Joie de vivre

As a few of you may know, I decided to have my own mini-adventure for my 33rd birthday.

(photo-heavy post ahoy!)

My journey starts at the Grand Depart in Leeds - apt given that my destination was France…

{A brief history - my cousin married a french woman 6 years ago, and I met one of her best friends - Laurence - at their wedding, and we have kept in touch ever since.
Laurence herself is getting married later this year, but now she and her fiance Laurent have a place of their own - with guest bedrooms! - I was invited to go and stay…}

Thursday

Stepping off the plane in Nantes I was pleasantly surprised as to how warm it was. ‘Unseasonably warm’, was the verdict we came to.

For the first few hours of my stay, we did nothing out of the ordinary - and yet because the surroundings were new and unusual, whilst we drove back to their house, stopped off for bread, ate a steak lunch, then headed into town and parked in a multi-storey - there was already a surreal familiarity to the proceedings. Similar, nothing-out-of-the-ordinary tasks - and yet because I was in a location that spoke differently, with a friend I have only seen a handful of times in as many years - there was something freeing about the experience.

But if that was ordinary; the fantastical soon arrived. Literally:

Les Machines de L’ile is - erm - an art collective-cum-industrial workshop? They basically build really cool mechanical things, for reasons, and exhibit them in an old shipbuilding warehouse near the Loire river.

I think their star attraction right now is the elephant - which trumpets, sprays water from its trunk, and looks - well - alive. I took a video of her arrival, but I heartily recommend you experience it in person if you ever visit Nantes.

And this 10 year old company aren’t anywhere near done yet - they have much grander plans in fact: A ‘heron tree’ being built in an old quarry that will be 50m in diameter, and 35m high(!). From the tree will hang spiders; across the branch will crawl the caterpillars; and you will be able to glide from branch to branch on a giant heron - my favourite of the models inside the company’s exhibition hall:

After, Laurence and I met with Laurent (who had just finished his work for the day); our first meeting! Fortunately his English was more structured than my French, and there was talk of a Anglo-French football match that evening…

But before, there was one more treat in store for the day - a carousel!

And I am not talking your standard fair (aha) merry-go-round - oh no no no no, my friends; I am talking about a three-tiered carousel, inspired by Jules Verne’s 20,000 leagues under the sea!

Giddy as a school-kid, I - with Laurence - climbed aboard a giant sea shrimp, and whirled around for a while. I was unsurprised to learn that Jules Verne spent a lot of of this life in Nantes, from which clearly the whole Isle of Machines took inspiration.

As the sun dipped in the sky, we made Laurent’s standard commute from his office to their home, to an evening meal of pizza - again two unremarkable activities, but in a new location and with new(ish!) friends.

It’s perhaps difficult to describe what I was feeling, without being mawkish and going “oh wow it’s like other people in other countries have similar experiences as us, just in slightly different flavours/colours/locales”, because that wasn’t quite it.

Anyway, as Manchester United were getting the better of St-Étienne, L&L drifted to bed, whilst I finished watched English football through French commentator’s eyes; but I was soon also to bed.

Friday

Today I was to explore Nantes on my own. There is definitely something about wandering a city on your own; at least where you feel free and safe to do so.

I began at the botanical gardens which had some both expected and also unexpected features.

A duck!

See! Goats!

From here I went past the closed-for-refurbishment Art Gallery…

(one for the return visit)

Then on to the Island of Versailles, which is - naturally - where you would find a Japanese garden…

From here I walked to the cathedral, outside of which I had my packed lunch (thank you L!)…

Continuing the historical part of my day, I moved on to the Chateux…

…before visiting a more modern construct - Fnac; the Nantes equivalent of Tower Records in Picadilly Circus - Music, Films, Books, Electronic Devices.

Here I resisted temptation to buy a random French CD, or film - which proved a sensible move later on…

Before my rendezvous with Laurent (for us to ride the buses and tram home together), I stopped before the imposing Palais de Justice, to note the subtle, but important, slavery memorial.

Nantes was a notorious port for slavery in the 19th Century, and a lot of the colonial-style buildings I passed were a realisation of the profits of that. The memorial consisted of glass bricks in the ground, each inscribed with the name of every slave ship on record that docked in Nantes, and its eventual destination.

I found this one which was exactly 200 years ago.

Two hundred years ago (and less) we still utterly abused the rights of other humans; and shipped them across the globe, for naught but our material gain. What’s difficult to realise is that even today, slavery still exists. Though as the true nature of humanity exposes itself in these interesting times, perhaps that isn’t a reality we should be surprised about any more.

