There are three lovely rivers that run through the city of Nantes (aside from the huge one, the Loire, of course, which splits the city the way the Seine splits Paris...  well, sort of).  There is the Erdre (that one with all the rs that I run next to), the Chézine, which climbs North to a beautiful park and then continues up to a castle and another park (I run on that one too), and then the Sevre, which we walked near last Thursday.  On my severely un-detailed map from the tourist office, there was a dam built by monks in the year 1000 drawn not very far down the river, and it looked like there would be restaurants there, so we didn't bring a lunch, we didn't bring the stroller because we had to get to the trail in the tram, and the stroller seemed too big (I just keep being embarrassed by the size of that stroller, gargantuan by French sidewalks and tram standards).  We walked and walked and walked and walked.  It was lovely, but it was 1PM and the children were definitely waning.  So when we finally arrived at a little town with, you guessed it, a playground, we parked the children on the playground, and Sean went in search of food.  He returned 10 minutes later having emptied the tiny bakery in town, and we all consumed about 3 pounds of butter in about 5 minutes.  The butter definitely gave everyone energy, because the way back did not seem nearly as long.

Now a discourse on french food:  I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but the French suffer from a massive, culture-wide, sweet tooth.  In an American supermarket, if breakfast cereal takes up one aisle, and pasta one half an aisle, cookies probably take up about one half an aisle too.  Chocolates about one quarter at the most.  In the tiny french grocery stores that we go to, there is only one thing that takes up one whole aisle, sometimes two, and that's cookies.  Cereals take up a half aisle, chocolates and candy take up one whole aisle, little desserts in the refrigerated section, like chocolate mousse, caramel custard, chocolate pudding with whipped cream, etc, take up one whole aisle (they come in tiny tiny cups, though).  In town, I can't tell you how many patisseries (that's the place that just sells cakes and chocolates, not breads) there are, and how many 'salons de the' which are restaurants that just have cakes, waffles, ice cream, etc.  So, all of you who think I have a sweet tooth and feed my kids too much sugar, should now understand that it is not a personal flaw, that my giving Mimi lollipops for breakfast is not going to spoil her, because really, it is a very French thing. 

 Oh, and the advertising on all the sweet things is unbelievable.  You buy an ice-cream bar.  Okay, you know you're not really getting any nutrition from it, you're just giving yourself a treat.  It seems like the advertising in America would have more to do with how delicious it is than with what nutrition it will bring you.  Here, your ice-cream bar is covered with slogans proclaiming how it's a good source of dairy, and the kids' cereal (they don't sell healthy cereal here, just the sugar bomb kind) proclaim all over that they are a good source of cereal-- what?  Like anyone is worried about not getting enough grain in their diet.  No mention of whole grains.  Healthy breads are just white breads with sunflower seeds added in (I'm exaggerating here, but only slightly).  I'm only going on and on about this because it's been so surprising to me, who thought this was the mecca of good healthy eating.  Probably I'll discover that I'm getting it all wrong, somehow.

All week-end, on the banks of the Erdre (that river with all the rs) they've had a 'Jazz festival'.  I put that in quotes because really it seems to be a 'food' festival with Jazz as a backdrop.  There are floating stages and stages on islands and on boats, it's very festive.  There are throngs and throngs of people milling about, standing in 2 hour lines at the hundreds of booths to get food from 2PM to 2AM.  There are bars all over that sell alcohol (funny how shocking that seems to our American eyes, to see people drinking out in the open, some with bottles of hard alcohol, some VERY young).  Anyway, it looks like Nantes likes feasts, because there are many planned for the year, and they definitely know how to beautify things for them, there are beautiful lamps hanging everywhere over the water, there are sculptures of fish in glass bubbles mounted on poles just for the occasion, and I'm sure I didn't see all the decorations.

I guess this entry should be titled 'food and rivers of Nantes'.  Next week, we'll be traveling further afield, since we are renting a car.  We are planning to go see the ocean, menhirs, dolmens, and many tiny villages with beautiful medieval churches and castle ruins.  And then, on Thursday, school! (Did that sound a little too jubilant from me?)