Machines, Beaches, and Vineyards

Les Machines de L'ile
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In Nantes, in the middle of the Loire river there is an island which they are developing into a public area but was once one of the shipping stops in the triangle with the US and Africa. The two big things that were shipped were bananas, and well, unfortunately, slaves. Nantes isn't a major shipping stop anymore so, much like Pittsburgh, they are trying to reuse abandoned areas. Currently the island has a huge art show dedicated to following up on the machines of Leonardo Da Vinci. They have created several animals and a bizarre carousel with different machines on the carousel. The coolest is this huge elephant that walked around the site and people can ride in the elephant. It's trunk spits out water onto the kids who stand too close in front of it and on hot days tons of kids stand in front to get a spray and cool down before they squeal with delight and run out of the way. It's really cool.

Restaurant at Le Hangar Bananes
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After 10 minutes of walking through paths where they are developing parks and new store locations under old bridges, you get to Le Hangar Bananes which is an old hangar, or warehouse, where they used to store bananas and other items for shipping. They have adapted this old concrete structure into galleries and really trendy restaurants which are really cool. Right now it's about the length of one city block and comes to a point at the tip of the island, and it's beautiful because it's along the river. The restaurants all have seating outside.  I wish developers in Pittsburgh could see what they were doing with this area because I think they could really be inspired. The drinks aren't cheap but they also aren't that expensive, and the clientel is really classy.

La Baule
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Edina came to visit me this past week and we traveled to La Baule – touted to be “the most beautiful beach in Europe.” I think that is a little bit of a reach. Perhaps they meant sand beach, or perhaps biggest, most beautiful sand beach. It's hard for me to imagine that any beach on the Atlantic could beat the beaches on the Mediterranean or on the Adriatic. It was nice though, and the thing I liked best was they have restaurants right on the beach. Like you can put your feet in the sand. They have lounging chairs outside, right on the ocean, and each restaurant is under a tent. The tables are on a platform on the sand. I loved it. I sat next to Edina in my lounge chair in my swimsuit, getting a tan and drinking some kind of beer. C'est la vie.

Machines de L'ile: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39270&l=7138e&id=634047050

Oh, also, here are some pictures from the school of my French sister and on the drive there (mentioned in the previous article): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39287&l=019ff&id=634047050