Well, that got unexpectedly down.

How about a nice strawberry sorbet to wash that privileged guilt away?

No problem…

And oh look the elephant is back!

Hurrah!

-

That evening I was treated to a meal of Breton galettes with salmon and ham (not at the same time), and - for afters - some french birthday cake (and fruit pastry (not pictured, but delicious!)).

After dinner, it was time for cider (with syrup - yum!) and a film.

And what a film we chose - L’Auberge Espangnol - notionally a comedy about the escapades of a French student on the Erasmus scheme for a year in Barcelona; but about so much that could have been positive about Europe. And may still be. But if there was ever a film about the European dream; this was possibly it.
Having two British actors part of the cast (including a surprising Kevin Bishop), just brought home a lot of feelings about what could be achieved in a community without the traditional prejudices afforded to Western Europeans - but, like the adventures I never had as an innocent student - that was a reality beyond my grasp.

And yet, I was told; there was a sequel…

With a head full of ideals and hopes for an egalitarian future, with all kinds of flavours of relationships thrown in; I went to sleep.

Saturday

In the morning, Laurence’s parents came to visit with a friend of theirs who was going to build a wall around their garden. And it was quite fun just to sit around the table with the rest of everyone, who were discussing the logistics and costs - over coffee and cake of course - before strolling outside to take a good look at where the wall will be; and of course bumping into a charming neighbour who had - of course - spent some time in England, and put my pidgin French to test.

Later that morning all three of us travelled to a traditional fishing village just a few miles down river from Nantes, and the vibrant colours of the houses there were something to behold.

No I have no explanation for the bagpiper either.

After another packed lunch (with delicious pâté made by Laurence’s mum!), we headed back into the centre of Nantes where a solitary business tower stands high above the skyline - hence a €1 charge to ascend to the top floor and view the city from upon high.

Looking out towards the Isle des Machines.

At this point in the day I began to realise a lot of my friends were with me on this journey…

All my board-gaming friends…

Those of us old enough to remember C&A…

Weirdly specifically Gaz in particular; but my gaming friends came to mind whenever there were video game mosaics on certain street corners…

And of course, Andy & Pat, they have a Games Workshop…

-

Yeah, I realise I’m laying on the ‘IT’S JUST LIKE BEING BACK HOME’ motif; but that might be an underappreciated realisation that not everyone has in the quiet of their own mind. And whilst that wasn’t the main thing I was feeling through this trip - it certainly made me feel connected to the continent in a way I had not considered before; no doubt the feels of last night’s movie still washing around my brain.

-

After a drink in a French cafe, we three headed home where Laurent’s parents joined us for a pre-theatre bite to eat and a birthday toast in my honour!


For myself, L&L; our evening’s meal was at an English-style gastro-pub - the Jules Verne - on, yes, an entertainment complex with a cinema, restaurants, and - er - a go-karting track (another one for the return visit!).

And having a gin-based cocktail certainly helped me to sleep fairly shortly after we returned home that night.

Sunday

My last day in Nantes was certainly a simple affair. After a breakfast of the addictive ‘Speculoos’ on toast, Laurent and I strolled to the boulangerie to pick up fresh bread. Which, as it turns out, is available all day until the late evening in France.

Over lunch we watched the sequel to Friday’s film - Les Poupées Russes - which is set and made 5 years after the original, and accurately reflects the changes you might expect in the lives of the characters; the heady days of student/Erasmus life are behind most, and the reality of living has arrived.

But still, the charm and wit of the original holds; and the growing-up nature of the film takes the emotions to a more responsible plane.

If only there were more in the series…

…oh what’s that you say? There’s a third in the trilogy?

Interesting. Something for another day…

-

And so to the airport. As standard as my trip began, so it began to conclude. With fond farewells exchanged at the airport (and a date set in summer to attend their wedding), I gathered up my thoughts and emotions and strolled through to the departure lounge.

An airport reminder of the world I was coming back to. Or had never left; but had just been able to forget for a few blissful days.

-

My birthday in my most-favourite-numbered years marked a shift in my worldview; with an important reminder of the variety out there, with some certain similarity.

What that previous sentence actually means, I’m not really sure. [Frankly this birthday blog has taken all morning to bring together - and has been overall fun to reminisce].

Maybe given the opportunity I might take further adventures abroad; and further adventures into the unfamiliar.

I hope so. Because sometimes, just sometimes, they might have giant mechanical elephants in those places.

And that is no bad thing.

Memories, and gifts, from Nantes.

Au revoir!