After the Jules Verne childhood home museum we took the tramway back to the Chantiers Navals stop. We walked across the bridge into the Île de Nantes. This island in the middle of the Loire is also in the middle of the city. For years it was the main port for Nantes with shipbuilding and warehouses. All that port activity has moved down the river to Saint Nazaire leaving a huge new space for urban renewal.
It was lunchtime – we were very hot and very hungry. Our first order of business was to find a restaurant. We saw a number of places clustered along the main street including one called The Docks. We sat ourselves down and purused the menu board.
We didn’t have far to go to find the Machines gallery and workshops. The machines are fantasmagorical mechanical animals that are inspired by the writings of Jules Verne. They are paraded through the streets during the biennial Estuary Festival. Between times they are housed and displayed in a giant hanger with displays about their inspiration and construction. Each of the machines functions including the giant elephant that goes for a walk every afternoon with about 50 tourists on board.
There was a group of schoolchildren visiting the site. The guide gave some of the children an opportunity to ride on the various machines. Rich was plucked out of the audience to work the levers of a fairy princess carriage in the form of a seasnail. I got wet on the storm tossed boat machine. It was an amazing experience.
We finished our visit in the branches of a giant mechanical tree that is being built for the next festival in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment