30000 Leagues from Australia?
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2004
1
17
37
Trip End
Feb 24, 2005
Nantes, France
Thursday, January 6, 2005
The title of this entry is in reference to the fact that this was Jules Verne's lieu de naissance (place of birth), he grew up here too. Jules Verne wrote many great stories that contained many realistic predictions of future technologies, such as '30000 Leagues Under the Sea'.
Getting back to the last full day in Toulouse, we again stayed local, walking further to discover more of the local culture and heritage. It was a very late start for us, breakfast became brunch on foot, eating as we wandered dozn the enchanting alleys and through the parks and big squares to view more of Toulouse's highlights. We visited several old churches, as well as a large Basilica to the north of the town center. This structure was the longest roman structure still in existance, despite its age it looked pretty good, the Toulouse people obviously care for their heritage. Pleasingly they also invest in their future of their city, with modern clean streets and transportation mixed in with the traditional.
Another early morning Corail (loco hauled carriages) train took us away from Toulouse on time at 7:56am, stopping at several stops on the way up to Nantes where it arrived and terminated at 2:29pm, right on time. It was another scenic and interesting trip as at Bordeaux the electric loco was swapped with a diesel, allowing the train to travel on the longer coastal route via La Rochelle, which isn't electrified. This line was getting a lot of work done, as we travelled past several work groups on the route. The untouched parts were still made up of short sections of track bolted together, really getting the "clickity clack" sounds going :-)
Whilst travelling I was in contact with a friend by SMS, they were just getting on their Trenitalia train in Nice, the return leg of the train we had caught from Milan days earlier, describing their dissapointment at the realisation of the poor standards of Italian rail.
Arriving in Nantes we walked over to our hotel which is about 500m from the station, but our room is only separated from the trainline by a road! C'est genial!
In the evening to afternoon we searched for tourist information, gathered brochures and found out about the local public transport system. We then bought dinner and settled in for a relaxing night before bed after a tiring day of train travel.
I just reminded myself: - I need to to talk about the Toulouse Metro! It's more of an enlarged people mover system, running on tires like select Paris Metro lines. However those lines in Paris are still guided by steel rails, the Toulouse system has side rubber wheels that guide it, it's as if it's guided through a large rut. It is computer controlled, and has doors on the platforms preventing access except when the train is there, like in Singapore. This unfortunately limits photography and video. It is a 3rd rail system like the people mover 'Sky Train' at Singapore airport and many steel rail subway systems. It is different from the people mover at a Milan hospital which we rode, as it was pulled by a cable, like a funicular, even though the track was relatively flat. Finally with Milan, the Metro there isn't 3rd rail, but gets its power from overhead wires. To acheive this the pantographs are very short, allowing them to squash low easily.
Today we woke for a nice buffet breakfast here, with the €6.50 price each being justified by the fact that we were able to eat fresh fruit. We had an apple this morning, crispy and fresh. A few croissants may have slipped in as well, but we're declining to comment about this.
We walked to the station to buy the relatively cheap €3.30 each all day tickets for TAN (local public transport), before walking to the other (north) side to catch the tram into the center of the city. Nantes has no Metro, but substitues this with a few frequent and quality tram routes instead of busses everywhere.
We had an extended look at the Fnac store here, it was Charles' first, he was like a Virgin, except that's the wrong chain. For Reece: we saw "Disc-O Zone" O-Zone the Romanian dance group's album. Andrew: "Miracle" the book seems big here, saw Delta CDs too. Mme Cleghorn: the instore shopping baskets are cool, they are bag/baskets. Not hard plastic ones, but soft gelly ones, I should see if I can keep one!
We've also hit the streets here, discovering another town of this country, noting the ornate tops of the spires of the churches.
Now we're here, at Cyber Kebab, guess what we'll be having for lunch?
Thanks,
Tom Pacy
