Nantes : Nantes (, US also ; French: [nɑ̃t] ; Gallo: Naunnt or Nantt [nɑ̃(ː)t]; Breton: Naoned [ˈnãunət]) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 327,734 in Nantes proper (2023) and a metropolitan area of 1,050,815 inhabitants (2023). With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations. It is the administrative seat of the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire region, one of 18 regions of France. Nantes belongs historically and culturally to Brittany, a former duchy and province, and its omission from the modern administrative region of Brittany is controversial. Nantes was identified during classical antiquity as a port on the Loire. It was the seat of a bishopric at the end of the Roman era before it was captured by the Bretons in 851 with the help of Lambert II of Nantes. Although Nantes was the primary residence of the 15th-century dukes of Brittany, Rennes became the provincial capital after the 1532 union of Brittany and France. During the 17th century, after the establishment of the French colonial empire, Nantes gradually became the largest port in France and was responsible for nearly half of the 18th-century French Atlantic slave trade. The French Revolution resulted in an economic decline, but Nantes developed robust industries after 1850 (chiefly in shipbuilding and food processing). Deindustrialization in the second half of the 20th century spurred the city to adopt a service economy. In 2024, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Sufficiency global city. Nantes received the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The European Commission noted the city's efforts to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, its high-quality and well-managed public transport system and its biodiversity, with 3,366 hectares (8,320 acres) of green space and several protected Natura 2000 areas. Nantes sur Wikipédia (en)
Sous la verrière du passage, elle s’attarde devant la vitrine d’une modiste, gantée de blanc, la silhouette guêpière du New Look mise en valeur par la lumière zénithale.
Beneath the passage’s glass roof, she lingers before a milliner’s window, gloved in white, her New Look hourglass silhouette caught in the overhead light.
Exposé en modèle réduit à l’Exposition universelle de 1867, le Plongeur, premier sous-marin au monde à propulsion mécanique, fascina un certain Jules Verne, qui s’en inspira pour le Nautilus du capitaine Nemo.
Displayed as a scale model at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, the Plongeur — the world’s first mechanically-propelled submarine — fascinated a young Jules Verne, who drew on it to design Captain Nemo’s Nautilus.
Dans le jardin des douves du château, elle s’appuie sur le muret de pierre, robe soulevée par la brise, les tours de granit se dressant derrière elle sous un ciel de plein jour.
In the castle’s moat garden, she leans against the stone parapet, her dress lifted by the breeze, the granite towers rising behind her under a bright daytime sky.
Accoudée à la balustrade de la terrasse du musée, elle contemple le fleuve et l’île au loin, ombrelle refermée contre l’épaule.
Leaning on the museum terrace balustrade, she gazes at the river and the distant island, a closed parasol resting against her shoulder.
Dans le salon du Nautilus reconstitué, elle enfile le casque du scaphandre pour s’amuser quand une valve d’air comprimé se déclenche et manque de la faire tomber — elle éclate de rire, jupon soulevé.
In the reconstructed Nautilus salon, she tries on the diving helmet for fun when a compressed-air valve suddenly fires and nearly topples her — she bursts out laughing, skirt lifted.
Juchée sur le grand éléphant mécanique du quai des chantiers, elle est trempée par un jet d’eau inattendu de sa trompe et éclate de rire, cheveux et jupon soulevés.
Perched on the great mechanical elephant of the old shipyard quay, she’s soaked by an unexpected spray from its trunk and bursts out laughing, hair and skirt lifted.
Sous la voûte de fonte de l’ancienne nef des chantiers, une araignée géante déploie ses pattes-colonnes tandis qu’une arpenteuse de la cité lève les yeux, carnet à la main.
Beneath the cast-iron vault of the old shipyard nave, a giant spider unfolds its column-like legs while a city surveyor looks up, sketchbook in hand.
Sur le quai de l’ancien chantier naval, un héron de cuivre patiné déploie lentement ses ailes articulées, sous l’œil d’un minuscule mécanicien à ses pieds.
On the old shipyard quay, a patinated copper heron slowly unfolds its jointed wings, watched by a tiny mechanic at its feet.
Perchée sur l’aile de cuivre d’une raie manta encore en chantier, elle pose le dernier rivet quand une valve de vapeur la surprend en pleine action.
Perched on the copper wing of a manta ray still under construction, she sets the final rivet when a steam valve catches her by surprise.