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You are here: Home / ADVENTURE / 18 hours in Nantes and Les Machines de I’ile

18 hours in Nantes and Les Machines de I’ile

August 4, 2017 by Molly Leave a Comment

18 hours in Nantes

When we planned our trip to France this summer we knew we wanted to make it a holiday of two halves. The first part (where we are now) would be a relaxing week in a gites in the Dordogne region. Time to reconnect as a family after a hectic few months, swim in the lakes and rivers, wander around French markets. The second part (where we’re heading next) would be a bit more lively, in a chalet on a  Yelloh! holiday park with multiple water slides, kids’ clubs and a bar. The problem was, though, that we needed a stopover point to glue the holiday together. This is why we ended up spending 18 hours in Nantes and visiting Les Machines de I’ile.

Nantes is about a three to four hour drive from the port of Roscoff, where we got the ferry from Plymouth. It’s pretty much halfway to where we are now in the Dordogne and seemed like an obvious place to stay the night. We stayed in a self-catering apartment in a little complex of apartments on the outskirts of the city. Not great if you want to be able to walk to restaurants, but perfect for us as we wanted to be able to sort out our own breakfast and cater for ourselves plus, by the time we’d arrived, it was too late to take the kids’ out to eat anyway.

In the centre of Nantes, just by the river, the museum of robots (or Les Machines de L’ile) is just waiting to be explored. With a few hours to kill in the morning and the weather less than perfect we thought this would be a great place to visit before we hit the road again. We were right.

The building itself is beautiful – a huge atrium style industrial type of building with plenty of greenery, palm trees and birds flying about. Inside, it’s like stepping into the mind of a mad professor. Huge robotic animals sit alongside robotic bugs and fantastical creations. But the jewel in the crown – the thing we really wanted to see – was the giant robotic elephant. This thing was something else. You can ride on the elephant (tip: pre-book online if this is something you want to do – we didn’t and all the tickets for the morning rides had sold out by the time we arrived) but, to be honest, it’s an immense thing to look at just from the ground.

It was pouring with rain when we stumbled across the elephant wandering around the square outside the museum, so my photos are a bit blurry, but you get the idea – it’s huge and sprays water. Surreal.

Inside the museum you can also get a glimpse of the workshops where the robots are made. Cameras are banned from this part of the building as they want their future creations to remain secret until they’re ready to be unveiled to the world, but I did manage to get some good photos outside the workshop on a brilliant platform which gives you amazing views across Nantes.

I’m so glad we had this 18 hour stopover to start off our trip, even if the weather on the morning was pretty rubbish. I’d love to go back to visit the rest of the city another time and, because it’s so perfectly situated on the way down south, I expect we will return one day.

If you’re interested in seeing a behind the scenes view of the first leg of our trip then here’s a little vlog I made. I’m doing a Vlogcation series over on my YouTube and uploading multiple videos about the trip while we’re away (internet permitting). The first couple are live now if you want a look!

Filed Under: ADVENTURE Tagged With: family travel, France, French holiday, Nantes, places to visit in France

