Let us jump into some French vocabulary for once: Les Machines de L’île, exotic French for ‘the Machines of the island” may sound Chinese for most of us, but it is the name for an attraction park that is referred to as the Disneyland for Steampunkers.
Steampunk is, of course, the sci-fi subculture genre that flirts with the Victorian age, the American Wild West and the industrialization of the nineteenth century. The genre recognized by its cosplay like imaginary lifestyle who is now very popular in Europe and the rest of the civilized world is an adventure itself.
The park: Les Machines de l’île takes clever advantage of the imagination of the kids and adults in this unique Theme park in the French city of Nantes, next to the river Loire. The idea came from François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice and the park is a wonderful collage of the ideas of Jules Verne (the famous French novelist), Nostradamus (also born in France) and Leonardo Da Vinci. Situated in the old shipping yard of Nantes, which is a natural surrounding for the steampunk adventure.
Through various workshops, even people who have no affinity with steampunk can learn about this phenomenon and explore strange new worlds and adventures who are all about fun and phantasy.
The idea is to explain those wonderful daring machines, especially how they have grown from simple ideas to wonderful inventions with the help of techniques, ingenuity, and perseverance. Willingly or not every visitor gets a dose of science throughout the journey. This lesson is not forced upon it is told as a fairytale so the visitors can consume it with a smile.
The machine rides are very popular; especially the elephant is very spectacular with a height of 12 meter/39, 4 feet. This contraption is a technical wonder and you can easily get a ride during your visit. The ride itself lasts 30 minutes and gives the visitor the illusion that he or she has the leading role in this adventure.
The attraction ‘Carrousel Des Mondes Marins’ (Carousel of Aquatic Worlds) plunges you into the world of 20.000 leagues under the sea from the famous book of Jules Verne. Believe me, it is a fishy adventure with scary moments and enchanted decors.
It is a serious competition for Disneyland Paris. To choose for this attraction park is not obvious but believe me, you will love it, so when in France visit both!
You can find more information on the official website: https://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/.
All photo credits: Jean-Dominique Billaud.
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