Sunday, June 12, 2022 - Richgel-ing in Nantes

Today will be a long day. Katie, Randy, Evie, and Penny arrive by train in Nantes at 9:51 tonight. 

Evie Randy, Katie, Penny at the train station in Paris

We'll spend the day in Nantes and hope to be home by midnight. So we're off around 11 this morning. 

our house to Nantes

By the time we arrived in Nantes, found parking and figured out the train station layout (using their most excellent attendant-cared-for toilettes. Handicapped free, all others 1 Euro. Expensive, but convenient, good facilities and clean.), it was time for lunch. 

Gare Nord - Nante's very modern train station

Across from the train station is the botanical garden with benches and lots of places to sit. Afterwards, we took a spin around the park part of the gardens, skipping the greenhouses and the museum. This funny character seemed to follow us where ever we went. Or was it us stalking him. Anyway, what a lovely way to explore the park. 

This guy is titled "The Raker"

The hydrangea are out and the colors are beautiful.

I think he was called "The Swimmer"

This guy was in the tree as we entered the garden

Dave had mapped out the Michelin walking tour on his phone app, so we began by following it. Nantes is a city of 300,000 people which doesn't have a defined "old town" at its center, but has a mix of old and Renaissance and new. 

Le Musée de Beaux Arts (the Art Museum) was built in the 19th century just for this purpose

As it's Sunday, most of the shopping streets are quiet with stores closed, but the cafés, the castle, the parks, and the squares were teeming with folks young and old as well as families. Many were out strolling, others on bikes or scooters. Lots of families were pushing strollers and/or wrangling a toddler. We saw lots of people with suitcases. Nantes is served by an electric tram which is used by many. 

A word about bikes. (Warning, it's many words.) They're everywhere as you can tell by the racks of bikes locked up at the train station. 

The bikes under cover are personally owned, locked into this specialized double-decker bike rack, presumably while their owners were traveling by train or working at the train station.

 And the rental bike racks throughout town. 

This rack at the train station has rental bikes. There are similar racks like this throughout town.

Bikers are everywhere in France. Some wear jerseys and have serious gear. Some use their bikes for transportation and are clearly on their way to or from work. Families with youngsters on their own bikes or pulling a trailer are common, especially on weekends. Couples old and young use their bikes for leisurely rides through the countryside. Serious outdoor travelers have all their camping gear on their backs as they peddle from one place to the next. Electric bikes are common. 

And then there's the bike, like that below, with a carrying compartment on front. I've seen as many as 3 kids transported this way or a week's worth of groceries. It's ingenious and expensive (almost $2000 on the Dutch website I looked at), although less expensive and more convenient than a car if you're in a city like Nantes. 

This is a covered version of one of those strange bikes with the passenger compartment in front of the steering wheel. I've seen these full of kids and also full of purchases from the market. They look clumsy, but when I've seen them in action, they appear to handle just like a regular bike.

There are bike lanes everywhere as well as places to lock or even store your bike. Restaurants use delivery persons on bikes to fill online orders. I've seen Uber Eats bikes in several cities now. This is the norm both in Burgundy and Brittany, although the density of bike riders is likely higher in Brittany because of its vacation value and flatter terrain.

The mode of transportation favored by teen-agers through 20 somethings (although I've seen plenty of riders both older and younger than this age group) is the scooter, electric or push model. Even toddlers have their own three-wheeled version of this "toy." But again, this "toy" is a serious mode of transportation for work and school. Carrying one or two persons, these move faster than my scooter. On most models, the handlebar folds down and the user simply picks up the scooter and carries it like a skateboard.

Both bikes and scooters go on any mode of public transportation, train, tram, or bus. These are much more practical than a car in most cities that were built long before cars were invented.

But back to Nantes and exploring. We passed by the art museum on our way to the Cathedral of St. Paul and Saint Peter. From the square Marechal Foch, you could see the back of the church which appeared newly cleaned. 

Place Marechal Foch actually has a statue of Louis XV!

The church looks recently cleaned from this view (Italian tourists sitting on the wall)

View of the Cathedrale de St Paul et St Pierre and the medieval Porte de Saint Pierre seen from Place Marechal Foch.

 

But once we passed through the gate St. Pierre, built on the remains of gallo-roman walls, it became clear that the church is undergoing major renovations. 

La Porte Saint Pierre

the "outside view" of La Porte de Saint Pierre

Once to the front, the story unfolds in multiple posters attached to wire barriers. The church is closed because it had a fire in 2020 which caused serious damage to the cathedral. A church volunteer admitted and was charged with setting fires in 3 locations in the cathedral. The fire set behind the 17th century organ completely destroyed it, melting its lead pipes and blowing out a stained glass window at the front of the church. The other two fires did  "minimal" damage. Even though the walls and roof remained intact, the cathedral remains closed due to the lead contamination inside. They are still at the stage of completely cleaning every corner of the church in haz-mat suits due to the health danger posed by the contamination. 

A special tented entrance has been created to work on removing the lead contamination that has settled everywhere due to the melting of the organ pipes.

