May 28 – Magical Mechanicals, Nantes

We checked out this morning, loaded up, and hit the road mid-morning.  It was only about an hour to the city of Nantes.  We aren’t planning any touring here but there were a couple of interesting attractions that sounded like it was worth a stop…the chateau of the Dukes of Brittany and the Les Machines de L’ile (The Machines of the Isle). 

First stop was the Les Machines.  This magical place seemed to be a “Jules Verne meets Leonardo de Vinci” kind of place.  

It is in a huge, old, covered building that was the former shipyards of Nantes.  

One wing housed a display of mechanical creations.  We joined a group that was being guided around the room to each of the creations.  The presentations were only in French so we couldn’t follow much of the narration, but the creations were another thing.

Some of the creations were operated electronically by push of a button, like the sloth,

A schematic showing some of the inner workings. 

the hummingbird that flew to a flower to sip nectar,

and an iguana that climbed a leaf and snatched a bug with its tongue.

Others required two or three or more people riding it and working levers.  Guests were recruited to help with some of these.  They included a huge heron that flew through the air,

a huge ant that walked in from another room,

a couple of birds that we think were fighting (had several teenage school boys operating this and having a grand time),

a caterpillar that crawled along a stem,

and a huge spider that climbed out of its hole in the floor by floating up on its web. 

And there was a small airplane in a cage.  The airplane flew through misty clouds and what was supposed to simulate snow and thunder.  Most affecting. 

They were all amazing.     

An adjoining room was basically a greenhouse with many exotic plants and even more exotic art and sculptures made by the creators of this magical place. 

In another room was a group of butterflies.  One of the guests was sitting on a bicycle, attached to the grouping, and peddling like crazy.  The peddling caused the butterflies to flutter and bounce.  Most ingenious. 

An adjacent wing of the old shipyard housed the workshop where the pieces were made. 

We then walked down to the Prototype tree that had plants growing all along its limbs, giving the impression of a live tree.  The massive tree measures 115 feet tall and 164 feet in diameter.   

And the climax of the visit was the arrival of Le Grand Éléphant.  A huge wooden, articulated elephant…39 feet high and 26 feet wide.  It is made of 45 tons of wood and steel and can hold 45 people. 

Unfortunately, we saw it on its last trip of the day as the temperatures were in the 90’s and it was judged too hot to take out again.

However, we did have fun watching the elephant spray water on a group of school children.  They would dancing and dart around, daring the elephant to spray them and then squeals in delight when they got soaked.  What fun.

At this point it was lunchtime.  We found a nearby place for some lunch and then decided to skip the chateau as it was too hot to walk around in the sun inside the chateau. 

On the way back to the parking lot we saw this fun art piece in the courtyard of what appeared to be an office building...a giant tape measure. 

Then we headed off to La Rochelle, our next stop.  We were checked in at the hotel by Neill, a Chicago native who has lived in Europe for 20 years.