Rue du Puits-d’Argent is located along the famous passage Pommeraye, this 19th century shopping arcadee century where many films by Agnès Varda and Jacques Demy were shot (including A room in town). It owes its uniqueness to the installation, in 2017, of an astonishing black vertical metal structure, perched 5 meters above the ground: Micr’Home, an experimental triplex connecting the two sides of the street. Uwork of the architect Myrtille Drouet, 25 years old at the time and then in full reflection on the densification of urban spaces. Onlookers discover the installation by looking up, intrigued by the sky of lacquered metal birds in origami shapes fixed under the construction.
Access is acrobatic. Behind a door similar to that of a technical room, a fireman’s ladder allows agile visitors to climb the 5 meters that separate the place from the pavement. A small piece of luggage can be hoisted using a pulley system. The ascent leads to the accommodation of 26 m2 on three levels, comprising an equipped kitchenette on the first floor, a living room and a bathroom on the second floor – stocked with organic products from the local brand Sarmance – and a cozy bedroom with a double bed on the third floor. Privacy is preserved by a latticework screen with plant motifs. On the wall facing the sofa, guests are invited to slip a photo or a note into a large jumble, a sort of wall Alex Reed book.
Rue du Puits-d’Argent. 100 € per night during the week, 120 € at the weekend. Information and reservations at The Trip to Nantes.
300 meters away: drink an Art Nouveau tea
Opposite the Graslin Theater, the La Cigale brasserie, founded in 1895 and listed as a historical monument since 1964, is a Nantes institution. Many artists, including Jacques Prévert, but also the surrealists André Breton and Louis Aragon, had their habits there. It is also here that Jacques Demy (him once more) shot Lola, in 1961. The Art Nouveau decor and earthenware wall frescoes attract residents and tourists at mealtimes. The atmosphere is calmer there tea time.
The cicada, 4, place Graslin. Open 7:30 a.m. to midnight.
At 400 meters: treat yourself to good hair
Andrée Jardin created her brush factory in Nantes in 1947. The factory is now located a few kilometers away. His grandchildren took over the business and opened a charming shop, where brooms and brushes of all kinds – horsehair, pig bristle, ostrich feathers – are offered in pop colors and presented with care. In beech or ash, for massage, exfoliation, laundry, shoes, dishes or vegetables, to dust or shine, there is something for all uses.
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