Category: Nantes 2019

 

 

 

 

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[catlist id=102]

Our fine, tiny apartment for the next two weeks

Gerhild and her nice flea-market hat.

 

The evening view over the river Erdre

 

 

 

 

There is a bridge over the river Erdre, but where does it go? No not Japan, l’île de Versaille, Nantes.

Lots of picknicking going on here and whyever not?

The unicorns have found their way here too

They like strange things over the streets here.

The locals describe this as an enigmatic bas relief. Google offers this.

The „jungle“ art installation in the middle of the shopping district.

 

Nice update to the Sainte Croix church added in 1860, even if Kim was disappointed that the bells rang, but the trumpeters neither trumpeted nor moved an inch.

 

https://nantesmakercampus.com

What an amazing show, the Nomad Men and their BATT MOBILE. Batter is what French musicians do to drums, nothing to do with flying rodents.

Kim played with a giant cardboard Tamagotchi dancing and cleaning up after it.

 

 

African robots

French, wire-operated robot

Le Manège d‘Andréa

Just outside we found this beautiful roundabout http://lesmanegesdandrea.com

LA NUIT DU VAN

Let’s celebrate in the streets for the opening night of the Voyage à Nantes!

How to liven up old bronzes in the Cours Cambronne, an elegant park right next to the opera.

Is she getting on or getting off? Philippe Ramette.

Gerhild next to a theatrical theatre.

What a lot of statues – 750 of them as a selfie park in Place Royal

 

 

 

Some shop signs in Nantes, like in the rue de Maréchal Joffre are mechanised! As trend setters they all have tattoos if you look closely.

Fish & chip shop

Ladies clothing

Hamburgers

Bar

 

All on the way to the amazing Jardin des Plantes.

Which is completely potty!

The little sign says DO NOT FEED THE PLANTS! The cage ensures your safety from this carnivorous  collection.

If you pump hard enough on the stand next to the path, the kinetic sculptures rise up out of the water.

This is one cool cat. Despite the heat he just kept snoozing on the lawn.

Nice sequence of 25 Claude Ponti pictures here https://jardins.nantes.fr/N/Accueil/Ponti/Claude-Ponti-Album.asp

 

 

 

Today we took the train to Pornic which is about 43 km away on the Atlantic coast and was the favourite seaside village of the nice woman in the tourist office.

Cooler than Nantes it was still too hot to be in the sun for long.

And a beautiful view from the garden while we enjoyed our crepes, after a strawberry and rosé wine aperitif. Hence Kim‘s strawberry nose.

La Crêperie de la Fraiserie in Pornic

 

 

 

Breakfast on the balcony again today. Gerhild feels observed from the other side of the river!

Echoes of the fantastic Jacques Tati and Mon Oncle.

Are we going up there?

Yes we are. You can see our flat from the top.

This is called Nid (nest).

Boat passing just as we arrived home.

 

 

 

This morning we walked to the Nantes Musée d‘art. Nice buildings but modest art apart from Mircea Cantor who I liked.

In the „cube“

Two Englishmen, Bevis Martin & Charlie Youle, who live in Nantes, made Planet Man. Nice.

We went to visit the elephant today.

Children, large or small, love it.

Then we went to the giant carousel des mondes marins.

 

 

Had a look at the Chateau today.

Anne and her royal namesake, the Duchess Anne.

Lunch on board a boat on the Erdre (Pépé Guingette). In the foreground „Amours“ by Karina Bisch.

 

 

 

Strolled along the green line today, after buying a baguette for lunch.

The park opposite is reflected in this pierced facade.

Nice signs for the butcher‘s shop

Cheeky fellow stepping on Gerhild‘s head.

Bookshop sign!

In the evening we took the ferry to Trentemoult.

Where there are some great paintings lurking behind the ivy.

Not to mention this large clock with no hands.

As it got dark, the rings on the île de Nantes lit up (les Anneaux -Daniel Buren)

Which looked good from the ferry on the way home.

 

 

Today we went for a pretty walk along the river Erdre, accompanied by Sunday joggers, a few bicycles and people looking for a picnic spot.

Creative use of bits of tree to make a nice picnic area.

One way to paint your boat.

There’s a message in this somewhere.

Kim likes this skeleton tag which we have seen on a few pieces of black street furniture.

Where the path is blocked by posh gardens they built a nice boardwalk.

 

 

 

What’s that?

A nicely planted street pissoir – only in France.

On the “Arty” walk. Nantes waiters are so friendly!

What is Gerhild doing in that basket in the galerie des machines?

Waiting for takeoff with Heron airlines.

You’ve never seen a hummingbird like this.

A wooden goose.

Testing the plants for the Heron Tree.

On our happy way home.

 

 

 

It took us a while to discover that this shop sign is of a “Gouty Rat” which was the eccentric name of a shop familiar to the young Jules Verne.

21:30 Choeur Mikrokosmos in front of Museum d‘histoire naturelle. Sat on comfy shop step until we got bored and drifted off to find this nice little rhyme, loosely translated if rhyme-free as “life is beautiful, just like you”.

Which was also used in “les enfants de paradis”… Go on, try out your French comprehension!

We took a boat to Saint-Nazaire today and on the way –

Not a planning disaster but a work of art…

Erwin Wurm having fun

Exclusive place to live.

Mum, please mum, can I take it home!

Nice additions to these buildings, if some head scratching is called for.

Never seen a lock with a bomb-proof roof before

What to do with a useless submarine base

Japanese style garden of the stars with a boys’ and a girls’ tower.

Kim and his keep-kool hat.

 

Today we went to the old LU biscuit factory to see a Richard Mosse exhibition. Funny to travel all the way to Nantes to see a huge infrared picture of Berlin’s old Tempelhof airport.

The video “Incoming” was very impressive.

Then we prepared a picnic, split a nice bottle of French red into  two plastic water bottles and found a good spot behind the cathedral for the free concert.

Tables for your picnic, lamps hung from the trees, two great bands and a mild Nantes evening.

 

 

 

We walked to the Jules Verne museum today.

Cup of tea anyone?

To encourage people to read at the library, provide some comfy outdoor seating

and wheel the books out to the readers! Believe it or not, Gerhild is reading, in German, about the “Vegetable Orchestra” found in the book truck.

Writer’s block in stone

How to liven up the marking for the pedestrian part of the path next to the Loire.

Great carved trees in the Quai des Plantes.

Old school skateboarder without a battery.

 

 

 

 

Last trip to the Jardin des Plantes. Found some funny text about the pots in the garden https://jardins.nantes.fr/En/Accueil/Ponti/2015/WTEnQrc.asp?c=9

…on our way to  LA NUIT BRETONNE – CONCERTS ET FEST-NOZ in the chateau

https://www.levoyageanantes.fr/agenda/la-nuit-bretonne-2018/

Starting with an Irish band, the Four Winds

Ending up with traditional Breton dancing on a huge wooden dance floor.

 

12:45 Fly back to Schönefeld
Nantes Atlantique Airport, 44346 Bouguenais