Nantes

Having never heard of Nantes, France before, I was not sure what to expect when I was to be there for three weeks for a short course and conference.  Wow was I surprised.  It is a great city with lots of fun things to do.  I somehow managed to get by despite not knowing any French at all.  The hotel I stayed at was nothing special, but was on the river and had a pretty nice view.

Lots of nice old buildings and sculptures

I even found a sculpture by an American artist who also did a sculpture at Oregon State University that was just taken down http://www.stickwork.net/

There is also a great park with a great arboretum and some other pretty cool living sculptures.

Emily had a slightly embarrassing run in with a goat in the park…

There was also an amazing jazz festival while I was there and during my short course we got to go to the beach and see a little of the French coast.

In between the course and conference we got to go wine tasting in the Loire valley with Belinda from Oregon State University.

The highlight, however, was the Machines of the Isle of Nantes which I will post about in the near future.