Tourism is fun!
Not posted about France in a while, so have a picspam!
The first Sunday of the month means free museum visits in France, so my first Sunday in Nantes I went to the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne, where the old dukes of Brittany used to live. Also the home of Duchess Anne of Brittany, who was twice Queen of France. She was a cool lady, by all accounts.
The inside is gorgeous, and very educational.
Also, I visited les Machines de l'Ile, which is a very cool place where some guys build steampunky rides in the style of Jules Verne. It's all housed in the old shipyards, and rather expensive for what it is, actually. But anyway!
This guy is the main attraction. You can actually ride him, he goes around the courtyard and back. His legs and trunk are fully functional, and he can spray water from his trunk. There's a room inside his stomach for the passengers. The back is made out of a tractor or a combine harvester, not sure which. :D
Then there's the Marine World's Carousel, which is still in production. A few of the rides have been built so far. Like....
The sea monster. He moves and blows smoke from his nostrils. His mouth also opens and closes, and the little tendril things under his chin move. :D It's really cool to watch. Sadly I didn't get a ride. :(
This was my favourite. :D I didn't get to see it move, unfortunately. Still, looks cool, eh?
These were really beautiful. I don't know if you can tell on the photo, but the scales are all indivdual pieces of metal, it's really well built. This is a hippocampus, right? From Greek mythology?
I really really want to ride this. Pity it was on the ceiling.
There were some other creations, but they weren't as good. There's also a massive metal tree outside, filled with plants and things. You can go up it, too. :)
The first Sunday of the month means free museum visits in France, so my first Sunday in Nantes I went to the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne, where the old dukes of Brittany used to live. Also the home of Duchess Anne of Brittany, who was twice Queen of France. She was a cool lady, by all accounts.
The inside is gorgeous, and very educational.
Also, I visited les Machines de l'Ile, which is a very cool place where some guys build steampunky rides in the style of Jules Verne. It's all housed in the old shipyards, and rather expensive for what it is, actually. But anyway!
This guy is the main attraction. You can actually ride him, he goes around the courtyard and back. His legs and trunk are fully functional, and he can spray water from his trunk. There's a room inside his stomach for the passengers. The back is made out of a tractor or a combine harvester, not sure which. :D
Then there's the Marine World's Carousel, which is still in production. A few of the rides have been built so far. Like....
The sea monster. He moves and blows smoke from his nostrils. His mouth also opens and closes, and the little tendril things under his chin move. :D It's really cool to watch. Sadly I didn't get a ride. :(
This was my favourite. :D I didn't get to see it move, unfortunately. Still, looks cool, eh?
These were really beautiful. I don't know if you can tell on the photo, but the scales are all indivdual pieces of metal, it's really well built. This is a hippocampus, right? From Greek mythology?
I really really want to ride this. Pity it was on the ceiling.
There were some other creations, but they weren't as good. There's also a massive metal tree outside, filled with plants and things. You can go up it, too. :)