A nonce for Nantes

The isle de machines is a playground for young and old alike. The main attraction is the manufacturing of large animated machines. On permanent display is a mechanical elephant giving rides to 50 people at a time, a giant crane, and a multi level carrousel where each ‘car’ is animated by the rider. There were ships, fish, seashells, dragons and snakes moving up and down plus they had moveable parts that the rider controlled. There are tours of established machines as well as prototypes of new ones. The Minotaur, spider and scorpion queen we saw in Toulouse at the Guardians of the Temple were built here.
The main building was a ship repair facility. It was at least 150- 200 yards long -and 50-75 yards wide and 30 yards tall. It was huge!
Outside the facility the artist behind the machines also had sculptures and other very creative play spaces. Basketball courts with various heights of back boards and rims from 6 foot to about 15 foot high. A moon surface with trampoline jumping pads. A skate park with iron rails, benches and stairs for sliding. Paintings on the ground with hopscotch, mazes, four square, and other games.
This facility is on the Loire River and has a riverwalk area with benches and seats, as well as a swamp area with a metal walkway. Restaurants and a few ice cream shops.
The huge cranes were also pretty cool and obviously use for ships. The yellow one was named Hanger de Banane. Both were quite cool.
We enjoyed a walk around investigating it. Despite the fact uncle google thought it was closed today.Read more