5/25 - Day in Nantes!

Hello everybody! This is Erin and Liesel and we are going to tell you about our day in Nantes! We started our day with the latest wakeup yet, some of us (Erin and I), getting up at 10:30 am. Then, after a nice hotel breakfast, headed out to meet some others at the memorial for the abolition of slavery at the water. Nantes was a big port city for France, where many ships set out to collect people from the West coast of Africa mainly and distribute them across Europe, North America, and South America. The memorial was beautiful, it had small glass tiles on the ground, featuring the name of the boat and the year it set out. There was also an underground section of the memorial, with a timeline of the abolition of slavery, and Vermont was first! 

After we roamed the memorial, we split off into a few groups, Erin and I and some others headed over to the Machines de L'île de Nantes, which had many mechanical animals, an amazing carousel, which we rode, and a boutique! 

We then refueled with some food and went to Le Passage Pommeraye, a beautiful mall, much different from ours in America. 

Then, we went to some pop-up markets around the area, May 25 happened to be Nantes à Cœur, which means Nantes at heart, a festival for tradespeople/merchants! They had lovely little shops in a few different locations, one being in front of a beautiful church. Here, we ran into Juliet, and her sister with her family. It was so nice to see them again! We caught the church at the perfect time because the organ inside played a wonderful song.  

After some shopping, we went to the Castle, Chateau Ducs de Bretagne. It was stunning and the views from the walls were great, then we went into the museum, which was inside! The museum was complete with 32 exhibits, ranging from information about the castle, slavery, and the nazis in France. 

After touring the castle, we found our friend Eliot who is also on the trip and happened to get a tattoo! The best souvenir for sure! Many of us also got smaller souvenirs from various places to bring home to our friends and families. 

Next, we met up with the rest of the group for a traditional crepe dinner at "Creperie Sainte Croix" in Nantes. It is the oldest Creperie in the city and has a large menu to choose from, including savory crepes, sweet crepes, and Breton Cider. We finished our meal at about 10pm which was much earlier than our previous dinners. After dinner, we all headed back to the hotel to get some rest. We watched the vlog that Dari created for May 24, as a group and then headed to bed. It was nice to have an "earlier" evening and get rest for the next few days of fun. Thanks for joining us on our adventures of the day! 

-Liesel and Erin <3