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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If you feel bad about your body you’re less like If you feel bad about your body you’re less likely to do nice things for it, including moving in a way that feels good and eating in a way that feels good. (FYI health is about more than just exercise and nutrition, but let’s get deeper into the exercise thing for a second...)
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Research shows kids who have low body image are less likely to get involved with sports and more likely to skip PE. 
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Want kids to move more? Stop teaching them that one type of body is better than another - because if their body doesn’t look like your version of a healthy / beautiful / successful body not only will they be more likely to feel shame over their body, they’ll be less likely to engage with the very behaviours you want them to do more of (or be more likely to engage with them in an UNhealthy way - compulsive exercise is dangerous).
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Instead:
💕Try talking about the intrinsic benefits of exercise over the extrinsic ones (ie. how it makes you FEEL instead of how it makes you LOOK).
✨Create opportunities for movement where ALL children feel welcome. 
💕Show children diverse representation so they can see sporting heroes with a range of body types and know that movement is for EVERYbody. 
✨Take a zero tolerance approach to appearance based bullying, body shaming and comments that perpetuate weight stigma (including even the hint that fat = bad). 
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(If you’re a teacher or youth leader interested in knowing more about this topic, a #BodyHappyKids workshop will help - follow the link in my bio 🥰❤️)
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[Image description: A multicoloured slide with an overlaid screenshot of tweet by Molly which reads ‘If your intention is to “get kids healthy” then you need to be aware of how weight bias, weight stigma and poor body image are active barriers to health. The end.]
Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a crying shame only the piles of laundry got to see it, quite frankly. Finally, a pair of pre-loved jeans bought online that are true to size, consistent with the rest of the brand’s sizing and actually fit! 🎉 
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PS heads up - I’ll be doing a Q&A about body image and kids in my Stories on Friday. The Q sticker is up in my Stories now if you’d like to submit a Q! 💕 #BodyHappyKids
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[Image description: Molly is standing in front of the mirror looking very pleased with the fact her new jeans bought from Depop fit her. She is wearing pink patterned jeans with cherubs on them, a pink check jumper and pink trainers. There are piles of laundry on the bed behind her.]
Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been our main form of entertainment this year. Anyone else? 
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I honestly now get excited about putting my boots on and being outdoors, even in the rain. I’m going to start hugging trees next and going on wild camping weekends that involve doing a poo behind a tree and making my own fire. Joke.... maybe. 
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Just another reminder that all movement is valid, exercise doesn’t need to have to be about burning calories or even tracking steps in order for it to be “worth it”. Hope everyone’s had a great weekend ❤️
#BodyHappyMum #JoyfulMovement
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Image description: Molly and her two daughters stand on a bridge in the countryside. They are all wearing hiking boots and outdoor clothes and smiling.
My body is good and excellent and my body only bel My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me ✨ (Words by Effie May, age 6 💕) #BodyHappyMum
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Image description: A close up of Molly’s bare skin as she hugs herself. It’s dark and part of her body is illuminated by light. She has her eyes closed and is smiling.
“Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. “Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. And my heart swelled. Maybe I’m doing an OK job after all 🤞❤️💕 #BodyHappyKids 
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I could leave this caption here but I need to make something clear: if you think it’s great that my daughter - a thin, white, nondisabled, cisgender kid - feels good in her body but you’re not here for the self-love of any kid who doesn’t look like her.... then you’ve missed the point.
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ALL bodies are good bodies, and without this important piece of the puzzle ALL children will be at risk of doubting their body. And what happens when they doubt their body? Well... hating our body doesn’t make us treat it with love, and the same is true of kids. 
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Great, now we’ve cleared that up, can we take a moment to appreciate the incredible phonetic spelling on show here?! 
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Image description: Effie, age 6, stands against a white wardrobe holding up a letter she has written to herself. It is spelled phonetically and reads “My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me.”
I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I ha I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I had any spare cash - not just treats, but basics like pants and tights that fit properly. I’d tell myself I didn’t need it, didn’t deserve it, couldn’t justify the expense. There’s still that little voice (the habit of putting everyone else’s needs first and my own last dies hard it seems) but I’m leaning into exploring why it still sometimes rears its head, instead of always listening to it. 
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I’m trying to buy as much as I can from pre-loved places or small businesses these days, which is why I’m very happy to share with you some of my latest finds: a star dress from Depop (£5), earrings from @kelzojewellery by @ourtransitionallife (£12) and the comfiest tights I’ve ever owned in Raspberry Pie by @snagtights (£6.99) 💕💕💕
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Have you found any great small brands lately? Shout them out in the comments so we can all support in the run up to Christmas. ⬇️⚡️
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Image description: Molly is smiling and sticking out her tongue to the camera. Her hair is freshly dyed a light shade of pink. She’s wearing a pink t’shirt underneath a black and white star patterned slip dress, with bright pink tights and black and pink earrings decorated with a boob design.
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