Palais de Justice

“Jus­tice palace”, this is how French call cour­t­houses. The junior high/ high school I attended for 6 years from age 12 to 18 was located in the cen­ter of Nantes, stuck between the main cour­t­house, the police sta­tion and the jail where sus­pects were held by the police before their trial. The Banque de France was in a nearby street and the back of the build­ing was fac­ing our schoolyard.

On The Way To France

It may only be 6:23 (!) to go from Mon­tréal to Paris, but the total trip was closer to 24 hours.

We left Ottawa Sat­ur­day after­noon and took the Grey­hound to Mon­tréal. The bus was almost empty and we were at the air­port around 7 pm. A quick lunch/dinner later, we started queu­ing for check-in, which took over 1:30. Another line-up for secu­rity and we boarded the plane just before midnight.

French Cuisine

French food, from crêpes to quiches!

French Pastries

There are “pâtis­series” and “boulan­geries” every­where, the first ones spe­cial­iz­ing in cakes and elab­o­rate pas­tries, the sec­ond ones offer­ing many kinds of bread and basic bak­ery products.

Ah, Paris! (2/2)

And here is the sec­ond part of our adven­tures in Paris.

Ah, Paris! (1/2)

Ah Paris! In the spring, the city is quite nice actually.

Historic Nantes

Nantes was pretty lucky dur­ing World War II: unlike a lot of French cities, it wasn’t totally destroyed by bombings.

Artsy Nantes

If you fol­low the Loire river from down­town, you will find a bridge that crosses to the “isle of Nantes”, a for­mer ship­yard turned into a leisure and cul­tural site.