Today we were to meet Christelle and have a look around the city of Nantes. Christelle has a number of YouTube videos from a few years ago when she began the Camino de Santiago from Nantes. Unfortunately she didn't make it all the way to Santiago. I contacted her a while ago. A few weeks prior to leaving on this trip she contacted me, as I told her of my plan to visit Nantes at the end of April. We were to meet her at noon.

At first we took a short look around the centre of the city, before heading to the station. We took the tram the few stops from the centre to the station. We entered the ticket office. They had one of the machines that gives you a number in the queue. After waiting a while in the slow queue, I didn't want to waste any more time since we had the noon meeting back where we were staying. Stations have an automatic ticket booth, so I just went there, as there was barely anyone waiting. At the time I was using the machine, Dad asked the waiting staff if he spoke English (a little) to get help with buying the tickets. The man asked me if I needed help, but I was adamant it was no problem with buying tickets. There was no need to call anyone for help. Too easy really.

After taking the tram back, I took photos around the Place Royale, including the Basilique Saint-Nicholas with its golden angels and flying buttresses, then the fountain in the square. All around the fountain are small windows where you can see water. It has statues representing four rivers that run off the Loire, the main river in France: the Sèvre, the Erdre, the Cher and the Loiret. The fountain was the place where we were to meet. It was really nice to meet her finally in person. It started to rain a bit while we were waiting for her. She took us to the Crêperie Heb-Ken where we had buckwheat crêpes. We first ordered the plain crêpes to taste them without anything besides butter. Then we ordered one with fillings. It's how she usually orders, so it was a nice way to try them out. This crêperie was very busy, and quite small. It is a well known crêperie. She then showed us the inside of La Cigale, a very fascinating 19th century building with an impressive, ornate ceiling. It was very French. She took us to see the Passage Pommeraye, the Château des Ducs de Bretagne and the St.Pierre-et-St.Paul Cathedral with the tomb of King François II of Bretagne. We also saw a building that has foundations dating from the 3rd century, and on top of this was the building built in the 15th century. Christelle showed me a shop specialising in strawberry ice-cream. It was a coldish day, but I can eat it at any temperature. Since it was their speciality, I also had the strawberry ice-cream.

We didn't have a lot of time to explore the city. I saw there were some other interesting places to visit there including the Machines de l'île and the memorial to the slavery emancipation. Nantes was the major centre in the slave trade. I like the Nantes tram network, it works well for this sized city.

After we left Christelle, we went to the station, where we caught the train to Les Sables d'Olonne. Just after we arrived, Sébastien arrived to meet us. Sébastien was my first penpal to meet in person. I have been Skyping with him most weeks prior to meeting him for the first time when he came to Sydney in January 2017. I finally made it to his house, to return the home visit. That afternoon he showed us around Les Sables, including the Rue d'Enfer, the 'narrowest street in the world'. At least in France, as there is a narrower gap in Reutlingen, Germany. I could just fit in the street at the narrowest point. I do not know what defines a street. After Les Sables, we went to stay in Brem-sur-Mer.