Day 40 - Nantes - Japanese Gardens
Friday, August 10th, 2018
Today we woke up late and had our usual breakfast of baguette, cheese, and apricot jam. We then went into town to find a place where we could print a UPS label to send back my broken Kindle. I don't know how Gregory figures everything out. Well, he does a lot of research all the time. We went directly to the main library which was closed -- it opens at 1:00pm in the summer! French people really take their vacations seriously. I admire this because we all need to rest but when you're used to the US when everything is open 24/7 it bothers you a little.
In seconds, Gregory found another store where they printed the label and then he found a UPS drop off in a Tabac store. I asked when would they pick it up and she said that tomorrow but then she realized that tomorrow is Saturday so for sure on Tuesday. I was a little worried but it is done and they have already sent the new Kindle to our friends in Marseille.
After that, we went to the post office to get Mickey Mouse French coins and also looking for a power adaptor because Daniel forgot his in Bordeaux. We didn't find any. We walked more around downtown and stopped at the Graslin Theatre because they had an exhibition by Daniel Firman. It was an interesting combination of music, video and a hanging sculpture of a human skeleton with lights. We admired the inside of the theater while we relaxed listening to the music. The music and patterns on the screen were so relaxing, I almost fell asleep! By then it was 1:00pm and I was hungry. We looked for a cafe to sit down but we found something better: an authetic boulangerie. Daniel had a baguette fromage et jambon and I had a delicous quiche. Gregory just had his cafe au lait. We took a bus to the bus station to pick up Sunshine. We made it just in time to get her! I felt so happy to see her and that's when I realized that I wasn't at ease without my girl!
Now that we were all together again, I wanted to go back to the botanical park we visited yesterday. It was right there but Gregory really wanted to see the Japanese garden on its own island. I swear, he likes the challenge because we all voted for the garden in front of us. It was pretty, and we were right there, but no -- he needed to find a new place to see and he needed to find the way to take us there.
After walking for a while in different directions, we found the bus that would take us. We got there and immediately you feel calm when you see green trees and the water. They also had a small aquarium and everything was for free which is always nice but I wanted to suggest to them that they should charge because we saw a lot of punks and it was filthy!
We waited there for a while because Gregory lost his sunglasses and went searching for them. No luck. Did I mention that I lost mine two days ago during our walking tour? Oh well, we can always replace material things!
By 5:00pm we decided to take the tram back home. I was a little nervous because our 24-hour tickets had expired 20 minutes ago and I felt like we were risking it. Like my son likes to say, I'm the American, following all the rules and Gregory is the Mexican because he likes to break the rules and take risks. If it had been for me, I would have bought new tickets. We got out one stop early because Gregory actually saw the "controlateurs" get in the tram. I'm glad he did because I hadn't seen a thing. We took advantage of the walk to go to our supermarket and get some more snacks for the train tomorrow. Actually, we went mostly because Gregorio needed beer and we then all took advantage to grab snacks!
We came home, relaxed for a while, had dinner and finished packing for tomorrow's TGV train to Paris!
Today we woke up late and had our usual breakfast of baguette, cheese, and apricot jam. We then went into town to find a place where we could print a UPS label to send back my broken Kindle. I don't know how Gregory figures everything out. Well, he does a lot of research all the time. We went directly to the main library which was closed -- it opens at 1:00pm in the summer! French people really take their vacations seriously. I admire this because we all need to rest but when you're used to the US when everything is open 24/7 it bothers you a little.
In seconds, Gregory found another store where they printed the label and then he found a UPS drop off in a Tabac store. I asked when would they pick it up and she said that tomorrow but then she realized that tomorrow is Saturday so for sure on Tuesday. I was a little worried but it is done and they have already sent the new Kindle to our friends in Marseille.
After that, we went to the post office to get Mickey Mouse French coins and also looking for a power adaptor because Daniel forgot his in Bordeaux. We didn't find any. We walked more around downtown and stopped at the Graslin Theatre because they had an exhibition by Daniel Firman. It was an interesting combination of music, video and a hanging sculpture of a human skeleton with lights. We admired the inside of the theater while we relaxed listening to the music. The music and patterns on the screen were so relaxing, I almost fell asleep! By then it was 1:00pm and I was hungry. We looked for a cafe to sit down but we found something better: an authetic boulangerie. Daniel had a baguette fromage et jambon and I had a delicous quiche. Gregory just had his cafe au lait. We took a bus to the bus station to pick up Sunshine. We made it just in time to get her! I felt so happy to see her and that's when I realized that I wasn't at ease without my girl!
Now that we were all together again, I wanted to go back to the botanical park we visited yesterday. It was right there but Gregory really wanted to see the Japanese garden on its own island. I swear, he likes the challenge because we all voted for the garden in front of us. It was pretty, and we were right there, but no -- he needed to find a new place to see and he needed to find the way to take us there.
After walking for a while in different directions, we found the bus that would take us. We got there and immediately you feel calm when you see green trees and the water. They also had a small aquarium and everything was for free which is always nice but I wanted to suggest to them that they should charge because we saw a lot of punks and it was filthy!
We waited there for a while because Gregory lost his sunglasses and went searching for them. No luck. Did I mention that I lost mine two days ago during our walking tour? Oh well, we can always replace material things!
By 5:00pm we decided to take the tram back home. I was a little nervous because our 24-hour tickets had expired 20 minutes ago and I felt like we were risking it. Like my son likes to say, I'm the American, following all the rules and Gregory is the Mexican because he likes to break the rules and take risks. If it had been for me, I would have bought new tickets. We got out one stop early because Gregory actually saw the "controlateurs" get in the tram. I'm glad he did because I hadn't seen a thing. We took advantage of the walk to go to our supermarket and get some more snacks for the train tomorrow. Actually, we went mostly because Gregorio needed beer and we then all took advantage to grab snacks!
We came home, relaxed for a while, had dinner and finished packing for tomorrow's TGV train to Paris!
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