Does he look happy? We had just learned that Biden had dropped out of the presidential race and were celebrating with some Havana Club rum. Go Kamala!
Another two-night stop, another lovely French city. In this case we stopped in Nantes, the sixth-largest city in France. (For what it’s worth, when this trip is over we will have been in all ten of the largest cities in the country.) A fun part of the stop was our residence, the Hotel Sozo. The hotel took over an abandoned chapel some years ago and turned it into a hotel, keeping as much of the historic architecture and even stained glass windows as they could. Our room was tiny, but it oozed personality.
Mark as we prepared to check into our converted chapel hotel
Another highlight was the fact that just outside our hotel was the city’s oldest and probably most beautiful park, the Jardin des Plantes. Created in 1807, it was a delight to walk through the park as we went out to explore the city.
And there was plenty to explore in our quick stop. Sadly, there were two challenges in really experiencing Nantes. First, the cathedral looked impressive but was closed for what seemed to be pretty substantial renovations. And second, lots of restaurants are closed in Nantes both Saturday and Sunday evenings, the two nights we were there, Sunday in particular. And on Sunday pretty much everything is closed except for touristy cafes, so the city center felt like more like a ghost town than we would have liked.
Still, there was plenty to keep us engaged. There was an art museum that I really liked. In many ways I am simple: I like an art museum that takes me through whatever period it covers logically and systematically. I particularly like museums that take you with clear signage from one room to the next. The Nantes museum, covering art from the 14th to the 20th centuries, checked all those boxes and had a surprisingly good collection of modern art.
Similarly, the old Ducal Palace had a museum of the history of Nantes that was pretty good. It could have used more English translations, but I’m not complaining too much. In particular, they did not shy away from acknowledging the city’s role in the French slave trade. Because of its position at the mouth of the Loire River, Nantes was responsible for just about half of that shameful history and they covered it extensively.
On the ramparts surrounding the Ducal Palace, seen in the background
There is one other important piece of history from Nantes. In 1598 Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes in the Ducal Palace here. Henry – who was born protestant but, famously considering the crown of France worthy of a mass, converted to Catholicism – upheld Catholicism as the established religion of the state but at the same time gave French Protestants significant political rights. The result was the end of the 35-year French Wars of Religion.
Finally, one more thing I learned in the museum. Mark and I were both a little confused over the fact that this was once the seat of the Dukes of Brittany but is no longer in the official French region of Brittany. What gives? Well, according to one exhibit in the museum, the collaborationist Vichy government in 1941 restructured things and put Nantes in what was then the Angers region. Today it is the capital of the Pays de la Loire region, one of 18 regions in the country, and it is still pretty controversial that it is not part of Brittany region. We’ll let them fight it out.
The impressive but inaccessible cathedral
For us though, our memory of Nantes will be highlighted by one thing. On our last evening we were walking to dinner when I got a text from my brother Al: “Biden dropped out”. Yikes! Ever since that fateful and awful debate we’d been waiting for this. And in fact while we were walking on that Sunday evening I was getting genuinely angry at Biden for clinging to power so desperately. And then in the flash of a text it was as though a new era had opened: once again, we have a fighting chance to win in November. Makes for a pretty eventful stop in Nantes!
The interior of our chapel hotel. Those stained glass windows at the top were part of the view from our room.
Nantes had some fun public art
That odd tree-like thing was art, too
Did I mention food? Here I am at La Cigale, a classic French brasserie with a beautiful interior and the best steak tartare I’ve had on this trip.
The only reason we were in the interior, though, is because of the rain. We started the meal on their terrace, and then it started raining. We were under an umbrella and you can see how the pavement is getting wet. Then it started raining hard, so they moved us inside. Thus we got to experience both the beautiful outdoor seating in a great square and the great interior.
Before the rain, though, this cute little kid and I started making faces at each other. His English was no better than my French, but when you can stick tongues out what more do you need?
And speaking of new friends. On our first night Mark wanted to stop at a bar after dinner. The martini was one of the worst ever, but Galien and Clotilde here wanted to make friends and so that worked a lot better than the cocktails. They’re coming to New York in December so – since we exchanged contact info – perhaps we will see them again!
And finally one last new friend. While I was out walking one afternoon I came back and there was Mark sitting in the lobby instead of our room. What’s going on, I wondered. Then I saw the cat on Mark’s footstool and I understood.
