touring Nantes

Hello All, today I had my first good look at downtown Nantes. I followed a path that the office du tourisme set out. Nantes' most important "contributions" to history seem the result of its geographic position at the mouth of the Loire river. Nantes was the the busiest slavery port in France. 500,000 Africans were transported to America in the triangular trade ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_trade ) by ships from Nantes. Other Africans were brought directly back to Nantes for sale. The municipal newsletter is announcing that the esplanade along the Loire is going to become a monument in memory of Nantes' regrettable place in the slave trade. The theme of the article is "confronting the city's past in order to build a better future." Jacques Chirac will soon be announcing the exact date of the day of commemoration of the slave trade.

On a lighter note, Nantes is also the home of LU cookies.

Nantes' architecture differs from from that of Montpellier, as far as it jumps out at me, in the smokestacks and the roofing, looks like a climate issue. Nantes is the capital of Brittany and much of its early history surrounds Brittany's clashes with Normandy to the north. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantes love you all, chris