Nantes: Prémières Impressions

My first impressions of Nantes:

THERE IS A CASTLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY.


{outside}


{inside}

Not only is there a giant, beautiful castle in the middle of the city, but also the grounds and ramparts are open to the public. Where the moat once was has been turned into a park where the Nantais bask the sun.


{moat}

There are tall green trees that contrast beautifully against the tall, white buildings.



Although FBF prepared me for Nantes thinking it was Brittany, I am surprised to find it out that it is Breton. The Duke of Brittany built his castle in Nantes (hence the giant castle in the middle of the city), and the Nantais are extremely proud of their Breton-ness. There are crêpe/galette restaurants all over the place, Brittany flags hung about, and lots of cidre.

Zoo de Lille

One of the perks of living in the big city, near the old part of town, in my awesome studio, is that I live near Lille’s big park, l’Esplanade. And while it’s always nice to live near a park for obvious park-y reasons (picnics, long strolls, etc), l’Esplanade is so much more than a normal park.

This is because Le Zoo de Lille is found within l’Esplanade.



The zoo's map.

A zoo in and of itself is pretty cool, but Le Zoo de Lille is even cooler because it is gratuit. That means free.

As soon as the weather started showing even smallest amount of sunshine, I started walking to the zoo and staring at the animals. I’ve been at least 5 times since the beginning of April.

Although it is small, the zoo totally surpassed my expectations. Since it was free I thought it would be teeny tiny with simply birds and reptiles.

But the Zoo de Lille houses not only birds and reptiles, but also zebras, monkeys, giant tortoises, meerkats, lemurs… and the list doesn’t end there!

It’s also a great way to spend one of France’s lazy Sundays, as despite everything else shutting down, the zoo remains open.



Lamas.
Lamas make me think of the Emperor's New Groove.


Jack Rabbits EDIT: This is not a Jack Rabbit. This is a Mara (thank you wikipedia!).
Jack Rabbits Maras are pretty much the strangest animals to me. Not only do they have deer legs and bunny bodies, but they constantly look like they are going to fall down while walking. Plus, this one is giving me the evil eye.


Meerkats.
Upon discovering the Meerkats I giddily exclaimed, "it's like Meerkat Manor!" to FBF. Apparently this great television show has yet to be broadcasted to French audiences. After explaining to him breifly what it was, I started doing the narration for our very own Meerkats, imagining all sorts of drama.


Check it out:
Le Zoo de Lille
Parc Zoologique de Lille
Avenue Mathias Delobel
59000 Lille

Free entry, open to the public.
Summer hours (end of March until the end of October):
Weekday: 9h-18h
Weekend and Holidays: 9h-19h
Winter hours (end of October until the end of March):
10h-17h

Montmartre

On an overcast day in February
FBF and I headed south to Paris.

Lo and behold, I knew the city better than he.
So I showed him Montmatre
and told him about Paris's history.












NB: My Parents are visiting from California, so I'm going to be out of commission until next week. À bientôt mes amis!

Vieux-Lille

On a rare sunny day in little old Lille
I explored mon coin
(my neighborhood)

Since mostly it's gray here
I took to the street
To enjoy le Nord with our maisons briques