of their castle. Today, the castle houses a the city history museum and it's got everything from ancient Roman artifacts to relics of the African slave trade (Nantes was one of the major ports on the west coast of France for slave-trading) to pictures of wealthy 18th-century merchants to models of the many important ships that sailed out of Nantes. After a while, the whole thing just became overwhelming. If I was a citizen of Nantes and had been doing a school report on the city's history, it would have been great. For tourists, it was a little much to take.

What happens when your
country has a revolution...

Next to the castle is the cathedral. Like the castle, the cathedral was begun in the mid-15th century but it took 457 years to finish! It's mostly in a typical French Gothic style but one of the more interesting things is that you can still see parts of the medieval church that were defaced during the French Revolution. The revolutionaries weren't fans of the Catholic Church and made no effort to hide that fact.

Yes, that is a magical, life-sized elephant
coming our way!

In addition to being the home of the Dukes of Brittany, Nantes is also the home of Lefevre-Utile cookies (like the "Little Schoolboy" cookies they sell in the US) and of Jules Verne. The old 19th-century LU factory is no longer used, but it still exists. Jules Verne, too, is not around. However, there is something called the Machines of the Isle of Nantes which is a huge artistic and tourist project housed in one of the old shipyards along the river that's a mix of Jules Verne and Leonardo da Vinci. The Machines are giant metal and wood mechanisms that have a sort of 1890s aesthetic to them. The project was started in 2007 and they've only completed the Great Elephant so far. It's 36 feet tall and weighs 45 tons. Several times a day,

The LU cookie tower. Go to your 

local store and pick up a box of 

"Petit Ecolier."

 it takes passengers on a 45-minute ride. They're currently working on a carousel of underwater creatures that will be almost 75 feet high. Many of the creatures are on display and every 15 minutes or so, technicians demonstrate how they work. It's all pretty amazing stuff and it's definitely worth the price of admission!

What happens when another country 

tries to have a revolution...

Perhaps because of its size or because of its history as a major port, Nantes is home to numerous ethnic restaurants, more so than Rennes. For dinner, we ate at a very good Indian place. Not far away, in the Place Royale, a local branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement had set up a small camp of tents and renamed the plaza the Place du Peuple. It was a very small camp and it didn't seem like anyone was really being bothered by it (unlike in the US, apparently). On Sunday morning, we had a more traditional French breakfast at La Cigale, a historic brasserie still decorated in a late 19th-century style with lots of frescoes, mirrors, and glazed tiles. The breakfast was very good (brioche, toast, small pain au chocolat, chocolate pound cake, caramel sauce, apple spread, and strawberry jam) but I think I like American breakfast more. I prefer having lots of protein and starch (eggs, bacon, and potatoes) to the sweet, sugary French breakfast. Fun cultural exchange that happened at each restaurant (note that translations include compensation for facial expression and tone of voice):

The only place that's ever sold hot chocolate that defeated me.

Waiter: Bonjour. Vous avez réservé?
Translation: Hello.  Are you complete idiots?
Us: Bonjour.  Non.
Translation: Hello.  Why, yes, yes we are.
Waiter: D'accord. Vous pouvez vous asseoir ici ou là ou là....
Translation: Ok, well then, you can sit at any of the empty tables which are all of them in the whole restaurant.
Us: Merci. Vous êtes très gentil.
Translation: Um, ok?

Church of Saint Nicolas.

Also before we left on Sunday, we visited two more churches, the Church of Saint Nicolas and the Church of the Holy Cross. Saint Nicolas was just around the corner from our hotel, and when we got there, Mass was starting. We decided to stay for that and even though it was all in French, I think I actually got most of what was being said. The Church of the Holy Cross was mostly built in the 19th century so it's much less Gothic than the other two churches we visited. Mass had ended not too long before and the priest was still milling about. As we were looking around, he came over and introduced himself and welcomed us to his church. Lisa noted later that he was the first priest in this country who has actually had a conversation with us - not even the priests at the church in our town have done that on the occasions we've gone. It was certainly a positive note on which to end our visit to Nantes.

What happens when Aaron looks for lunch-seating...

Bonus picture: Funny British man riding a flying fish.