Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Philip Marmin of Cabinet Marmin Immobilier

By Susan Han of Nantes International

A bustling jazz festival on the Erde River. A giant hydraulic elephant heralding its arrival. A high-tech museum housed in a formidable feudal castle. These are some of my favorite memories of Nantes after a whirlwind week of shooting in late August.

Before I was approached by University of Nantes professor Laurence Lotode to collaborate on a documentary about the Seattle-Nantes relationship, I confess I did not know much about Nantes, much less the sister-city connection between the 2 cities. I had visited Paris several times before, and in fact had seen the signage for Nantes while catching the TGV to Bordeaux, but did not realize the 27-year history between us. I was intrigued to learn about the geographical similarities, the parallel industries and even the relatively more liberal political leadership we shared.

Seattle has 21 sister cities – or "twin" cities, as it is known in France! Nantes was one of Seattle’s earliest siblings, thanks to the efforts of former University of Washington Romance Language and Literature professor Howard Lee Nostrand (now deceased) and former Seattle City Council member Randy Revelle. According to Revelle, around 1978, professor Nostrand was organizing a local festival called Bonjour Seattle and approached him to gain city hall sponsorship for the event. Revelle has a reputation for being passionate about all things French, and before long, he was roped in to help pick a French sister city for Seattle. The dilemma at the time: Nantes on the west coast, or Nancy in eastern France? As it turned out, Nantes was much more simpatico with Seattle, and in April 1979, a deal was struck, twinning the 2 cities.

Today, while there are some traces of Nantes’ influence in Seattle (a bakery here, a park there), the truth is most Seattleites are still unaware of the rich history, culture and economy of the Nantais. My goal in spending a week in Nantes this fall was to create a 30-minute documentary that will air as part of the Seattle Channel’s “Sister Cities” series starting next January. Our hope is to give Seattle residents a flavor of the diverse ties we have around the world and to provide some insights into how those relationships developed. Naturally, since many viewers are “armchair travelers,” we also want to transport them to Nantes through the magic of television and the web for a first-hand look at why our sister city was recently voted “the most pleasurable and peaceful city to live in France.”

Perhaps one of the most striking observations for a first-time visitor to Nantes is how green the city is. I was amazed to learn that 15% of the city is green and that there are over 400 city gardeners in Nantes, responsible for planting a million flowers and plants each year while maintaining the many lovely parks. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Jean Noel Soignon, a lifelong resident of Nantes who runs the team responsible for Nantes’ parks, and we toured the Jardin des Plantes, a very cosmopolitan and beautifully landscaped park reminiscent of New York’s Central Park, right in the heart of the city. (I confess I was tickled by the local interpretation of totem poles there, which differs greatly from the Native American creations found in the Pacific Northwest.)

A little-known fact for most Seattleites is Nantes’ connection to slavery. I was able to gain some insight into this dark part of Nantes’ past through deputy mayor Yvon Chotard, who graciously spent time with us during my visit. His law office is housed in a building that belonged to an 18th century slave trader, and he explained that while there were technically no slaves in Nantes, the city was the biggest and richest slave trading port in France. He was also instrumental in organizing an eye-opening exhibit in 1992 that forced the Nantais to “open the armoire” and confront their historical link to slavery. I visited the new slavery exhibit housed in the Chateau des Duces de Bretagne and was amazed at the historical artifacts like documents, whips and shackles that have been preserved over the centuries.

On a lighter note, I also had the opportunity to take a couple of field trips outside the city, and enjoyed meeting the Marquis Robert de Goulaine, who spoke candidly of his family history, the business of running a chateau, winery and museum, and the joys of sustaining a very unique butterfly sanctuary (in one of our most surreal photo-ops, we captured a giant monarch butterfly that landed on the Marquis’s face, engulfing it!). Along with coordinator Laurence Lotode and photojournalist Mekioussa Boudjema, I also visited the Guerande Peninsula and stood on the banks of a square sea salt pond where the famed fleur de sal is harvested. And we also visited the childhood home of naturist John James Audubon in Coueron to learn about local efforts to convert it into a museum.

Since Seattle is the original hometown of the Boeing Company, it was with some guilty pleasure that I visited the Airbus plant in Nantes, for a first-hand look at the competition between the 2 aerospace giants. I was surprised to learn the facility is the first plant to build major airplane body parts using composite materials, and that the center wing box and nose of all Airbus planes, including the A380, are made there. The Airbus-Boeing competitive tension was even more palpable than in Seattle, especially at a time when both companies are vying for orders for their next-generation aircraft.

Seattle is considered a hotbed for biotechnology, and I was impressed by the entrepreneurial talent and zeal in Nantes’ blossoming biotech sector. I was also amazed at the creative genius behind the very cool and fantastical machines on the Ile de Nantes, and enjoyed talking with designer Francois Delaroziere about how his imaginary journey has been a success. I had read that the public transportation system was Nantes’ pride and joy, and was surprised to learn that Nantes’ tramway system is the longest and oldest in France, growing in tandem with the city’s development over the past 2 decades.

In fact, this time frame of the past 2 decades seems like a significant one for Nantes. From what I understand from my brief visit, Nantes has undergone a series of rapid transformations over the past 20 years or so, necessitated by the relocation of the shipbuilding industry and port to Nazaire. Former eyesores are now promising new enterprises.

The fact that the city has successfully blended elements of the old while embracing the new is quite remarkable, and there is a feeling of history and presence even as avant-garde modern facilities pop up around town. The Chateau des Duces de Bretagne seems to epitomize this and curator Marie Helene Jouzeau helped provide some context for how, after 15 years of renovation and 52 million euros, the ancient royal residence has been preserved yet thoroughly modernized.

Ultimately, my overarching impression of Nantes is that it is a city in transition. 2007 has been a big year, with many new attractions opening and with a renewed pride in the citizenry about the future of the city. I was struck by the openness and joie de vivre of the people I met in official meetings and on the streets. All these wonderful individuals made my visit to Nantes unforgettable, and their generosity and kindness made our crazy production schedule only a minor annoyance. I hope that now it takes less than 11 hours to fly from Seattle to Nantes, with a short connection in Paris on Air France, even more Seattleites will choose to discover Nantes and better understand what it is that has bonded our 2 cities for nearly 3 decades.