The front of the church and the construction zone

The cathedral was built between the late 15th century and the 19th century and is renowned for its soaring height. The tomb of Duke Francis II and his wife is also in this church (and undamaged by the fire). We weren't able to see these for ourselves, unfortunately. So we continued our tour.

Following around the side of the church we could see the former chapter house.  

Former chapter house

Down the road a bit, we arrived at the Duke's castle. Like so many other Duke's castles we've visited, this was also the Duke's capital. (How many capitals can one duke have?) Imposing and military on the outside... 

Panorama makes the castle look smaller than it is. It's actually really big.

This photo is more in scale

There's still a real drawbridge and portcullis here.

...on the inside it is disappointingly Renaissance Chateau. We decided not to go inside. 

This castle is, however, important as it is here that Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598 giving freedom of religion, ending the Wars of Religion in France. And as the plaque says above, this is also where the Duchy of Brittany was added to the Kingdom of France under Francis I in 1532. (Nantes, however, was separated from Brittany several times for political and economic reasons. It is currently not part of Brittany, but in the department of the Loire-Atlantique. -Departments can be likened to states.)

A very interesting fountain

Statue of Anne of Brittany (in a park outside the castle) who, by marrying the king, was literally responsible for the joining of Brittany to the kingdom of France.

The inside is all luxury living (for its time)

Across the street from the castle entrance was the tourist office which, as usual, had good maps and information. They have a green line painted along the streets which makes following their tour easy - except the map and green line don't always line up. 

We spent the next couple of hours wandering the city streets near the Loire River - getting farther and farther from the train station. 

L'Eglise Saint-Croix, 18th century classical style, sits on the spot where there has been a church since 1138.

interior of the church

trumpeting angels top the clock

We stopped for ice cream at la Cigale on Place Graslin, sitting next to the fountain and across the square from the Theatre Graslin where the Opera Madame Butterfly was currently playing. 

eating ice cream by the fountain on Place Graslin, the theater in the background

Place Graslin

Wandering further yet, we walked through the museum district before heading back towards the train station past some University of Nantes campus buildings. One part of the walk that I found especially poignant was the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery. We walked over glass bricks put into the blacktop of the sidewalk. Each had the name of a slave ship from Nantes or the name of the port where the slave ship landed. A plaque (in English and French) says: 

"Over 27,266 slave trading expeditions were recorded leaving European ports between the 15th and 19th centuries. In total more than twelve and a half million men, women, and children were torn from Africa and deported to America and the Caribbean. Over one and a half million people died during the crossing. 

Over 4,330 of these slave trading expeditions were recorded setting out from French ports, over 1,380,000 people deported. 

Over 1,800 slave trading expeditions were recorded setting out from the port of Nantes, with over 550,000 people deported. 

The plaques of this commemorative circuit give the names of these slave ships from Nantes and the ports where they put in."

Like the war memorials that give me pause, this memorial made me sit and reflect for several minutes before I could move on. It's a powerful statement that admits Nantes role in the enslavement of Aftican souls for profit. Would that we in America could be so honest and willing to admit our part in this period.

We walked out on the pedestrian bridge crossing the Loire River and then the worries started - my battery went from green to red without any intermediate warning. We were still a mile from the train station. So David helped push the scooter along, saving battery energy and giving him an aerobic workout.

We stopped about halfway for pizza and a beer since it was already 6 pm. (And Dave needed a rest) 

waiting for the pizza, feeling worried that the scooter wills stop. This bar-brasserie was a hangout for young people. Inside the entire bar including the toilets was graffiti. 

We made it back to the car on "fumes, " packed the scooter into the car, took out the cane and slowly walked the last block to the train station. But now we still had more than 2 hours to kill and I'm not good for more than 100 yards walking at a time. So we started by sitting outside in the beautiful evening sun. But the benches didn't provide any back support. Dave reconnoitered inside and found seating on the second floor - with an elevator as well as wifi access for his phone. It was actually really interesting to watch passengers come and go as the trains arrived/departed. 

Inside the train station - panorama

A few minutes before the scheduled arrival of Katie and Randy's train, Dave and I went back outside to watch the doors they should come out of. Worked like a charm. There's nothing quite so happy as watching your grandchildren run across the plaza to give you a huge hug! 

Lynn with Penny and Evie (Katie Richgels photo)

But it was getting chilly with the sun low in the sky (still light at 10 pm at night, amazing). Dave and Randy went to get the car which seemed to take forever. We all fit with only a few bags on laps, and headed out of Nantes. At first it was slow going because each block had a traffic circle at the intersection. But once on the highway, we watched a beautiful orange glow of sunset and caught up on all the news we've been missing for the past 7 weeks. Penny waited patiently (and sometimes impatiently) for the hour and a half to pass. Evie kept her eyes out for castles and old buildings along the way. We saw wind turbines and pretended they were giants doing cartwheels. 

Once home, a quick explore of the house for the newcomers and then bed. Evie was asleep instantly since she had only slept a couple of hours out of the past 36 (mostly due to excitement). Penny had slept more, but was overtired and cranky. It took her longer to settle down. Randy and Katie had no trouble falling asleep. Neither did Dave or I.

It was a big day for adventures.